GSNC/NHPBS

The State We’re In

Welcome to our 100th episode! The State We’re In host Melanie Plenda is joined by Anna Brown, the director of Research and Analysis for Citizens Count and host of the podcast "$100 Plus Mileage," and Rick Green, statehouse reporter for the Keene Sentinel, to talk about the end of the legislative session.

This content has been edited for length and clarity. Watch the full interview on NH PBS's The State We’re In.

Melanie Plenda: In a broad sense, what did the legislature accomplish this year? There were Republican majorities in both chambers, as well as a Republican governor. What was addressed and what wasn't?

Anna Brown: The big context here for me was that it was coming off of last year's budget and that budget included several big policy changes that weren't clearly related to taxes and spending necessarily. For example, a new ban on abortion after 24 weeks, a ban on teaching certain concepts related to race in schools, and a new education freedom account program that lets parents access the per pupil share of state school funding to spend on private and homeschool expenses. So many of the bills this year looked to roll back or revise these new laws, some with Governor Sununu's support. He supported revising the 24 week abortion ban, which I believe we'll discuss later in this program, in almost all cases. However, the priorities Republicans included in that budget are still standing at the end of this legislative session, so I would say they're going to count those as big victories.

Rick Green: I think that in large part the Republicans controlled the agenda. There were a couple notable exceptions where things didn't go quite like they wanted such as the parental rights measure, but school vouchers survived challenge. I think there wasn't a ton of new material that they were necessarily able to advance on, for example, vaccines but they definitely had the majority and were able to control it.

Melanie Plenda: Were there any notable bipartisan endeavors?

Rick Green: One of the ones that come to mind is a dental benefit for adults, a bill sponsored by a Keene representative and it garnered support from both parties. For the first time it will allow adults on Medicaid to access dental care, which has been a big issue for a while. They got passed the finish line on that one. The House actually agreed to pass a marijuana legalization measure but it ended up failing in the Senate. I don’t know if you'd call that bipartisanship or not, but it did get through the House very narrowly.

Anna Brown: There was a very significant omnibus bill that covered everything from a new legislative parking garage to childcare regulations. This is HB 1661, and ultimately it ended up including several precision provisions aimed at increasing workforce housing in the state, which was originally part of another bill. That was a big area of bipartisan agreement and also maybe bipartisan questioning whether this was good. We can dig into housing and all of the details of this bill but for example, it requires the office of planning and development to provide standard self training materials for zoning boards of adjustment. It requires zoning boards of adjustment to act on an application within 90 days. It authorizes more tax breaks within municipal economic development and revitalization districts for workforce housing or increasing housing stock. HB 1661, that omnibus bill, was a big one. It's already been signed by Governor Sununu, I believe.

Then we also have HB 1221, which was originally aimed at just cutting business taxes, but there was another part of that bill that did have bipartisan support and that was providing a one time contribution for towns and cities that goes to retirement costs for teachers, police officers, and firefighters - providing 7.5% of that retirement contribution cost for them. That's been a long term debate in New Hampshire about how much the state should kick in to local retirement costs because the state used to provide that, but it got phased out around the last great recession. This was the first time that we've seen a significant move to reinstate that.

Melanie Plenda: Anna, there were also some notable bills related to abortion access in the state. Let's talk about what was proposed, what passed, and what might come up in the next session now that Roe versus Wade has been overturned.

Anna Brown: We can start and continue with the bipartisan theme because there was absolutely bipartisan support and support from Governor Sununu to revise last year's abortion ban after 24 weeks gestation. HB 1609 and HB 1673 added an exception for fatal fetal anomaly after 24 weeks. It also amended an ultrasound requirement so that an ultrasound is only required if there is a substantial risk that the fetus is younger than 24 weeks. Right on the edges of that ban, which was very new for New Hampshire, proposed but failed were bills that would create a guaranteed right to access abortion before 24 weeks and this has been very much a debate in the state in the wake of the Supreme Court decision around Roe V. Wade. Governor Sununu says we don't need this necessarily in law. It's legal up to 24 weeks, but Democrats say given movement at the national level, we need to have in state law that yes, you can access it before 24 weeks.

That's a proposal that's going to come back, but there were also other moves to further restrict abortion that didn't succeed this year. I fully expect they'll be reintroduced next year. There was a bill that would create a right for healthcare providers to object to participating in abortion, sterilization, or other contraception. There was another bill that would prohibit an abortion after detection of a fetal heartbeat. Where New Hampshire is going to fall on that spectrum of all the different abortion restriction and abortion access bills remains to be seen. It's one of the issues that we're tracking in our candidate survey this summary at summer at Citizens Count.

Melanie Plenda: Rick, several bills related to the pandemic, vaccines, and COVID-19 were also proposed this session. What made it into law and what didn't, and might we see more about this in next session?

Rick Green: Two of the notable things I recall are vetos by the governor: one on a bill that would've blocked school districts from requiring masks, and another veto of a bill that would have allowed pharmacists to dispense the anti-parasite medication Ivermectin based on general order so that a person would need a prescription to get it. I think both vetos upset the farther right wing of the Republican party. One bill that did pass allows an opt in or an opt out on the vaccine registry where previously you're automatically opted in. It's interesting that there's different factions on the vaccine question and Sununu has tried to steer a moderate course, it seems like.

Melanie Plenda: Especially with where we're at in the pandemic, do you anticipate seeing more of this kind of legislation, or do you anticipate that this will still be a debatable issue in the next session?

Rick Green: They did send one bill to an interim study and this was an attempt to make it so that workers or students could be exempt from any vaccination requirements. Since it is going to be studied in the interim period between legislative sessions, I could see that coming up again so there will probably be some legislation on this issue. Certainly it seemed like the hottest part of the arguments having to do with COVID-19 and vaccinations may have passed for now.

Melanie Plenda: Anna, we also saw gun access issues come up this session. Notably one bill recently signed by Governor Chris Sununu would prohibit police from enforcing federal gun laws unless there were other crimes involved. Let's go over this bill and what it means for Granite Staters.

Anna Brown: Honestly, it's still a little bit unclear what it will ultimately mean for Granite Staters, particularly because there was recent gun control changes that passed at the federal level that were signed by President Biden. There's nothing so grand as a national red flag law or a national ban on AR-15s, but how much this is going to actually change how law enforcement behave in New Hampshire remains to be seen. Because there is this exception that will allow them to cooperate with federal firearms investigation as long as there is reasonable suspicion of another unrelated crime. Some legislators were saying if someone is owning a bunch of illegal machine guns, they're probably involved in something else nefarious. On the other hand, gun control advocates argue this is sending a message to criminals that New Hampshire is basically a free for all and you don't need to worry about federal laws if you come to our state. We'll see how this law plays out in the coming months, but I would definitely expect that as long as Republicans maintain control in the New Hampshire legislature, new gun control measures face an uphill battle, for sure.

Melanie Plenda: Rick, let's talk about housing. New Hampshire, like many states, is lacking affordable housing causing problems in other sectors like the job market. What did the legislature do to address the problem?

Rick Green: First the Governor in a State of the State address devised a plan to boost housing and it would be funded with a hundred million dollars. The idea was to encourage planning boards and local government agencies to approve housing more readily to aid in the demolition of old derelict housing and do what can be done to bring more units online. The apartment vacancy rate is very low, and single family homes are very high, and it's hard to get into a house for a lot of people. Working with that initiative was created this so-called toolbox that that would stimulate local decision making in favor of housing development. Part of that did get passed, as was mentioned earlier, but it didn't go as far as had been hoped. I think there was a feeling at the state level that more could be done to spur municipalities to approve housing and while some efforts were made in that direction, I think a lot more could be done. I could see housing continuing as an issue here, but it's really a problem that's nationwide and there's a limit to what can be done.

These articles are being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information visit collaborativenh.org.