By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org

CONCORD – The Senate sent to the House another “bathroom” bill, tax credits for businesses to develop child care centers, and blocked a Democratic “shield law” to protect New Hampshire doctors among other measures Thursday.

It laid on the table House Bill 186-FN-A to legalize cannabis in the Granite State on a vote of 15-9 with state Sen. Keith Murphy, R-Manchester, voting with the Democrats.

BATHROOM BILL PASSES

SB 552, permitting classification of individuals based on biological sex under certain limited circumstances, is moving on to the House. It passed the Senate on a vote of 16-8.

State Sen. Daryl Abbas, R-Salem, the sponsor, said the bill is narrowly tailored and gives legal recourse to those who don’t want biological males in women’s bathrooms. Women should not be forced to get changed in front of a biological male, he said.

“A transgender woman is not a biological woman,” he said noting just because someone identifies themselves as a woman does not make them a woman.

When it comes to women’s equality, the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg argued that biological sex is an immutable characteristic, Abbas said.

Sen. Tara Reardon, D-Concord, said the state has been down this road way too many times and policies like this have been blocked as discriminatory.

“We continue to target the freedoms of a minority,” she said, rather than focusing on meaningful policy.
“It endorses discrimination and it promotes profiling,” Reardon stressed.

Sen. Debra Altschiller, D-Stratham, said the committee was asked to consider what restroom the legislator should go to. She said such discrimination happened at the Liberty Hotel in Boston last year during a Kentucky Derby party.

She said the bill asks to crudely carve out an exception.

“Just a little bit of discrimination,” she said; it means a gym, school or cafe can post a sign saying “you don’t belong here” and face no liability whatsoever.

New Hampshire’s law against discrimination is not a mistake that needs to be corrected, Altschiller said.

“Honor the law we have,” and stop making them come back year after year to fight similar legislation, she said. She called it a “hateful crusade.”

Sen. Regina Birdsell, R-Hampstead, said women have a right to private spaces without being interrupted by biological men.

The bill passed but could face a veto if also passed in the House as the governor has in the past blocked such measures.

Former Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican, vetoed almost the exact same bill and said this was not in the spirit of the state motto “Live Free or Die.”

Gov. Kelley Ayotte, also a Republican, also vetoed a similar bill saying it was overly broad and potentially creating exclusionary environments.

The question before this body, Altschiller said, is whether the state will keep sending the same rejected bill back through the process year after year hoping something will change.

BUSINESS TAX CREDIT FOR CREATING ON-PREMISIS CHILD CARE

Passed on a voice vote and laid on the table was SB 654-FN creating tax credits for businesses that have on-site child care services and for businesses that provide health care coverage for certain employees.

Sen. Victoria Sullivan, R-Manchester, said a committee amendment addressed some of the concerns heard during the hearing.

If passed, businesses could apply for a tax credit if they create a day-care center within a quarter mile of their premises. The bill would also incentivize employers to provide schedules to allow parents to go to schools to pick up other children.

The bill would not go into effect until 2027 so it would not immediately impact the state budget as it would collect fewer taxes.

State Sen. Donovan Fenton, D-Keene, rose in support of the intent of the bill but that said, if it is tabled, it will need additional work on who would benefit and what the fiscal impact will be for the state.

COLD CASE COMMITTEEE KILLED

The Senate Republican majority voted to kill SB 621, establishing a homicide cold case commission for the purpose of acting as an intermediary between the Department of Justice which investigates those cases and the family of victims. Democrats supported it.

Sen. Sue Prentiss, D-Lebanon, said this is a simple mechanism to create and formalize this communications link.

But Sen. Abbas said, while well-intended there is already a mechanism within the department to communicate with families. The cold case unit is expanding, he noted.

While the Senate may want to revisit this issue in the future, the bill if passed could create confusion and duplicate efforts, he said.

SHIELD LAW FOR REPRODCUTIVE ACCESS KILLED

Sen. Altschiller said SB 551, a “shield law” for reproductive access is urgent and necessary.
But the Senate voted along partisan lines to kill it 16-8.

She pointed to December, 2024, when the Texas attorney general got a grand jury to charge a New York doctor for mailing a drug to Texas which is not allowed there.

A New York judge dismissed the case because New York’s shield law protected that doctor. New Hampshire does not have that protection for doctors, Altschiller said but the bill would provide that protection.

Legal experts are divided on where the courts will actually land on this, she said following the Dobbs decision.

“The legal uncertainty is exactly the problem. This law declares that every person in New Hampshire has a legal right to reproductive health care…It protects our providers and blocks foreign judgments…and it prevents extradition. What is legal here should be protected here, full stop,” Altschiller said.

She said the state need not look farther than Idaho which changed its reproductive law after the fall of Roe v. Wade. In recent years, it has lost 35 percent of its doctors practicing obstetrics leaving only 174 left for 1 million women.

Other states are “building the wall before the flood arrives,” Altschiller said. “Can we afford to lose more OB/GYNs?”

Sen. Abbas said he did not believe this bill is needed to solve any problem in the state. It is presented as a shield law but goes on well beyond that, he said. “You can’t bind future legislatures,” he said.

Sen. Rebecca Perkins Kwoka, D-Portsmouth, said this bill protects the state’s medical professionals and other states do not deserve to go after them and drive them out of New Hampshire. “Lets do the right thing,” she said.

But Sen. Birdsell said maternity wards are closing because of lower birth rates and noted the Dobbs decision did not impact New Hampshire and abortion is legal here up to 24 weeks.

SCHOOL RECEIVERSHIP AND COOPERATIVE PURCHASING

SB 580-FN, establishing a school cooperative purchasing program passed and now goes to the House for a vote. Sen. Sullivan said the bill addresses several important objectives.

It would allow smaller districts greater buying power, and place schools into receivership when necessary.
It would strengthen governance and raise standards of accountability while promoting collaboration, she said.

Sen. Prentiss rose in opposition to the receivership language within the bill.

“This is about how we respond when schools are struggling and whether we are willing to override local control,” she said. “This is essentially a state level takeover by the Board of Education,” if enacted.

“We are granting sweeping authority without guardrails,” Prentiss said. The fiscal note is indeterminable, she added.

Sullivan said when these districts find themselves in trouble they come to the state for help. It only makes sense that it allow the Board of Education to guide them through the process to get them back on their feet.
A copy of the bill is here.
https://gc.nh.gov/bill_status/billinfo.aspx?id=1473&inflect=2

STUDENT ID FOR VOTING

Now headed to the governor’s desk is House Bill 323, requiring the presentation of a government-issued photographic means of identification in order to vote.

This would mean that college issued identification cannot be used as a form of identification to vote.
Sen. James Gray, R-Rochester, said by allowing the student IDs “you are carving out a separate class that they can prove their identity differently than anyone else.” He said the bill establishes clear and dependable rules.

Perkins Kwoka opposed the bill. She said it is solving a problem that does not exist. She said the state already has secure elections. The bill, she said, would restrict students from voting. To get a student ID they have to use a government issued ID, she said.

Sen. Dan Innis, R-Bradford, said at UNH, to get a student ID, you get an email, upload a passport size photo and send a picture of your government issued ID. He said half of the UNH students come from out of state and some are from other countries.

Sullivan asked if you have to show citizenship. Innis said “no.”
The House voted to support the bill 190-148. The Senate vote was 16-8.
A copy of it is here: https://gc.nh.gov/bill_status/billinfo.aspx?id=413&inflect=2

FIREARMS MANUFACTURER “IMMUNITY” REPEAL KILLED

Senate Bill 554, repealing the new limitation of liability for certain design features of firearms, was killed along Republican lines, 16-8.

Gannon said last year’s law that passed did not absolve gun manufacturers from liability but it would indicate that simply a lack of optional features in the gun did not make it per say, dangerous, such as lacking a fingerprint mechanism or an external safety.

The courts have not found against New Hampshire manufacturer, Sig Sauer, he noted.

Altschiller said it is curious that only one type of manufacturer in New Hampshire gets immunity.

If your child is injured by a faulty medical device, you can sue but if you are a police officer and get injured by your own weapon you can’t sue, she said.

Senate Republicans got campaign contributions from the company, Altschiller said.

That was found offensive by Sen. Murphy, and Senate President Sharon Carson, R-Londonderry said she wanted Altschiller to be respectful and brief so others could speak. Altschiller continued noting that Sig Sauer is using the law to argue in suits elsewhere.

“If you believe in fairness, support this bill,” she said. “We can be better than this.”

Abbas said people can still bring liability claims if a gun goes off without someone pulling the trigger.
He warned that Sig Sauer could leave the state and take away those jobs and gave examples of other states and other companies that moved due to political climate.

Sig Sauer is facing a class action suit alleging its P320 pistol, with thousands sold. Litigants claim the gun has fired without the trigger being pulled and New Jersey has sought to ban its sale.
The Delaware company, has its production facilities in Newington, New Hampshire.

WAR DECLARATION POSTPONED INDEFINITELY

House Bill 104-FN requiring an official declaration of War for the activation of the New Hampshire National Guard in a foreign state was postponed indefinitely.

Sen. David Watters, D-Dover, rose in support of the motion.

He said the state’s 157th Air Refueling Wing has already been deployed in support of the war in Iran which began this past weekend along with Israel. He said the nation has only one of these aircraft support system which is essential to the nation’s security.

Watters said he wants to make sure this does not add to the difficult situation and called it “poorly written” and could confuse our troops in harm’s way. On a voice vote the motion to postpone indefinitely was adopted.

It had passed the House on a voice vote on Jan. 8 and the prime sponsor was Rep. Tom Mannion, R-Pelham.

The Senate session began Thursday with a prayer and a moment of silence for those in harm’s way, particularly New Hampshire troops who have been deployed.

BILL RELATED TO LAW ENFORCEMENT WHEN WORKING ON BEHALF OF FEDERAL ICE KILLED

Senate Bill 623 which would require state law enforcement officers operating under the federal program in support of Immigration enforcement to have a body camera on and operable during their work and no face protection was killed, 16-8 by Republicans.

It would be a statutory restriction on how law enforcement in new Hampshire would act in support of ICE including removing face protection, said Sen. Abbas.

He said the bill wants to “out” these officers and possibly make them subject to retaliation.

Sen. Altschiller said in the past year, New Hampshire has had a rapid increase in the number of officers and departments entering 287g ICE agreements. She noted the killing of two United States citizens in Minnesota by ICE agents. She said the federal government lied about what happened when video showed a different story.

These agreements require New Hampshire sworn officers to follow ICE’s rules, she said. The bill would make these officers in New Hampshire follow standards in New Hampshire that officers leave their body cameras on and are identifiable.

These officers have already built trust and the ICE agreements could be imperiling that, Altschiller said.

Sen. Birdsell said they should not tie the hands of law enforcement officers, including wearing face covers on cold days. This bill is just another way to bring back sanctuary cities to New Hampshire, she said.
The vote was 16-8 to kill the bill.

EVIDENTIARY HEARING FOR FAMILIES OF HOMICIDE VICTIMS PASSES

Senate Bill 625-FN, which would permit family members of homicide victims to seek an evidentiary hearing in cases where the Department of Justice does not file charges passed. It now goes to the House.

“Where do they go to get some accountability?” said Birdsell, noting six states have passed such measures. It was unanimously adopted and will go to the Senate Finance Committee next.