Back from Break, House and Senate Have Major Committee Votes and Hearings
House and Senate Committees are up against deadlines to report out on bills this week that would require going to a second committee should they pass on the floor of their respective body. Here are some of the major votes you can still take action on this weekend.
Committee Votes Coming Up:
Both Universal Voucher Bills To be Voted on This Week in Policy Committees!
Urge your lawmakers to reject universal vouchers! Two universal voucher bills are being considered in the New Hampshire House and Senate – HB 115 and SB 295. Both will be acted on during the first week of March, so now is the time to contact your elected officials and make sure they know that expanding the unaccountable voucher scheme will force Granite Staters to pay for two school systems – one private, and one public. Legislators should vote these bills down to protect public education funding and prevent more local property tax hikes. Act now!
So-Called Parental Bill of Rights to Be Voted on in House Committee on Tuesday
Keep politics out of the classroom – urge the House Children and Family Law Committee to Oppose HB 10. This week, the House Children and Family Law Committee is scheduled to vote on their version of a so-called “parent bill of rights.” The amendments being considered by the committee do remove the criminal penalties stipulated in the original bill but leave vague language about what rights parents have to direct their student’s education and the potential penalties that could arise because of running afoul a vague or unnamed parental right. Click here to join us to tell lawmakers we should be passing legislation that supports the relationships between parents, students, and educators – not fracturing them with broadly subjective language and possible educator penalties.
Major Hearings This Week:
HB 748 – Local Voucher Bill is Back
ACTION REQUESTED: SIGN IN to OPPOSE funding vouchers with your local school budget. HB 748 is being heard on Monday, March 3rd in the House Education Policy and Administration Committee at 9:30am. Please find step-by-step instructions to sign in below.
For the fourth time in five years, lawmakers are considering a bill to create a locally funded voucher program where your school district’s local funds would go directly to funding private or home school vouchers. HB 748 would expand school vouchers to families with unlimited means and use local property tax money to do so. Like the state program counterpart, this local voucher initiative would also contain limited accountability measures. The bill tasks a third-party organization to make decisions on what vendors meet the criteria of education for children, not the local school board. However, it will still be the local school district which remains obligated to fund those curriculum and costs.
SB 96 – Mandatory Disclosure Bill is Back After Being Defeated Last Year
ACTION REQUESTED: Please SIGN or WRITE IN to OPPOSE SB 96 before the Senate Education Committee hearing on Tuesday, March 4th at 9am. Let them know that threatening educators with culture war bills like this hurt the strong relationship educators have with parents and their students. Please find step-by-step instructions to sign in below.
SB 96 is the exact same bill from last year that was an outgrowth of a senate parental rights bill provision, requiring educators to be agents for a forced “outing” of a student. Like the unconstitutional banned concepts law, this culture war bill targets educators with the threat of a violation of the educator code of conduct. Proponents say this is just requiring educators to be honest, but we know the undercurrent of what this bill is.
HB 50 – House Amendment Would Try to “Fix” Unconstitutional Banned Concepts Law…Unsuccessfully
ACTION REQUESTED: Please SIGN or WRITE IN to OPPOSE this amendment and let the committee know the only fix to the unconstitutional banned concepts law is to repeal it. The HB 50 non-germane amendment #2025-0595h is being held on Wednesday, March 5th at 9am in the House Education Policy and Administration Committee. Please find step-by-step instructions to sign in below.
After a federal court declared the banned concepts law unconstitutional, the state appealed that decision which is currently underway. Some politicians couldn’t wait though and are attempting to hijack a bill that would have repealed the entire law in order to try and circumvent the legal process. We know this entire law is unconstitutional and makes it harder for educators to do their job of helping prepare their students to succeed in the future.
HB 324 – House Book Ban Hearing Coming Up
ACTION REQUESTED: Please SIGN or WRITE IN to OPPOSE HB 324, the House book ban bill, before the House Education Policy and Administration Committee hearing on Wednesday, March 5 at 2:45 p.m. Tell the committee a bill that puts educators at risk of criminal and licensure penalties is still wrong for our students. Please find step-by-step instructions to sign in below.
Rep. Glenn Cordelli is back this week with yet another book ban attempt. HB 324 is unnecessary because we already have an objectionable materials law for our public schools which allows ANY parent to opt their child out of any required coursework, curriculum, or material. Like a lot of these culture war bills, HB 324 would go way beyond parental opt-out by potentially imposing one parent’s objections on others. Additionally, this bill imposes potential criminal and licensure penalties for educators in what is otherwise another vaguely established process written by national interests attempting to pass this cookie-cutter legislation in other states.
NEA-NH Bill Tracker
You can also follow all the bills we are watching next week by checking out our NEA-NH bill tracker.
NEA-NH Legislative Advocacy Toolkit
Most of the tools you need to be a legislative advocate for public education are right at your fingertips through NEA-New Hampshire. Check out our new NEA-NH Legislative Advocacy Toolkit here to get all the information you need on how to communicate with your state representatives and senators, support and oppose specific bills, and testify in Concord.
Questions?
If you have questions on any of these bills or ones not mentioned here, please feel free to contact Brian Hawkins, NEA-NH Director of Government Relations at bhawkins@nhnea.org.
Need help signing in on legislation? Follow these comprehensive instructions (details for public hearings are contained in each action request).
For House bills:
1. Visit this link: https://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/house/committees/remotetestimony/default.aspx
2. Enter your personal information
3. Select the hearing date
4. Select the committee
5. Choose the bill
6. I am – A member of the public
7. Choose who you are representing – Myself
8. Indicate your position on this bill
9. Upload remote testimony (Optional)
10. Review information and click submit
For Senate bills:
1. Go to https://bit.ly/3S4Cof1 and click the date that the bill you are interested in is being heard
2. Select the committee that is hearing the bill
3. Select the bill you are interested in
4. Select a category – Member of the Public
5. Indicate your position on this bill
6. Click continue
7. Enter your name and contact information
8. Click continue
9. Carefully review the information to ensure it is entered correctly. If it is correct, check the box and click continue.