On Thursday, February 1, three bills addressing abortion were defeated in the New Hampshire House. 

CACR 23 was sponsored by Rep. Amanda Toll (D-Keene), whose bill would have protected abortion rights up to 24 weeks, by adding an amendment to the state constitution. Abortion is presently banned after 24 weeks, except in the case of a deadly abnormality in the fetus or the health of the mother is in jeopardy. Three-fifths of a majority vote was needed for a constitutional amendment but still wasn’t enough even with a 193-184 majority win. 

Rep. David Testerman (R-Franklin) had sponsored House Bill 1248, which was meant to institute a 15-day abortion ban. Most mothers would attest to the fact they had no idea they were pregnant at barely two weeks, this one included! This legislation was “indefinitely postponed” by a vote of 363-11.

Rep. Testerman continued with his losing streak by sponsoring House Bill 1541 which aimed to hinder abortion access after 15 weeks. This legislation would have required an abortion take place at a hospital that has a premature birth intensive care unit along with another doctor in attendance. This too, failed with a voice vote.

For those who don’t know, there are just two hospitals in NH with an intensive care unit for premature babies or neonatals, Dartmouth Hospital in Lebanon and Eliot Hospital in Manchester.

In the Senate, Sen. Debra Altschiller (D-Stratham) has proposed Senate Bill 575. This bill aims to forbid NH officials from collaborating with others from out-of-state who want to curtail birth control and abortion. The Senator is also the sponsor of CACR 24, a constitutional amendment which proposes to add language to protect the right of an individual to reproductive autonomy.

Stay tuned, the fight for women’s reproductive rights are far from over in New Hampshire!

Can you imagine not being able to legally drive from one state to another if you needed to? Most of us wouldn’t even think twice about it as we’re so close to Vermont, Massachusetts and Maine, easily driving in and out of those states, along with other states not as close but within driving distance. 

Now imagine being an undocumented individual with a valid driver’s license from, say, Vermont, who drove into New Hampshire.  You and I wouldn’t even think an arrest or possible deportation would be the result of such an action. Yet, here we go again with the NH legislature targeting undocumented immigrants for something as harmless as an out-of-state driver’s license!

On Tues. Jan. 23, a hearing was held on a bill that was first introduced the previous week whose sole goal is to invalidate out-of-state driver's licenses issued to undocumented immigrants. Just to be clear, beginning with Washington state in 1993, 18 states and DC have since allowed undocumented immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses. Each of these states have similar stipulations that go along with the driver’s license. For example:

New Jersey law creates two types of licenses, the federally accepted REAL ID and a Standard Basic license, available to any New Jersey resident regardless of immigration status. The law also prohibits discrimination against people with Standard Basic licenses.

Utah law issues a “driving privilege” card to undocumented immigrants who can prove Utah residency. The card is different from a regular driver’s license by format, color, or other visual means and is clearly marked with “FOR DRIVING PRIVILEGES ONLY–NOT VALID FOR IDENTIFICATION.” The card may not be used for government identification and is valid for one year.

Maryland law permits people without social security numbers to obtain a driver’s license if they have filed a Maryland tax return or were claimed as a dependent of someone who filed a Maryland tax return for the previous two years. The driver’s license must have a design or color to distinguish it from other driver’s licenses and identification cards, may not be used for federal identification purposes, and may not be used to purchase a firearm.

There are also several city governments, such as San Francisco, CA, New Haven, CT, and Asbury Park, NJ, who will issue photo identification cards to undocumented residents. These ID cards are not to be used as driver’s licenses.

Here in New Hampshire, eight Republican state senators and two Republican state representatives recently introduced SB358. This bill will give the state the right to invalidate these out-of-state licenses. Should the bill pass, if a law enforcement officer stops a driver with an “invalid” license, the officer could charge the driver with a Class B misdemeanor of “driving without a license.” 

Seriously??!

People who receive these licenses from other states, including those who are undocumented, must pass road test exams, have driver identification, and often maintain car insurance. Not to different from NH requirements for drivers.

This proposed bill is just another way of targeting undocumented people. Have something to say about this? Tell your state senator to defeat it. They need to hear from us.

Tomorrow is the “First-in-the-Nation” Primary where we go to our individual polling places and vote for who we think will do the best job in leading our nation and preserving our democracy. So, in honor of that I thought I’d share a little White House history.

John Adams became the first president to reside at the White House, which was completed in 1800. Barely fourteen years later, on Aug. 24, 1814, British troops set the White House on fire in what became known as the Burning of Washington. This took place during the War of 1812. First Lady Dolley Madison managed to save a full length portrait of George Washington along with a small wooden medicine chest, both of which are on display to this day. Repairs were undertaken and the building was fully restored in 1817.

On Christmas Eve in 1929, the White House experienced fire again. During a Christmas party, aides to Pres. Herbert Hoover discovered a fire in a storage area around 8:00 that evening. Roughly 200,000 government pamphlets were stored there. Upon learning of the fire, the president and his aides went to the executive offices and retrieved the desk chair, a presidential flag and numerous documents. By 10:30pm, the fire had been extinguished, leaving the press room destroyed and some offices damaged. Repairs were completed by the spring of 1930.

In 1916, New Hampshire held what would eventually become the first in the nation primary. Throughout the years voters have gone out to personally listen to those who aim for the nation’s highest office and the policy ideas (or lack of) they propose. This year is no different other than our very democracy is on the line, along with women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, and (one of the most important) voting rights! As Granny D once famously stated, “Democracy is not something we have, it is something we do.” 

Be sure to take the time tomorrow to exercise that right to democracy, don’t take it for granted as it is now being threatened. 

According to EVERYTOWN for Gun Safety in 2023 the following gun safety bills were not passed by the New Hampshire House of Representatives: 
HB32- would have prohibited guns in schools or on school grounds. New Hampshire is one of three states where guns continue to be allowed on school grounds and buildings. 
HB59 – would have required background checks on all gun sales, which NH does not have. Instead, we still have a loophole allowing persons who are prohibited by law from owning guns to buy them with no background check and no questions asked. That would be from unlicensed sellers, which includes gun shows and online purchases. 
HB106 – would have made “Extreme Risk Protective Orders” available in New Hampshire. This would have been a temporary restriction to a person’s access to guns should a civil court judge determine they are a serious danger of using a gun to hurt themselves or others. The bill surprisingly passed in both chambers last year, but the governor vetoed it. This bill would have helped in identifying warning signs before any possible gun violence tragedy took place. Did you know? Almost 90% of gun deaths in NH are by suicide.

Something else a lot of us probably didn’t know, gun violence costs NH $2.2 billion each year. Of that amount, $22.4 million is paid by us, the taxpayers. Also, here in NH during any average year, 141 people die from guns. Nationally, the number is just under 50,000, a year!

Now, moving along to 2024 a new gun violence prevention bill is making its way through the NH Senate. SB577 would require a 72-hour waiting period between purchasing a gun and then taking possession of it. The goal of the proposed bill is for those people who may find themselves in a state of intense agitation or anger some extra time to “cool off.” In that 72-hour waiting period, gun violence to themselves or someone else could, quite possibly, be avoided. 

There are some exceptions to the bill; corrections and police officers, hunters, and members of the military. An exception for those who are in fear for their safety and have a restraining order and those who have voiced fear for their personal safety to police. 

Right now, the bill is being heard before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The committee will eventually schedule a vote on whether to recommend the legislation to the full Senate.

Could 2024 be the year when NH finally begins to take gun violence prevention seriously? 

In honor of Martin Luther King Day, on Monday, here is a selection from my book, GENOCIDE: The Shameful, Unspoken History Of Crimes Against Humanity In The United States.

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Martin Luther King Jr. was born on Jan. 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. He was educated during the time of segregated public schools, graduating at the age of 15 from high school. While at Morehouse College in Atlanta, King studied law and medicine, receiving a BA degree in 1948. It was then on to Pennsylvania to study theology at Crozer Theological Seminary. There he was elected president of the primarily White senior class. In 1951, he received a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Crozer, prompting him to pursue graduate studies at Boston University. In Boston, he received his doctorate in 1953 and a degree in systematic theology in 1955. 

        It was in Boston where King met a young student from New England Conservatory of Music named Coretta Scott. They married in 1953 and had four children.

        Returning to Montgomery, Al., King became pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, while continuing to advocate for civil rights and equality for all Black people. He believed in non-violent, peaceful protests. King had become a member of the executive committee of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). 

        Rosa Parks, a secretary for the local NAACP chapter, had refused to give up her bus seat in Montgomery to a White person on Dec. 1, 1955. While that refusal got her arrested, activists were busy organizing a bus boycott. The Montgomery bus boycott lasted more than 380 days, placing economic strains on both business owners and the bus system. During this time of boycott, King was arrested, his home firebombed in Jan., 1956 and he had become a target for White supremacists. On Dec. 21, 1956, the Supreme Court declared laws requiring segregated bussing as unconstitutional. 

Between the years 1957 and 1968, King travelled around the country and the world, speaking about civil rights, civil disobedience and nonviolent protest. He lectured more than twenty-five hundred times, meeting with activists, political and religious leaders. In 1957, King and other civil rights activists, founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). This group is committed to gaining full equality for Black people through nonviolent protest.

       In 1958, King survived an assassination attempt. On Sept. 20, he was signing books at a department store in Harlem when a woman named Izola Ware Curry asked if he was indeed Martin Luther King. When he answered in the affirmative, Curry proceeded to stab him in the chest with a letter opener. The attack left King even more determined to advocate for nonviolence, stating, “The experience of these last few days has deepened my faith in the relevance of the spirit of nonviolence, if necessary social change is peacefully to take place.” 

       Curry, eventually diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, died in 2015, after having spent the rest of her life going from various psychiatric hospitals, residential care facilities and nursing homes.

       In April 1963, King led a large-scale protest in Birmingham, Al., which led to his arrest. It was while he was in jail that he wrote his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” a civil rights manifesto. Today, this manifesto of his philosophy and strategies is required reading at many universities worldwide. In addition to organizing drives in Alabama to register Blacks to vote, he led the peaceful 1963 March on Washington. It was here he gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech before a crowd of 250,000 people. That same year King was named Time magazine’s “Man of the Year.” In 1964, at thirty-five years of age, he received the Nobel Peace Prize, the youngest man at that time to have done so. He gave the prize money, ($54,123) to advance the civil rights movement he so passionately believed in. 

       Working with fellow civil rights and religious groups, King helped in the organization of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. This was a non-violent political rally showcasing the continuous inequalities Black Americans faced nationwide. The event was attended by roughly two hundred thousand to three hundred thousand people and is considered to have played a significant part in the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In Aug., 1965, the Voting Rights Act was passed, assuring the right to vote to all Black Americans. The intention of this bill was to prevail over legal barriers at state and local levels that were preventing Black Americans from exercising their right to vote, which was guaranteed to them by the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution in 1870. It was signed into law by Pres. Lyndon Johnson.

       Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968. He was in Memphis, Tenn. to support a strike by sanitation employees, when he was shot and killed as he stood on the balcony of a motel. Soon after his death, Pres. Johnson declared a national day of mourning. And so ended to soon, the life of a man who sought by peaceful protest only, equal human rights for Black Americans, those who were disadvantaged economically and victims of injustice.

       In 1983, Pres. Ronald Reagan signed a bill declaring every third Monday in January as Martin Luther King Day. This came about after many years of campaigning by his widow, Coretta Scott King; Congressional members; and other civil rights activists. The federal holiday was first celebrated on January 20, 1986.

“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

-Martin Luther King, Jr.

Last November I wrote an article about New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary voting status. Not included in the article was the brief information about a state law enacted in 1976 requiring NH to hold its primary a week before any other state’s primary. Should the secretary of state ignore that requirement, he or she would be breaking the law. 

Iowa, which holds a caucus, not a primary, would not be affected as the law does not include any states that use the caucus system. 

Seeking to add an amendment to the state’s constitution, the NH State Senate voted 23-0 on March 30, 2023 approving an amendment enabling NH’s primary will continue to be held first during a presidential election. The amendment would add the following language to the state constitution: “The secretary of state shall ensure that the presidential primary election be held seven or more days immediately preceding the date on which any other state shall hold a similar election.” Unfortunately, this amendment has not gone any further in the House. 

NH state senators have recently placed on a “fast track” to approval an amendment to the state’s constitution meant to safeguard the future of the status of NH’s presidential primary. On Jan. 9, 2023, the Senate Election Law Committee approved an amendment to preserve the state law requiring NH to hold the first in the nation presidential primary by adding it to the state’s constitution. 

What is needed now is for the NH House to vote and approve, by at least 60%, the proposed amendment. If approved, the amendment will then appear on the ballot in Nov. for voters to have the final decision. 

Whether you approve or oppose this proposed amendment to the state constitution but would like to express this sentiment to your representatives, you can reach them here.

They’re baaack! Or did they ever really go away? 

Anyway, the New Hampshire legislature is back in session and the Senate Republicans are continuing in their hell-bent mission of destroying the public school system. This past week the Senate Education Committee held hearings on two bills whose main goals is to seriously increase the school voucher program:

SB 442-FN aims to expand the voucher program by allowing any student who is denied a transfer to another school or district a voucher regardless of family income. This is just another attempt at universal vouchers as it has no requirement for the family to show the public school was somehow failing to meet the student’s educational needs.

SB 522-FN-A creates a school voucher program for Pre-K ages 2 ½ through age 5 for low-income families. This bill would stop an existing program that already provides support for high-quality childcare to low-income families through the Dept. of Health and Human Services. Instead, this existing program will be replaced  with a new program through the NH Dept. of Education. 
NH does not offer universal PreK to public school families. This bill would get rid of the high-quality childcare program which had previously been established through the DHHS. Another attempt at expanding school vouchers. 

While this next bill has nothing to do with school vouchers it’s an attempt at playing “gotcha” with educators:

SB 341 creates a vague and impractical standard requiring an educator to respond “completely and honestly,” in writing, to any parent’s question. The drawback? The bill doesn’t define what “completely and honestly” means. 
Really? Just one more unnecessary burden looking to be placed upon public school teachers. This bill is nothing more than an attempt to cause division rather than focusing on real solutions.

What the Legislature should be focused on is for every public school student to feel connected, included, safe and welcome in the school community. That there are sufficient certified teachers and paraeducators, keeping class sizes small, resulting in individual attention for students. Also enough available guidance counselors and nurses. 

The Legislature needs to focus on how public schools can encourage the interests of students by meeting their educational needs which could include “hands on” learning. In order to accomplish that, the Legislature must finally honor its constitutional requirement (obligation) to provide an equal opportunity for a public education for every NH student. Whether these students live in towns with a high or low property tax base, they should be afforded a vigorous education. 

With a 14-10 Republican Senate majority in Concord, parents (and grandparents) of public school students need to voice their concerns and preferences, then be sure to vote!

Two bills will be coming up for a vote soon in Concord, HB396 and HB619. Both pieces of legislation are an attack on the rights of LGBTQ people. HB396 would permit segregation based on "biological sex" rather than gender identity in schools, prison settings, and other spaces, violating the rights and safety of transgender people under state and federal law. This move will only increase discrimination, harassment and probable violence they already face.

HB 619 would prohibit certain healthcare for transgender youth, by unfairly targeting and discriminating against transgender and gender non-conforming people in violation of New Hampshire law. This healthcare, better known as gender-affirming care, is widely recognized as the only evidence-based approach to addressing the physical, mental, and emotional needs of transgender youth.

On the flip side, there are two pieces of legislation meant to further advance LGBTQ rights. HB368 would assist in easing the process of changing a person’s gender on their birth certificate while assuring their identification documents are affirming, precise and valid.

HB264 is meant to protect patients and providers from civil lawsuits. All across the country we have seen many elected officials make efforts to dangerously restrict access to crucial gender-affirming healthcare services and resources. Additionally, attempts are being made to criminalize this care that is being made available across state lines.

If you would like to urge your representative to vote against HB396 and HB619, while telling them to support HB368 and HB264 please contact them here. Takes only a moment to do . . .

On Aug. 16, 2022, Pres. Biden signed into law the "Inflation Reduction Act." This law represents the largest investment in addressing and combatting climate change in our nation’s history.

Here in New Hampshire the “Solar For All” grant program is designed to assist low and moderate income NH households get connected to community solar projects. This connectivity enables these households to either arrange for access to or become stakeholders in the proposed solar program. This is another option for people who are concerned about the environment and want renewable energy but are unable or don’t want to place solar panels on their homes. 

Recently, the NH Dept. of Energy put in a request for a $70 million federal grant to widen these community solar programs for low and moderate income households. An expectation of roughly sixty grants are to be awarded. This funding will assist in lowering utility bills, speed up decarbonization (reducing carbon dioxide emissions), and possibly bring about more desperately needed, affordable housing. 

Community solar project developers would be able to team up with consumers who are qualified for NH’s Electric Assistance Program. This project is only available to customers of Eversource, Liberty, and Unitil. Households that are located closest to proposed solar panel groupings will be given the opportunity to participate first. If chosen, consumers will also have the opportunity to decline participation. Consumers are chosen based on their electric assistance eligibility and zip code, with their utility company doing the choosing. These consumers would receive a credit on their monthly electric bill. If there turns out to be more qualified households in the proposed area than there is availability, utility companies are expected to indiscriminately choose from these households. 

NH Dept. of Energy has opened up the application process for solar developers who are planning these community solar projects. The applications are due to the state by Feb. 29, 2024.  

On August 9, 2022, Pres. Biden signed the “CHIPS and Science Act” into law. This will be one of the largest investments, nearly $280 billion, in technology research and development in our nation’s history. In a nutshell, this law will protect access to semiconductors which are used in the manufacture of everyday products such as refrigerators and vehicles. It will also ascertain more domestically made semiconductors are readily available for our military. Currently 90% of semiconductors are made in Taiwan. Also included is $39 billion in subsidies to domestically manufacture chips. 

Now for the NH part. . .

BAE Systems in Nashua is located in a 110,000 square foot Microelectronics Center (MEC) which produces technology for the Dept. of Defense (DoD). This is just one of the US subsidiaries of BAE Systems an international aerospace, defense and security company with services and products for air, land and naval forces. They also offer advanced electronics, security and customer support services. 

Thirty-five million dollars in federal funding has recently been earmarked to update the MEC building, which develops advanced semiconductor technology. This funding will also go towards purchasing newer and more efficient manufacturing tools, increasing their technical personnel, production capacity and ability to provide national defense programs. Additionally, the country’s onshore supply chain will be made stronger. Demand has also increased for microelectronics to industries such as satellite communications which will now have the ability to be met.

As of this writing BAE now needs to submit to a comprehensive due diligence process and a final negotiation process over its terms before the agreement is finalized. 

In the meantime, thank you Pres. Biden for recognizing our nation’s need to move forward by bringing manufacturing opportunities not just to NH, but to the nation as a whole!