March 5, 2022 ~ Bow, NH
March is shaping up to be very busy with scheduled House sessions and committees working to make final recommendations on outstanding bills. The full House will meet this week on Thursday, March 10th. The other tentative dates for the next House sessions are March 15, 16, 17, and 31st. There are no bills from the House Education committee being voted on by the House on March 10th.
Action Needed (HB 1393-local school budget cap) However, there is an important bill to be considered by the full House in the near future. This bill has been recommended Ought to Pass by a 10-9 vote in the Municipal and County Government committee. HB 1393 would adversely affect local school districts by allowing local school districts to adopt a budget cap with a formula that is primarily based on average daily attendance of pupils. Such a formula would not take into account actual costs in the school district such as transportation contracts, fuel, or even out-of-district costs for special education. This would leave districts with a budget that could not even meet the basic needs of the district.
Action Request Please contact your legislator by clicking the following link: Defeat HB 1393
Committee Work and Action Request AFT-NH is actively monitoring all relevant bills with a particular eye towards HB 1298 (education tax credit), HB 1255 (teacher loyalty), and HB 1671 (changing requirements for an adequate education) . These bills are due to be reported out of committee by March 10th.
The House Education Committee will be acting on these bills, so we would ask you to email the House Education Committee at House Education Committee members and ask them to defeat HB 1671 and maintain a robust curriculum including arts, physical education, foreign language and computer literacy that engages the whole student remains the heart of how the state of New Hampshire defines public education as well as any other thoughts you may have on the outstanding bills.
Retirement Bills and Action Requests There are two important NH Retirement bills that passed the full House and will be before the House Finance Committee-Division I. Both bills will be heard on March 9th. HB 1417 would restore 7.5% in funding by the state to local communities of the NH Retirement System. This would provide some relief to local property taxpayers. HB 1535 would provide a 1.5% COLA on the first $30,000 of retirement pay to retirees who have been retired for 60 months.
Action Requests:
You can take a one-click action HERE to support a COLA (HB 1535) for NH retirees.
And you can take a one-click action HERE to support HB 1417 to have the state fund a portion of the retirement system at the local level to help provide property tax relief.
Legislative action will be stepping up and we will keep you informed as soon as there are developments. Please keep an eye out for additional legislative bulletins requesting your help! We know we can make a difference when these legislators hear from their constituents. Thank you for all of your work.
And for those of you who live in towns and school districts voting on Tuesday, please review your candidate choices carefully and be sure to vote for those candidates who will support and defend our public schools. Make your voice heard.
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.Please continue to check our website at http://nh.aft.org/ for updates on how we can protect public education, public services, the NH Retirement System, and advance initiatives as we work to continually improve it.
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You can also read written testimony submitted to the legislature at STATE HOUSE NEWS.
NH Retirement Security Coalition The NHRSC will be tracking all bills related to the NH Retirement System and continuing advocacy for our members. You can find the legislation tracker following retirement bills by clicking on the following link NHRSC UPDATES. AFT-NH is a member of the NH Retirement Security Coalition (NHRSC).