By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org
CONCORD – The state Senate voted to oppose changes to school immunization requirements Thursday but approved a bill that would allow the state treasurer to buy Bitcoin.
The Senate also tabled a number of bills related to cannabis with Sen. Regina Birdsell, R-Hampstead, noting that the governor would likely veto them.
And, the Senate voted to make the transportation of kindergarteners to school optional.
KINDERGARTEN TRANSPORTATION
House Bill 319, which eliminates the requirement for schools to provide transportation for half-day kindergarten passed.
Deputy Senate Democratic Leader Cindy Rosenwald, D-Nashua, opposed the measure.
“The last thing working families need is more obstacles to caring for their children,” she said. “Yet eliminating the requirement to provide transportation for half-day kindergarten does just that. Now, working families will have to choose between not working and higher costs from transportation arrangements. Kindergarten is crucial to children’s cognitive, behavioral, and social development. This is yet another irresponsible decision by my Republican colleagues that burdens hardworking Granite Staters while weakening our state’s education.”
IMMUNIZATIONS
House Bill 357 would have limited childhood immunization requirements to diseases and removed the authority of the commissioner of Health and Human Services to adopt rules requiring immunization for additional childhood diseases.
The House passed the measure but the Senate voted to kill it on a voice vote.
State Sen. Kevin Avard, R-Nashua, said it is fair to say that he has been the most vocal critic of vaccine mandates in the Senate.
“I stood up against anyone in New Hampshire losing their jobs because they declined the COVID-19 vaccine, and I support the rights of parents to opt out of vaccines for their children. I also believe authority over vaccine policies must start and end with the people’s representatives in this legislature,” he told the body.
“Under our system, the legislature requires the Department of Health and Human Services to make any changes to our school immunization requirements through the Rule process. This gives the Joint Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules, and ultimately the entire General Court, authority over any rule proposed by our state agency. DHHS has not added any vaccines to our school immunization requirements in 20 years, and if they do so, I know that the Joint Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules will take a very close look at it. This bill would short-circuit the rules process that has been working very well and maintains legislative authority. For these reasons, the Senate cannot support this bill,” he said.
Sen. Keith Murphy, R-Manchester, said he would vote against the motion to kill the bill and called vaccination requirements an “extreme example of state power.”
CANNABIS
A motion to table HB 190 relative to therapeutic cannabis possession limits was close. It would have allowed the amount of possession to go from two to four ounces.
The vote was 12-10 with Senators Murphy and Victoria Sullivan, both Manchester Republicans, voting with the Democrats to oppose the table motion.
Birdsell said “we have debated cannabis to death” and the governor will veto any cannabis bill that comes to her desk.
Sen. William Gannon, R-Sandown, also moved to table HB 198-FN relative to legalizing certain quantities of cannabis and establishing penalties for smoking or vaping. The vote to table was 14-8.
The Senate did a lot of tabling House bills Thursday including HB 468 related to the unlawful use of drones and HB 482-FN related to penalties for driving over 100 mph and HB 776-FN relative to the crime of aggravated driving under the influence of alcohol.
BITCOIN
HB 302 enabling the state treasury to invest in precious metals and digital assets passed on a voice vote. Bitcoin would be the only digital asset allowed in this enabling legislation.
Sen. Tim Lang, R-Sanbornton, said the legislation would allow up to 5 percent or $1.5 million to be held in such assets and said the state treasurer thinks it is a good idea.
Sen. Rosenwald opposed the recommendation to pass the bill.
She said the state treasurer already holds some of this authority and by only allowing Bitcoin the state picking winners and losers.
She worried about the safety, liquidity and yield as a result of the decision.
“Bitcoin is neither safe nor liquid. this bill would let her gamble with taxpayer money…it would be irresponsible,” she said.
Lang said it would only allow up to 5 percent and not all funds would be eligible.
Sen. Dan Innis, R-Bradford, said we need to trust the treasurer to do the right thing.
He said conditions might change and digital assets might become viable assets in the future though he said he does not invest in Bitcoin and would not recommend it.
The bill passed on a voice vote.
ABSENT
Senators Daryl Abbas, R-Salem and Denise Ricciardi, R-Bedford were excused for the day.
Senate President Sharon Carson, R-Londonderry, announced that Ricciardi started to feel ill and collapsed in the elevator enroute to the nurse’s office just before the start of the session.
No update on her condition was offered at the end of the session at noon.
In May 2024 Ricciardi collapsed on the floor of the Senate during a heated hearing on transgender issues and was hospitalized for several days and recovered.
ALSO PASSED
HB 571 passed which adds Constitution Day to the list of days that schools need to address citizenship at patriotism.
Sen. Debra Altschiller, D-Stratham, said it was an unfunded mandate and would add one more thing to the list of requirements.
HB 667-FN relative to health education and requiring the viewing of certain videos demonstrating gestational development from embryo to fetus through birth by public school students.
KILLED
HB 749-FN requires instruction on communism in public high schools. Altschiller said local school districts are already empowered to do this and should not be required by law.