Moving right along with the methodical destruction of public education at the hands of “Education Commissioner” Frank Edleblut and the state’s Republican legislators, here are more bills that were proposed and subsequently voted on.

HB 1093 was proposed legislation that would forbid school districts from enacting a mandatory mask policy during public health emergencies. Something like the recent COVID pandemic immediately comes to mind. The prime sponsors of this “we don’t care about your child’s health and safety at school” legislation were Republican Reps. Kristin Noble, Arlene Quarentiello, Mike Belcher, Emily Phillips, Kelley Potenza and Aiden Ankarberg. All six sponsors are members of "Young Americans for Liberty" (YAL) while Noble, Potenza and Quarentiello are members of "Liberty Alliance." This bill passed.

Why this proposed legislation keeps coming up is anyone’s guess, but HB 1652, sponsored by “Liberty Alliance” and “YAL” member Kevin Verville would have established a local school voucher program. Luckily, it was defeated.

HB 1419 was proposed legislation that would have forbid “obscene or harmful sexual materials in schools.” Your basic, run-of-the-mill book banning bill. Sponsored by a plethora of puritanical Republicans, most of whom having sponsored some of the above mentioned bills, this one was defeated. 

HB 1512 was proposed legislation meant to limit funding for school vouchers (taxpayer dollars) to budgeted amounts each biennium (every two years.) The prime sponsors were Democrat Reps. Mel Myer, Pat Cornell and Peggy Balboni. This bill was defeated. 

HB 1212 was proposed legislation meant to raise the eligibility for free and reduced price school lunches to 250% of the federal poverty level. Sponsored by a plethora of Democrat Reps. who are bothered by the thought of any child going hungry during the school day because their low income family can’t afford it, this bill was defeated. As a side note, Republican sponsored bill HB 1665  increased school voucher eligibility up to 500% of the federal poverty level as that bill was passed.

HB 1311 was proposed legislation that was basically anti-book banning. The bill is meant to stop books from being banned (removed) because of the identity of the author or persons depicted in a book. “Challenged” books can remain available and leaves the decision making to the local level. The prime sponsors were seven Democrats and two Republican Reps. Mike Bordes and “YAL” member Dick Thackston. This bill was passed.

And then there’s this little gem.

SB 359 was proposed legislation that would raise the age of marriage to 18. The prime sponsors were Democrat Sens. Debra Altschiller, David Watters and Lou D’Allesandro along with Democrat Reps. Patrick Long, Gaby Grossman, Candace O’Neil, Cassandra Levesque and Peter Petrigno. The bill did pass but not before Republican Rep. and “YAL” member Jess Edwards made headlines with his remark defending his opposition to the bill, “teens are of a ripe, fertile age.”

Oh yuck . . .

Continuing on the path of transparency concerning how our elected representatives vote on such important issues as gun violence prevention, women’s reproductive rights and voting rights, this article showcases the slow, but methodical, dismantling of our public education system. Under the questionable “leadership” of Education Commissioner Frank Edleblut, a man whose seven children were home schooled and who has never taught anyone in a classroom setting, one common sense education bill after another has been defeated while bills such as those damn vouchers move merrily along and are passed. 

There is quite a list of bills, which means there will be two articles devoted to this issue alone. Saddle up! Here we go . . .

HB 601 was proposed legislation that would have made all school children who are eligible for Medicaid to automatically become eligible for free or reduced price lunch. The prime sponsors were Democrat Reps. Mary Heath, Patricia Cornell, Kate Murray, Mary Freitas, David Luneau and Jacqueline Chretien. The lone Republican sponsor was Rep. Rick Ladd. This bill was defeated.

HB 1084 was proposed legislation that would have required certain minimum credentials for the position of Education Commissioner. The prime sponsors were Democrat Reps. Loren Selig, Corinne Cascadden, Mary Heath, Maria Perez, Pat Cornell, Mel Myler, Peggy Balboni and Nick Germana. This bill was defeated.

HB 628 was proposed legislation that would have required “certain non-public schools or education service providers that accept public funds (taxpayer money) to perform background checks on all employees and volunteers.” The prime sponsors were Democrat Reps. Linda Tanner, Mary Heath, David Luneau, Pat Cornell, Sallie Fellows and Hope Damon. And yet, RSA 189:13-a requires that the school administrative unit (SAU), school district, or chartered public school complete a criminal history records check on every selected applicant for employment in any position in the school. The proposed bill was not outside of the already established law (RSA 189:13-a) but it was defeated anyway.

The “Divisive Concepts Law” was passed in NH in 2021. It bans public school educators from endorsing established positions in relation to gender, race and other protected classes. The fallout has been uncertainty for teachers who struggle with knowing how to manage assignments that may mention “sensitive” topics. HB 1162 was proposed legislation to repeal this law. The prime sponsors were ten Democrat Reps., most of whom have been listed in the above mentioned bills. Needless to say, this bill was defeated.

HB 1592 and HB 1594 were two pieces of proposed legislation having to do with those damn school vouchers again! HB 1592 would have banned taxpayer money from being diverted to non-public schools. HB 1594 would have established a yearly review that would determine a family’s eligibility to take part in the school voucher program. Naturally, both bills were defeated.

HB 1665 was proposed legislation that would increase the family eligibility for school vouchers up to 500% of the federal poverty level from $109,500 to $156,000 for a family of four. The prime sponsors were Republican Reps. Glenn Cordelli, Rick Ladd, Joseph Pitre, Kristin Noble, Julius Soti, Kevin Verville, Jacob Brouillard and Alicia Lekas. (Cordelli, Noble, Soti and Lekas are members of “Young Americans for Liberty.” Pitre, Noble, Verville and Lekas are members of "Liberty Alliance".) Now this bill passed and will become more of a burden on the backs of property owners. 

This is a lot to take in all at once which is why it will be done in two articles.

And so another important election year is upon us. Not just for the position of President, Senators or Representatives but also for the individual states. Because here in America we favor transparency, the way our elected officials vote is very important but most often  not known to the average citizen. Same goes for our elected officials representing us in Concord. Let’s see how some of these elected officials voted on a few issues, shall we?

Reproductive rights: CACR 23 was an amendment to the New Hampshire Constitution sponsored by Democrat Rep. Amanda Toll along with nine other Representatives, two of whom are Republicans. Under the tireless leadership of Rep. Toll, the constitutional amendment, which would have enshrined reproductive rights, did get a majority vote in the House the first time. Unfortunately, the vote failed to receive the needed two thirds majority in the full House, and was therefore, defeated. 

HB 1248 was a proposed 15 DAY abortion ban sponsored by Republican Reps. David Testerman and John Sellers. HB 1541 was a 15 WEEK abortion ban sponsored by the same two Reps. and Rep. Kristine Perez, who is also a member of the “Young Americans for Liberty”. Luckily for NH women of child bearing age, these two extremist bills were defeated.

Voting rights: HB 1074 had to do with campaign contributions by limited liability companies (LLC), ensuring they adhere to the same laws that apply to unions. Sponsored by Democrat Reps. Kat McGhee and Connie Lane, the bill was defeated. HB 1364 would raise the penalties for harassing or intimidating election officials. Sponsored by Democrat Reps. Ellen Read, Russell Muirhead, Joseph Guthrie and Eric Gallager this bill was also defeated. However, HB 1569, the bill meant to make voting harder in NH, passed. Sponsored by Republican “Liberty Alliance” member Rep. Bob Lynn, the voter affidavit system, which has worked just fine for more than a decade and has hardly ever been needed, will be going bye-bye. Be sure to have a current drivers license or passport, if you have neither, well . . . too bad. No ballot for you. 

Guns: HB 1050 was legislation sponsored by Democrat Reps. David Meuse, Ray Newman, Angela Brennan, Amy Bradley, Loren Selig and Mark Vallone. It was meant to establish a voluntary waiver of a person’s right to purchase a gun. In other words, if you wanted to be put on a “do not sell to” list, it should be your right to do so. It would also be your right to remove yourself from said list in the future if you wanted to. The bill was defeated. However, HB 1336, sponsored by Republican “Liberty Alliance” and “Young Americans for Liberty” members, Reps. Daniel Popovici-Muller, Bob Lynn, James Spillane, Tony Lekas, Judy Aron and Jim Kofalt was passed. This legislation takes away the right of a private employer to prohibit employees from having guns in their vehicles on the employers property. 

Future articles will detail such issues as education (hot topic) and economic bills, who sponsored them and whether they were defeated or passed. You will also see a pattern; common sense bills are generally defeated, while bills leaning to the extreme are passed.

Recently, the House Education Committee voted on the bill SB 341, the legislation that would require teachers to basically spy on their students, documenting everything they do, say or even what clothing they wear to school. One never knows when parents may want a full, detailed report later. But the vote in the committee came up a tie, 10-10. If you feel this bill goes above and beyond what should be expected of teachers, please contact your state representative and ask them to vote Inexpedient to Legislate on SB 341. Educators need to be able to fully concentrate on their jobs as just that, educators, not spies. And students shouldn’t have to worry about being “spied on” while trying to get an education. 

This proposed legislation goes beyond talking to parents about their child’s grades, class work and homework. SB 341 goes to the full House for a vote on Thursday, May 2. The link above takes only moments to access.

The prime sponsors of this bill are: Sen. Timothy Lang, Sen. James Gray (R), Sen. Daniel Innis(R), Sen. Bill Gannon (R), Sen. Kevin Avard (R), Sen. Howard Pearl, Sen. Carrie Gendreau (R), Sen. Keith Murphy Sen. Ruth Ward (R), Sen. Regina Birdsell (R), Sen. Sharon Carson (R), Sen. Daryl Abbas. (Sen. Murphy is also a member of Young Americans for Liberty.)

Here's another fun bill masquerading as concern for “parental rights.” HB 1312 would widen parental notice requirements from covering sex education to now include any content that might talk about gender, gender expression, gender identity or sexual orientation. This legislation’s tentacles could reach beyond classes such as biology or health, spilling into current events, literature and history classes. 

The prime sponsors of this bill are: Rep. Louise Andrus (R), Rep. Jim Kofalt (R), Rep. Sandra Panek (R), Ron Dunn (R), Rep. David Love (R),Rep. Alicia Lekas (R), Rep. Arlene Quarantiello (R).

Still keeping an eye on HB 1665, the school voucher bill that would raise eligibility up to 500% of the poverty level allowing families to take taxpayer money for private, religious or home school. Can’t be said enough, public tax dollars belong in public schools!

And still keeping an eye on HB 1298, which is basically that part time, “uncertified” teacher bill. Naturally. Both bills were sponsored by Republicans, most of whom sponsored the two above mentioned legislation and most of whom are either Free Staters, Liberty Alliance members or Young Americans for Liberty members.

The federal government collects annual data for its “Point-in-Time” homeless count. For a single night in 2023, there were 653,000 homeless people in America, up by 12% from 2022. This was the highest number on record since this data count was started in 2007. Of that number, nearly half of the people were living in parks or on the street, instead of utilizing safe havens or shelters.

In Texas it is now a misdemeanor to “camp” on public property; in Tennessee, it is a felony.  

On Monday, the United States Supreme Court will be hearing a case that could have positive or negative ramifications for how communities acknowledge the increasing issue of homelessness. The case coming before the court is City of Grants Pass v. Johnson. Grants Pass, Oregon is a small city, has one homeless shelter and started to implement their anti-camping law on those who were found to be sleeping (with a blanket or whatever else for protection from weather) in public. The decision before the Court is whether it’s unconstitutional to “penalize” those who are unhoused for doing something like sleeping, in public, especially when there is nowhere else for them to go. 

Here in NH, most of the homeless population are adults with no children. The Point-in-Time count for 2022 was 1,605 individuals who were unhoused; 2023 saw an increase to 2,441 unhoused individuals.

These are a few reasons for homelessness:

Affordable Housing Shortage – affecting mostly those with a low income. Between 2019 – 2022, income needed for rent went up by 14.47%, while annual income needed in order to purchase a median-priced home went up by 53.87%. This was throughout all NH counties. The shortage is estimated to be more than 20,000 units. About 60,000 units will be needed by 2030 in order to keep pace with a growing population.

Domestic Violence – affects mostly women and children but all survivors can sometimes find themselves homeless and in need of affordable housing.

Racial Disparities – Black Americans are 2.7% of NH’s population, yet they account for 10.2% of the unhoused.

Subpopulations of Homeless – Chronic homelessness tend to be those who deal with health conditions or mental/physical disabilities. Family homelessness includes (at least) one adult and one minor child. 

NH has 23 homeless shelters throughout the state.

We’ll see what happens with this Oregon case and whether the decision of the Supreme Court has a positive or negative ripple effect.

HB 1569 is a bill that was originally sponsored by Liberty Alliance member Robert Lynn (R-Windham). This bill is “relative to eliminating voter identification exceptions.” In other words, the goal is to make it harder for some people to vote by doing away with any identification exceptions for proving you are who you say you are. The proposed legislation takes away voter affidavits as proof of identification and repeals the procedures for affidavit ballots. How many voters would this proposed legislation block from even being able to register, let alone cast a ballot? 

There is a public hearing at the State House next Tuesday, April 23rd at 9:40am in the Legislative Office Building, room 103. If you are unable to attend in person but want to help us protect our democracy and voter's rights in New Hampshire you can email the Senate Election Law committee here to express your opposition. Or you can sign in on the bill. Takes only a moment to do.

In the words of Granny D, “Democracy is not something we have. It is something we do.”

Let’s go “do!”

In the New Hampshire House of Representatives there is a process of identifying if any particular bill will affect the state’s general or education trust funds. That process is a “fiscal note” attached to it with those bills usually going automatically to the Finance Committee after passing on the House floor on a first time vote. Members of the Finance Committee review the budgetary impacts of the proposed legislation, then decide whether to recommend the bills on those grounds. 

House Bill 1665 was one such bill that had a “fiscal note” attached to it. You see, HB 1665 would raise the income level cap for the school voucher eligibility program from (under current law) $109,500 to $156,000 for a family of four. Instead, Finance Committee Chairman Ken Weyler (Kingston, Liberty Alliance member) waived the fiscal note, stopped the bill from heading to his committee and fast-tracked it to the Senate. At the beginning of this month, the Senate voted on and passed an amended version, SB 442, raising the cap to $125,000 a year for a family of four. Naturally, the vote fell along party lines with the end result increasing the property tax burden while simultaneously taking away taxpayer money from public schools.

Now, moving along to House Bill 1212. This proposed legislation would raise the qualifying income limit for reduced-price school lunch from 185% of the federal poverty level to 350% (very close to what HB 1665 did). That raises the total household income cap from $57,720 to $109,200.

This legislation, if passed, would require the state to pay the costs of reduced-price lunches for families making 185% to 350% of the federal poverty level. The federal government reimburses schools only for students from families making up to 185% of the poverty level.

That cost would come from NH’s Education Trust Fund, which currently spends around $1 billion annually for adequacy funds to school districts and the education freedom accounts program which currently has a (roughly) $200 million surplus.

A vote was taken to “shelve” the bill and ended up in a tie 191-191. House Speaker Sherman Packard broke the tie thus leaving the bill tabled, successfully “killing” it. Their precious “education freedom account program” wouldn’t be raided for something as frivolous as feeding children from low income families. 

The pro-life party oozes compassion . . .

According to Rep. Danial Popovici-Muller (Windham, Liberty Alliance and YAL member), “School districts that are unable to collect funds owed for school meals would be best served by legislation that allows them to receive funds from the education trust fund to cover any uncollectible school meals debt. Instead, HB 1212 proposes a budget-breaking expansion of the federal lunch program, asking the New Hampshire taxpayers to pay $50 – $75 million or more a year (including hiring at least three new DOE employees) to address a hunger problem that nobody even showed exists in New Hampshire public schools.”

But in the meantime, forcing NH taxpayers to cough up $22.1 million this school year alone for families to send their children to private, religious or home schools is so much more palatable than say. . . ensuring a child from a low-income household gets a decent lunch at school. 

This November, know who your candidate is and do they represent your values? 

Jonathan Stone, a former Claremont police officer, former three term Claremont city councilor and now current New Hampshire House representative is also a member of Liberty Alliance, a conservative, right wing organization whose goals are to dismantle democracy. 

In 2006, an investigation was opened into then-officer Stone concerning alleged allegations of Stone making threatening verbal attacks against the (at the time) police chief, along with the chief’s family and fellow officers. This is according to employment records that were recently released per order of the NH Supreme Court. The records also revealed Stone constantly socializing with an underage female in addition to conversing about the bars they would frequent when she became legally of age. These personnel records were successfully kept private by Stone and his attorney for many years until last month when the state’s highest court ruled Stone’s records are not exempt from public disclosure.

Long story short, this past Monday, according to Stone’s attorney Peter DeCato, “Jon Stone’s personnel records go back 17-plus years. They are full of unproven ‘factual allegations.’ Whatever is disclosed should have a very large asterisk next to it.” DeCato went on to say, “The City of Claremont did not terminate Jon’s employment; rather, the City of Claremont found it to their advantage to enter into an agreement with Jon. As a result of that agreement, Jon resigned. The advantage to the City of Claremont is that they didn’t have to prove what is written in these records.” DeCato also noted that Stone had a negotiated agreement with the city of Claremont upon his resignation and statements made by other police officers concerning Stone’s behavior when he was on the force had never come to a decision by a judge. In exchange for his resignation and surrendering his police certification in NH, the department would purge his personnel file of the internal affairs reports. The department fulfilled its agreement, but retained copies of the reports separately in its internal affairs records.

The chairman of the NH Democratic Party, Ray Buckley, commented on Mon., “The disturbing report on State Representative Jon Stone’s dangerous and out-of-control behavior, which he tried to hide from the public for years, raises serious concerns about Stone’s position on the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee and leaves no doubt that Stone is unfit to serve the people of Claremont.” 

Stone represents the towns of Acworth, wards 1,2,3 in Claremont, Croydon, Goshen, Langdon, Lempster, Springfield, Sunapee and Washington. He currently sits on the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee. Of the eight bills he sponsored so far this year, half of them have to do with guns. Among the many bills Stone has voted on, the (small) following received his “nay” vote, for example: 

  HB470 – relative to fentanyl test strips and other drug checking equipment
  HB369 – establishing a task force to provide energy relief on farms
  HB1068 – relative to establishing a blood lead level testing requirement for children entering day care and public schools
  HB1212 – relative to eligibility for free school meals
  HB1322 – relative to the state’s hourly minimum wage

The (small) following bills received Stone’s “yes” vote:
  HB1634 – relative to universal eligibility for the education freedom account program
  HB512 – exempting firearms manufactured in NH from federal laws and regulations
  HB1276 – relative to repealing the prohibition on the possession or sale of blackjacks, slung shots and metallic knuckles except by or to minors
  HB1607 – relative to expanded safe haven protections
  HB1291 – relative to accessory dwelling unit uses allowed by right
  HB1372 – relative to prohibiting torture (PHEW!)

As an aside, some of these bills were voted on more than once, the ones listed above were his final vote. The above link will take you to the state’s website.

Rep. Stone is also a businessman in Claremont, “Black Ops Guns.” In 2016, when Donald Trump was campaigning in NH, Stone gave him an inscribed AR-15 assault rifle with the inscription “1-4-5” translating to Trump being Stone’s first choice to become the nation’s 45th president. And just last June, Stone was tapped to be Trump’s Sullivan County campaign chairman, heaping praise upon Stone during a (hate) rally in Claremont last Nov. 

We’ll see where this goes. In the meantime, let’s all try to educate ourselves on the folks who want to represent us in either our local, state or federal government.

The word “genocide” is a combination of the Greek word genos for “race/people” and the Latin word cide for “killing.” It is defined as “The destruction of a nation or an ethnic group” and was created in 1944 by Raphael “Rafal” Lemkin, a Polish attorney of Jewish descent. Lemkin was also instrumental in beginning the Genocide Convention, by lobbying a newly formed United Nations to “enter into an international treaty which would formulate genocide as an international crime, providing for its prevention and punishment in time of peace and war.”  On Dec. 9, 1948, the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide, the first of its kind, was approved by the United Nations in Paris, France. 

The Convention defines genocide as follows:
“Article II: In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

• Killing members of the group;
• Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
• Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
• Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
• Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.”
  (taken from the book GENOCIDE the shameful, unspoken history of crimes against humanity in the United States.)

On Sept. 3, 2014, former Gov. Maggie Hassan signed HB 1444 into law. The month of April was now officially recognized as “Genocide awareness Month,” making New Hampshire the fourth state to do so. The bill was signed at Keene State College with faculty, Holocaust survivors, state representatives and students in attendance. The legislation emphasized the prevention of future abominations and our shared humanity while acknowledging the need to never forget the victims of genocide. The bill also promoted the need to be more compassionate and inclusive of others. 

In June, 2020 NH became the fourteenth state to enact a statute for Holocaust and genocide education when the House of Representatives passed a bill requiring Holocaust and genocide prevention education. It is now required under the state’s definition of an adequate education. In addition, a commission was set up to study “best practices” for teaching genocide education in the public schools. The new rules began in school year 2022-2023 and will continue for each consecutive school year.

This commission was comprised of (among others) a representative from Keene State College’s Cohen Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, and survivors or direct descendants of survivors of the Holocaust or another genocide. 

Students in middle and high school or higher are now required to learn about the Holocaust and genocide. Before this legislation, it was up to an individual district whether to offer it or not. 

“The Holocaust is not only a tragedy of the Jewish people, it is a failure of humanity as a whole.”

Moshe Katsav

Between the years 1492 and 1900, roughly twelve million indigenous peoples were killed in the United States. In 2003, these forced removals, numerous wars, massacres and resulting deaths were aptly described and acknowledged as genocide.

“They made us many promises, more than I can remember, but they never kept but one; they promised to take our land, and they took it.”                                                                                          - Chief Red Cloud, Oglala Lakota

 

April is “Genocide Awareness Month”

My latest article, “Unity House” had no sooner been posted when I received an email from ACLU-NH with the following request. And it all has to do with LGBTQ rights which have been under attack in the legislature. 

On Friday, April 5, the New Hampshire Senate will vote on several bills that are just simply cruel in their attacks on LGBTQ rights. The five bills being voted on are – SB 304, SB 341, SB 375, SB 524, and SB 562. This proposed legislation would open avenues for discrimination, harassment, and segregation. Everyone, no matter who you are, deserves better than laws that would violate their rights to equal protection under the law.

Additionally, this proposed legislation attacks crucial healthcare for many transgender people, safe healthcare which has been backed by decades of research and supported by every major medical association. The ACLU-NH has been fighting MORE than 15 anti-LGBTQ and anti-trans bills in the State House this year alone. 

And it’s only the beginning of April!

Will you email your state senator now and tell them to support LGBTQ rights and oppose every single one of the bills?

Takes only a moment to do . . .