1/4/25 NEA-NH Legislative Update: Next Week: Legislative Advocacy Training; First Day of Legislative Session; Ayotte Inauguration Edit
January 3, 2025 in Legislative Action / Legislative Update / Legislative Update Report (updated on January 3, 2025)
Virtual Legislative Advocacy Training on Wednesday, January 8th!
Want to get involved in the fight to protect public education at the State House but don’t know where to start? We have you covered. As we prepare for legislative efforts that would dramatically impact public education, NEA-New Hampshire President Megan Tuttle will host a virtual advocacy training on January 8 from 6 – 6:30 pm with Government Relations Director Brian Hawkins. Registration is required for this 30-minute training on how you can be an advocate for the issues that matter most to you and your students this upcoming session.
Legislative Session Officially Starts Next Week; Start Following Bills!
Next week the New Hampshire House and Senate will have their first official day of session after having been sworn in last month. On this session day, each body will adopt any rule amendments for the upcoming session. Bill language is already coming out for many bills, and we will be launching our bill tracker once again for the 2025 session on the NEA-New Hampshire Legislative Dashboard. Check back next week when the full list will be broken down by specific issue categories. We expect public hearings on bills to begin the week of January 13th.
New House Rule Proposes Forgoing Hearings on some Bills
A newly proposed House rule will create a “Table Calendar,” which a bill can be placed on without a public hearing if 3/4 of the committee members vote to do so. This is an attempt to save committee time given the high volume of bills when there is an overwhelming bi-partisan consensus among committee members that the bill will not have any support.
However, by a majority vote of the full House, a bill placed on the Table Calendar by a committee can be removed and therefore required to have a hearing. The House will need to adopt this rule by majority vote when they meet on January 8th for it to take effect.
Ayotte Inauguration: What to Listen For
Governor-elect Kelly Ayotte will be inaugurated on Thursday, January 9th at 11:30 am. You can watch live here. As we hear from her at the start of her tenure and this new legislative session, we will be listening to determine if public education funding will be a priority for her office. As a candidate, Ayotte campaigned on a pledge to divert more public funds for private education. We hope that as governor, she will prioritize solving major issues in public education like the educator workforce shortage, special and general education funding, and supporting working families.
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 [email protected].
