AFT-NH Legislative Bulletin, 2021-16

April 19, 2021 ~ Bow, NH

This will be a short legislative bulletin, because the House and Senate were relatively inactive this past week.  This is especially true of the NH House, where very few committees met this past week and most members seemed to be in recovery mode from the grueling 3-day session at the Bedford Sportsplex.  The relative inactivity continues this coming week as well, with a few more committees meeting but the schedule in no way resembles the heavy workload preceding crossover on April 9.

A primary focus of attention going forward will be the State budget, now in the hands of the NH Senate.  A few days ago, the Business and Industry Association (BIA), the largest pro-business group in NH, came out against continued inclusion of HB 544 (prohibiting discussion of so-called “divisive concepts”) in the State budget, calling it a real black-eye against NH.  The BIA is an old-fashioned anti-union, anti-worker, pro-business group who constantly demand both tax cuts for themselves and greater support and services from NH government.  On this issue, though, AFT-NH is in complete agreement with the BIA.  The language against so-called divisive concepts is an embarrassment and must be removed from the State budget.  Interestingly, Republican Rep. Keith Ammon appeared on WMUR to warn the BIA, asking if they had suddenly become “woke,” while House Finance Chair Ken Weyler (Republican) warned that removal of HB 544 language could endanger the budget when it returns to the House in June.  So, stay tuned.

School Vouchers and Senate Budget In the meantime, the Senate Finance Committee is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the State budget on the afternoon of Tuesday, May 4.  As previously noted, we expect the Senate will likely insert “education savings accounts,” commonly termed vouchers, into the budget.  The goal is to do so without a single dedicated hearing on the financial impact of this program upon public school funding or upon your property taxes.  The House failed to act this year on its version, HB 20, so there were never any hearings there on the financial costs and almost complete lack of accountability in this giveaway of taxpayer dollars to families and private organizations.  The Senate did pass its version, SB 130, but then tabled it, avoiding any hearing on the financial implications, a tacit recognition that it will prove costly, lacks any accountability or controls, and will both undermine public education funding and raise your property taxes.  However, there is the hearing on May 4 and we encourage you to register your opinion via email or even better, to sign up and testify against any inclusion of education vouchers/savings accounts in the State budget.  You can contact Senators on the Senate Finance Committee and ask them to oppose vouchers by clicking this link, Say No to Vouchers in the Senate Budget. Mark your calendars for May 4^th at 1pm. We know most of our members will be working at that time but as soon as the link for the Finance Committee hearing is up, we will let you know so you can register your opinion on the inclusion of vouchers in the budget. Please make sure to take both of these actions as we approach this all-important budget hearing—your voice needs to be heard!!

Finally, the dominant political story this week is the Governor’s decision to end the statewide mask mandate.  While COVID case numbers continue rising, along with hospitalizations and deaths, the Governor bows to political expediency in ending the mask mandate (although honestly, it was always riddled with exceptions so as to render it toothless).  Still, with COVID cases rising among young people in NH, ending the mask mandate while requiring schools to reopen full-time without proper safety measures all send a poor message—that politics matters more than public safety.

Enjoy the nice days to come this week.  If you got snow on Friday, hopefully it melts quickly.  Forsythia are blooming, daffodils are up, Spring is coming!

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