Comments from Concord: A Collection of Comments from NH Legislators on Recent Bills

Provided by NH House Communications
HB 10House Speaker Sherman Packard’s (R-Londonderry) statement regarding HB 10-FN — relative to establishing the parental bill of rights – after it failed to pass on a 189-195 vote: “I am disappointed that some of my colleagues voted to deny parents’ inherent rights to direct the upbringing, education, and care of their own children. Our message to parents is simple. Republicans have your back. And you can rest assured we will continue to make legislative efforts to protect your right to be involved in raising your children.”

House Majority Leader Jason Osborne (R-Auburn) released the following statement after the House failed to pass HB10, establishing the parental bill of rights, on a vote of 189-195. “This bill sought to answer one fundamental question: who are your children’s parents? You, or the state? Democrats want school to be a black box for you to deposit your children. What goes on in school? Who knows, but it seems House Democrats evidently want to ensure that you stay in the dark and the government remains in charge of your children.” He continued, “It is unfortunate that the members of the House were swayed by scare tactics and false information. Educators and parents should be partners in a child’s education, and it is not the job of school administrators sitting behind a desk to decide what gets shared with parents and what is deliberately kept from them. Sadly, today every Democrat in the House chose to support systems and secrets over parents.”

HB 315Representatives Shaun Filiault (D-Keene), Katelyn Kuttab (R-Windham) and Amanda Elizabeth Toll (D-Keene) released the following joint statement after the passage of HB 315 – relative to prohibiting provocations based on a victim’s actual or perceived gender, gender identity, gender expression or sexual orientation from being used as defense in a criminal case — on the House Consent Calendar: “This is an important piece of bipartisan legislation to protect the LGBTQ+ community from ever being victims of what is known as the ‘Gay Panic Defense’. This defense unjustly allows a murderer to reduce First Degree Murder charges to Manslaughter, using the insanity defense under RSA 628:2. By passing this on consent, we are sending a unified message that all citizens of New Hampshire are protected equally.”