Parental Bill of Rights Dies

The protection of students, teachers, and family relationships prevailed in the New Hampshire House of Representatives on May 18, 2023. Not only did the House Democrats stand strong in killing the dangerous “Parental Bill of Rights,” but 70% of Seacoast residents wanted it to go away too.* Even Greenland residents rejected the bill by a 7 to 1 margin.

SB 272 would have wrongfully forced school personnel to ‘out’ vulnerable LGBTQ+ students and insert government needlessly into conversations that should be left to the parent and child. This session, we heard from thousands of Granite Staters who urged us to oppose this legislation and we are proud to have delivered a strong win for them today.

The debate was heated, with the majority party leader calling out his caucus in an uncontrolled rant saying that our public education system is a “black hole.”

Reason and thoughtfulness prevailed and with the NH House rejecting the national agenda put forth by Republicans that the public education system has failed our children and our society.

*Results from the UNH Survey Center Granite Poll conducted in March 2023.

Parental Bill of Rights, EFA's Coming to the House

By a 7 to 1 margin, Greenland residents said no to SB 272, the so called “parental bill of rights” initiative, but both chambers of the NH legislature insist on passing this bill in spite of statewide opposition, as expressed by the overwhelming negative response this received from NH voters. Thousands weighed in on this bill before the Senate voted to approve SB 272.

The bill is coming to the House this week and I’ll vote against it.

Proponents say the bill includes additional rights to address current concerns related to gender identity that have only recently emerged as relevant issues for legislation. Passage of this bill would assure parents that their rights are well respected and would prevent a likely mass exodus of students whose parents would seek alternative educational options that would respect their rights. A failure to value truth and parental authority, as this bill does, will inevitably lead to dysfunctional governments.

Democratic leaders of the House Education Committee say that reiterating existing parental rights is not the intent of the bill. This bill targets transgender and gender nonconforming students under the guise of “parental rights.” It singles out those students for special surveillance and reporting upon parental inquiry.

Singling out some students is a deeply concerning and unconstitutional requirement that violates the principle that all students come before the law as equals. Nearly every student will explore their identity in some shape or form that may not meet the approval of their parents. Teens do have rights of privacy.

There will be a very close vote on this on May 18. It will be critical for Democrats to attend this important session.

On the Educational Freedom Accounts (EFA) the Senate Education Committee voted to recommend a bill that would expand the Education Freedom Account program by increasing the income threshold. The committee voted 3-2 down party lines to approve House Bill 367, which just barely passed the House last month on a 187-184 vote.

The bill is one of three House bills to be approved on the new school voucher-like program that has been way over budget for the first two years of operation. HB 367 would increase parents’ income threshold for a child to be eligible for the program from300 percent of the federal poverty level to 350 percent or from $82.410 to $105,000 for a family of four.

I have consistently voted against any expansion of the EFA program, and will continue to do so.

A unified Democratic Party in the NH House helps pass the 2023-2024 NH budget. It’s not perfect but we were able to get important legislation approved and funded.

The budget process now moves to the NH Senate. While there are always some changes, we are hopeful the NH Senate will go along with the House budget.

In spite of our minority status in the NH House, this week House Democrats led the charge to protect our drinking water, reduce property taxes, increase access to health care, and find solutions to rising energy costs. House Democrats are pushing forward for a stronger New Hampshire.

To accomplish this, Democrats stood up for NH families and values, and were joined by many Republicans who decided it was time to come down on the side of the majority of NH residents.

The Culture Wars Have Come to New Hampshire

Legislation moving from the House to the Senate includes further expansion of the school voucher program, attacking health care via reproductive rights, outright discrimination toward gay and transgender communities, and eliminating any attempt at encouraging renewable energy, energy efficiency, and reducing carbon emissions, not to mention the common sense bill to reduce gun violence or blocking raising tipped workers’ wages.

To quote InDepthNH reporter Garry Rayno, “the culture wars have come to New Hampshire,” and says “much of what has been passed in the last three years is unpopular, some very unpopular with the general public if you read the polls.”

Party registration here is nearly evenly split among Democratic, Republican and undeclared voters, but a small group of New Hampshire residents who associate with the Free State Movement and other anti-government and anti-tax organizations have managed to move our state ever closer to a “Libertarian Shangri-La” to quote Rayno.

Those of us who believe that our service in the legislature, as school teachers, health care workers, law enforcement officers, or town, city and state officials is important and needed, will keep working hard to fight this tide of fundamentally changing the institutions and norms that we’ve lived by for our lifetimes.

I agree when Mr. Rayno says the media is complicit in stoking the rancor and division within our state and country today. When I hear this complaint I simply ask if one can be more specific. In other words, what media, which media, is there a source that one believes is creating this chaos and unrest? The misinformation, disinformation and outright lies that catch our collective attention is alarming, and I try to remind my friends and family members that we must process this “media” problem by understanding that our sources of information today are driven by commercial interests who just want to sell something to us. I want people to understand that the content is commercially driven, designed to grab our attention.

I understand we aren’t going to agree with each other on myriad issues but when a difference of opinion hurts our fellow citizens, makes us less safe, and creates a lack of faith and trust in established and cherished institutions we as individuals must work harder to gather the facts and form educated opinions. This is hard work and it’s not acceptable to relegate our thinking into soundbites that falsely and conveniently rationalize the divisiveness in our society.

A link to Mr. Rayno’s recent piece in InDepthNH is below and I believe it’s a must read. I thank him for his ability to articulate what is happening in NH today.

NH’s School Program Has Just Become More Expensive

The NH House voted to expand the NH school voucher program, thereby draining even more dollars from the general fund and resulting in both business and private property owners paying higher property taxes. Most of the families taking advantage of this subsidy were already enrolled in private or parochial schools and could afford a private education for their children. Within two years this program will cost business and private property owners $60 million dollars while providing no oversight or accountability.

NH House Legalizes Cannabis Without My Support

In a bi-partisan vote the NH House passed the legalization of Cannabis and once again I voted against this becoming law in the final division vote. Sometimes a division vote is used to provide anonymity for members of the House on controversial issues. The following is a statement released by our caucus, with which I don’t agree. I provide it here for information purposes only and repeat that this was not my preference.

I’ve been called by law enforcement agencies, health agencies and private citizens who agree that NH should not go down this road. In my opinion this is a community and individual health issue, and I don’t believe the tax revenue generated outweighs these. I am heartend that previous attempts to legalize cannabis have been killed by the Senate and the Governor and I expect that will occur again.

This bill will go to the House Ways and Means Committee, the committee on which I sit, to study the actual revenue this will generate for NH. In the past, our work has shown the revenue estimates are far below what the bill sponsors believe will occur.

A Win for Democrats in Overturning HB 430

While NH Democrats are a minority in the NH House by only a few votes, we were able to prevail on some key education and energy policy bills during our session on February 23, because for several hours in the afternoon we became the majority after many Republicans left for the day.

We were able to reconsider a tabled bill from the previous week that prevented students in private, religious or home school programs from accessing Education Freedom Account money for at least one year. Democrats were opposed to this bill because the Education Freedom Account (EFA) takes public tax dollars and helps pay the tuition for students in private programs and is a deliberate effort to continue to weaken public education in NH.

The program has been much more expensive than anticipated with Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut predicting the program costing about $3.2 million this biennium but to date has cost about $25 million, and he asked for $30 million in each of the two years of the next biennium. The Governor wants to appropriate $56 million from the Education Trust Fund over the next two years.

On Thursday February 23, 2023 this bill HB 430 was taken off the table by the Democrats and passed by a 176-169 vote. This bill now goes to the Finance Committee and will come back to the full house for another vote but there is no guarantee that it will pass again.

It is important to point out that showing up and doing our job is important and effective.