Hearing on Safe Haven Expansion This Week
Recently, the House passed HB 1607, relative to expanded safe haven protections, but missed a critical opportunity to position New Hampshire as the leader in child protections among our New England neighbors.
The most important part of the bill was removed on the House floor: Section 5, which would have ensured parents surrendering a baby would not have to fear prosecution as a result of their surrender. It is critical and necessary to include this exclusionary provision in the expansion of safe haven law to accomplish the law’s goal, that is, to save lives NOT catch criminals or deter parents from doing the right thing for their child.
We know of instances where mothers have turned away from making use of the safe haven law out of a real fear of prosecution. This either leads to an increase in illegal abandonment and chances for infant death through malnourishment, exposure, or overdose – or keeps an unwanted child in an unsafe and dangerous environment. Excluding the act of surrendering a child from being leveraged for prosecution does not preclude bringing a criminal to justice.
Work must still be done to protect at-risk babies from fatal abandonment or abuse. The Senate must re-insert the Section 5 exclusionary provisions of the bill to ensure parents are not discouraged from using this safe and secure means to surrender their unwanted child.
HB 1607 has been scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee, Tuesday, April 30, at 2:00pm, in the State House room 100.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
1. Register your support of HB 1607 by signing in in support of the bill here.
You can find step-by-step instructions on how to sign in here.
2. Submit written testimony. To submit written testimony, you must email all committee members, along with the committee aide, your testimony directly. Contact info for the Senate Judiciary Committee:
Sharon.Carson@leg.state.nh.us, William.Gannon@leg.state.nh.us, Shannon.Chandley@leg.state.nh.us, Becky.Whitley@leg.state.nh.us, Daryl.Abbas@leg.state.nh.us, matthew.schelzi@leg.state.nh.us (committee aide)
3. Come testify in person. We have step-by-step instructions on how to testify here. You can also reach out to us at cornerstone@nhcornerstone.org if you have any questions about the testifying process.
During the House debate on HB 1607, Rep. Katy Peternel (Wolfeboro, Tuftonboro) gave a compelling floor speech, begging the all-important question: What will happen to the child if the exclusionary rule is not restored? Watch the clip below or read her full remarks here. Then, please help us amplify this message by sharing on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter/X!
SB 219, The Students First Act, is an important bill that, through a simple reporting requirement, will help crack down on sprawling and expensive school administration in New Hampshire to ensure that our education spending puts students and teachers first.
As amended by the Senate, SB 219 would require school districts to report six-figure salaries of diversity professionals and other high-paid administrators before school budget meetings.
These reports will prove to voters that they are being deceived. Despite decades of increasing school expenses around New Hampshire sold to us as directly benefiting our students, very little school tax increases are actually going to teacher pay. Instead, school districts are creating well-paid, left-wing administrative bureaucracies focused on expensive Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives and staffing, all at the expense of teachers and students.
Last week, SB 219 came out of the House Education Committee with no recommendation, as the vote was 10/10 along party lines.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
We urge you to contact your representatives and ask them to support transparency in schools and vote for an OTP motion on the House floor.
HB 1283, relative to end of life options, would implement state-sanctioned suicide for those facing an illness which a physician has predicted would be terminal within 6 months.
This bill had a public hearing in the Senate HHS Committee,
Wednesday, April 24, with many coming out in strong opposition to the bill.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
We urge you to contact your Senator and ask them to oppose the bill when it comes to the Senate floor soon.
HB 396 is needed to clarify that nothing in New Hampshire law prevents public facilities from differentiating between the biological sexes in athletic competitions, prisons, locker rooms, restrooms, or places of intimate privacy.
While other similar legislation focuses on sporting events alone, by clarifying that “any person or organization, public or private” can make a common-sense classification based on biological sex, HB 396 provides the most expansive framework to address the ongoing harm to vulnerable women and girls and has the greatest success of becoming law in New Hampshire. This bill also seeks to address the growing issue of young New Hampshire boys displaced by the opposite sex utilizing their restrooms in schools.
It is vital that the Senate pass HB 396, unamended in any way, as an important first step to stop the abuse of women and girls by simply clarifying the state’s ability to differentiate based on biological sex.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
HB 396 will be coming to the full Senate soon. We urge you to contact your Senator and ask them to support the bill when it comes to the Senate floor soon.
