Taking their cues from the current regime, the Republican majority “party” in New Hampshire have been practically falling all over themselves and each other trying to pass one lousy, cruel, mean-spirited bill after another. Their targets? Quite a list; the elderly, the disabled, those with low-income jobs, those seeking an affordable college education, voters, immigrants, children, public schools and teachers, libraries, women of child-bearing age, Medicaid recipients, LGBTQ community, affordable housing, the environment.
WOW!! Sounds like they’re destroying everybody and everything they imagine is standing in the way of their own personal utopia!
Let’s break it down with a few examples.
- The elderly – Really? They’re a threat? HB 645 was an amended bill giving the Prescription Drug Affordability Board data access that could support increased pricing transparency while lowering costs for public payers. It was “tabled” by Liberty Alliance member Rep. Jason Osborne. They also voted to “zero out” the budget for the Commission on Aging.
- Voters - HB 365 is the sloppy attempt by Liberty Alliance member Rep. Bob Lynn to fix the constitutional issues he created with last years HB 1569 voter suppression bill. Targets married women and naturalized citizens. Not only do you now need to request an absentee ballot six months in advance to an election, you better still have an excuse for voting absentee, otherwise no absentee ballot. HB 217, (Lynn again) will now require absentee ballot voters to present information showing citizenship, age, domicile, and identity in order to qualify to vote. Suppression disguised as legislation. Targets, elderly, disabled, students and military overseas.
- Immigrants – Nope, no funding for the Human Rights Commission. HB 511 prohibits state and local government from endorsing sanctuary policies to prohibit or hinder the enforcement of federal immigration law (ICE). Liberty Alliance member Rep. Joe Sweeney stated, “If you are in NH illegally, you are not welcome in NH.” HB 452 adds the following to RSA 263:10 : “The department shall not renew a driver's license for any person who is not a United States citizen and cannot prove that they are a lawful permanent resident of the United States.” A lot of people are here under protected status or asylum seekers, how are they supposed to get to their jobs, school? HB 461 requires all printed and digitally available driver's license exam-related materials, including the exam itself, be available and administered in English only. And yet, NH already has multi-language driver training and tests. Just more cruelty towards “the other.”
- Women - HCR 7 was a resolution acknowledging abortion as an important piece of comprehensive reproductive health care. They “tabled” it. Best to bleed out to within an inch of your life before anything can be done for you. Restoring the funding for Family Planning also failed.
- Schools - HB 329 would require school boards to initiate a policy governing air quality and temperature issues in schools, along with a heat illness prevention and emergency response plan. The bill failed, who cares about air quality in schools anyway? Especially when they do not want mandatory mask policies in schools. Or vaccines either. HB 520 allows the Dept. of Education to issue subpoenas against educators to investigate “alleged” violations of the Code of Conduct. Targets teachers and school staff. And of course, they passed HB 115 where more and more property tax money goes towards school vouchers.
- Energy/Environment - HCR 4 rejects all offshore wind projects in and around the waters off the coast of NH and Gulf of Maine until there is a better understanding of the effect such projects may have on the ocean's ecosystem, the fishing industry and electric ratepayers. Unfortunately for the ten Republicans who sponsored this, they failed to acknowledge that NH has no jurisdiction over federal waters.
- LGBTQ - HB 377 prohibits a medical procedure or giving out medication, upon or to a minor child, that is intended to alter gender or delay puberty. It should be noted only after evaluations and consultations with the patient, parents, medical professionals and counselors, are these treatments implemented. HB 148 removed transgender peoples from NH’s anti-discrimination laws. So, no protections. Pretty obvious who the intended targets are . . .
This is just the tip of the mean-spirited legislative iceberg!