My votes in the NH House session
of March 20, 2025

Another session day chock-full of losses.

HB 10-FN

Yet another crack at the so-called “Parental Bill of Rights.” Parental rights are fine, but so are the rights of children. This bill would force teachers to out students. And it misaligns with other existing federal and state laws about medical care and records.

HB 433-FN

This bill undoes the bill we passed last year that establishes a minimum age of 18 to marry. It carves out an exception for when either party is active duty military.

HB 676

This bill creates a survey to see the impact of Education Freedom Accounts (EFAs) and whether parents are satisfied. Seems harmless enough, but it uses a biased sample population: parents who have removed their children from public schools (as compared with the majority of EFA users, who were already in private and religious schools when they started taking EFAs).

CACR 5

No-excuse absentee voting? No thanks, say the Republicans. Don’t want to make it too easy to vote!

HB 389-FN

This was my one vote against the Democratic caucus recommendation. The bill would require candidates who spend no more than $1000 to attest the same. I spend under $1000, and I don’t see why I need to go through an extra step.

HB 630-FN

Although this bill went to the Election Law Committee, I was the prime sponsor. It follows on to last year’s HB 1596, which prohibits AI-generated deepfakes in elections. This bill would prohibit any deepfake, regardless of how it was generated. For example, by someone really good with Photoshop. I gave the floor speech, which you can see here. Although I lost the vote, I managed to pull seven Republicans over. Given the arguments made on both sides (if you can call what the Republicans put up an argument), you can see how the Republicans simply do not listen to reason.

HCR 7

This concurrent resolution would have recognized abortion as a critical component of reproductive health care. Tabled by Republicans.

HR 16

This resolution recognizes the essential contributions of frontline health workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. So why would I have voted against it? Because a Republican amendment passed that adds special recognition to those who faced termination for refusing the vaccine. Yes, the crazed anti-vaxxers managed to take a resolution that we could all agree on and politicize it. Yeesh.

HB 88-FN

This bill moves New Hampshire toward becoming a community property state. In particular, it allows married couples to create a community property trust. If the marriage ends in divorce and the couple created a community property trust, then the assets are divided equally, even if one spouse clearly contributed more than the other (say, by being the only breadwinner and doing the lion’s share of raising the children). Rep. Zoe Manos (D-Stratham) gave the floor speech against the bill, which you can see here.

HB 148

A so-called “bathroom bill,” this bill allows classifying people “based on biological sex” in bathrooms, locker rooms, sports, and jails. Governor Sununu vetoed such a bill last year, and the veto was sustained by a majority of the House. No such luck this year.

Rep. Alice Wade (D-Dover), who sits near me, gave a moving speech about her experience as a trans woman and her encounter with the father of a trans person. Usually, you can hear conversations going on during floor speeches, but the House chamber was dead silent as Rep. Wade spoke. Although even the Republicans paid attention, it was for naught, as the Republican desire to discriminate against our trans neighbors carried the day.

HB 254-FN

Medical aid in dying. Extremely controversial, this bill is not about suicide. People using medical aid in dying want to live, but they are suffering while dying. The bill has several provisions to prevent misuse. There would have been a vigorous debate, but the bill was tabled by a single vote.

HB 280

This bill will make it possible, once an employee has been hired, for the employer to decide in what currency to pay that employee. It could be US dollars. It could be Bitcoin. Or, as the Trident Layers commercial from a few years ago suggested, it could be gum.

HB 726-FN

Yet another attempt to raise the minimum wage fails, having been tabled.

HB 221-FN

We tried to table this bill, which would allow the Public Utilities Commission to change the criteria by which they assess the NHSaves energy efficiency program. Our PUC, for reasons I have never understood, is antagonistic toward energy efficiency. By changing the evaluation criteria, the PUC would have cause to defund the program. Unfortunately, the tabling motion failed and the bill passed.

HB 535-FN

I was the prime sponsor for this bill, though it was written by the State Consumer Advocate, Don Kreis (with a few edits by me). When the Department of Energy was created in 2021 by splitting off functions from the PUC in the budget trailer bill HB 2, the separation of functions between the DOE and PUC was not clearly defined. This bill would clarify that the DOE implements policy and the PUC adjudicates. One section of the bill also says that when all parties in a case before the PUC agree on the outcome, the PUC should accept it. That latter section was the only objection raised in the majority report for ITL. I prepared an amendment that removed that section, so that the bill was only about establishing the lanes for the DOE and PUC. I argued in a parliamentary inquiry against the tabling motion, but as usual, we were outnumbered.

HB 672-FN

This bill allows for energy generators to operate off the grid. I cosponsored the bill, but during the hearing it became apparent that unregulated power plants could pose significant safety risks. What could possibly go wrong with unregulated power plants? I gave the parliamentary inquiry against the bill, saying that I was a cosponsor but became concerned about safety. You know the result.

HB 710-FN

As introduced, this bill would have allowed the regulated utilities to own nuclear power plants. In committee, we expressed concern about stranded costs. The sponsor, Chair Michael Vose, offered an amendment that simply allows the utilities to sign power purchase agreements with nuclear plants, thereby removing the risk from ratepayers. I supported the amended bill, and it passed.

HCR 4

This concurrent resolution drives a stake in the heart of offshore wind in New Hampshire. It’s true that economics are against offshore wind right now. Who knows about the future, however? When our governor has stated that she wants an “all of the above” energy policy, but also states that she’s against offshore wind …