State House Watch – June 29, 2025 – The Democrats of Tuftonboro & Wolfeboro, NH

https://afsc.org/newsroom/state-house-watch-june-29-2025

“No, I make no pretension to patriotism. So long as my voice can be heard on this or the other side of the Atlantic, I will hold up America to the lighting scorn of moral indignation. In doing this, I shall feel myself discharging the duty of a true patriot; for he is a lover of his country who rebukes and does not excuse its sins.” – Frederick Douglass “Love of God, Love of Man, Love of Country,” speech at Market Hall, New York City, October 22, 1847

Dear State House Watchers,

Well, here we are at session’s end. The House and Senate wrapped up their business on Thursday, approving the budget bills and most of the Committee of Conference reports, closing a session marked by dramatic steps backward for the cause of civil rights, human dignity, and well-being. This will be our final regular issue of State House Watch for the 2025 session, but we’ll be back in a few weeks with a summary of the outcomes and our ‘take’ on the highs and lows of the past six months. We all deserve a restful and inspiring summer vacation, so we hope you’ll be spending it in ways that give you joy, nourish your creativity, and strengthen your connection to the long and often beautiful labor of love, justice, and solidarity.

Community readings of Fredrick Douglass’ “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” took place in 16 towns yesterday, hosted by the Black Heritage Trail of NH. Read more here about Douglass’ history in New Hampshire and how his powerful words resonate with our current condition.

Legislators passed the budget bills by party-line votes in the Senate and the smallest margin in the House, following a veto threat by the governor over Group II retirement benefits for police, EMTs, fire fighters and corrections officers, and preparation of a continuing resolution in anticipation of a failed negotiation. After the first budget vote in the House, which failed, intense negotiations ensued with a few reluctant Republicans, one of whom was assured that Republican leadership would strongly support a proposal in the next session to defund refugee resettlement in the state. The maneuvers worked to secure enough votes to get it done. The governor’s concern for retirement benefits and school aid for Manchester were resolved in a separate bill that passed the Senate unanimously and with only 14 dissenting votes in the House.

As we have done all session, and in every budget year, we turn to the NH Fiscal Policy Institute for the full story. Read it here.

From InDepthNH: “The $15.7 billion package, down from the $15.9 billion, ‘invests no new money in housing, the overwhelming, number one issue in our state,’ said Sen. Cindy Rosenwald, D-Nashua. ‘It makes a deep, 18 percent cut to the University System driving up tuition and pushing away young talent from our state. Families will continue to struggle with high rents and hefty property tax bills while businesses will face difficulties recruiting and retaining a strong workforce,’ she said. Rosenwald added the budget does nothing for the rising cost of housing, health care, child care, higher education and energy. It cuts 18 filled positions from the Department of Corrections, she noted and issues a ‘tax’ to the poorest families for their health care and calls for a $51 million back of the budget cut for Health and Human Services which will disrupt health care.” Read more here. And here.

We appreciate these words from Keith Kuenning about some of the most irresponsible cuts in the new budget: New Hampshire’s budget betrays our children. “The proposed budget does more than neglect the needs of vulnerable youth — it actively undermines the very systems designed to protect them. Most troubling among these changes are deep cuts to the Office of the Child Advocate (OCA), a vital safeguard created in 2017 after the tragic deaths of two young children who had been involved with the Division for Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF)…. The Office of the Child Advocate was created to prevent tragedy. Gutting it now is a decision we will come to regret — because history, when ignored, has a cruel way of repeating itself. New Hampshire, we have seen this story before. The tragedies that led to the establishment of the OCA were not that long ago. We were there, we saw the news headlines. Let’s not live through it again.”

We also appreciate this op-ed from our friends Rev. Allison Palm and Rev. Jon Hopkins who had advocated in vain for Governor Ayotte to fulfill her promise to meet with faith leaders during this consequential session.

The state budget includes language that allows the governor to select the YDC settlement fund administrator, taking that power away from the NH Supreme Court, and also gives her the power to override victim settlement agreements. Three YDC victims filed a lawsuit on Friday in opposition to this change; they – and many others – had agreed to the settlement process believing that it would be fair. Read more here and here.

Also in the budget is language that eliminates state-mandated automobile inspections.

The governor signed the budget bills on Friday, as well as 32 other pieces of legislation that had made it to her desk. Read more here.

We’re happy to see that the bill to impose mandatory minimum sentences for certain drug-related offenses was defeated when the Senate failed to approve the Committee of Conference report for SB 14. Read more here. And listen to Representative Jodi Newell’s powerful floor speech in opposition to the proposal, sharing her own experience of the loss of a loved one and her insights into a failed strategy.

Scroll down for action alerts on several voter suppression bills and a bill that will undermine tenant protections, all of which passed the legislature on Thursday and are headed to the governor’s desk for final action. Please urge her to veto these harmful bills, as well as the multiple bills that will hurt transgender adults and young people in our state.

News from Washington, DC
At the national level, the news is bleak and alarming. The US Supreme Court issued several rulings as it wrapped up its session last week, including against universal injunctions, thereby limiting the power of judges to curtail the overreach of the Trump Administration, and effectively allowing temporarily for the Administration to block birthright citizenship. Read more here, here, and here. From AFSC: “This decision is an affront to constitutional rights, common sense, and the wellbeing of our communities. It also undermines the legal system as a whole and the ability of federal courts to put a check on presidential power in particular. However, the Supreme Court did not rule on the issue of birthright citizenship itself. We will continue to work with partners and communities across the country to challenge both unjust immigration policies and authoritarianism more broadly. We will be in Congress, in the courts, in our communities, and in the streets working for a world where democracy is upheld and our families are not torn apart. Our communities are stronger and safer with immigrants.”