What Just Happened: Recap of June 26, 2025 NH House Session—Special Dumpster Fire Edition
From the passing and signing of a dismal dumpster fire of a state budget that is already triggering lawsuits—to the approval of legislation that erodes voting rights, imposes unfunded mandates on NH communities, further marginalizes immigrants, and denies gender-affirming health care to children—our legislature and our governor hit new lows last week. Here’s what you need to know.
Setting the Scene
Thursday was the deadline for the House to sign-off on bills where Committee of Conference negotiators from the House and Senate were able to reach agreement on final provisions. (Bills where no agreement was reached simply died). Unlike previous House sessions where floor amendments could be submitted to make last minute changes to the bill, members could only vote up or down on the final bill emerging from the Committee of Conference.
The headliner for the day was the state budget, which eventually passed by a single vote. But there were also over a dozen other bills on the calendar, many promoted as “compromises” by Republicans and reported as such in the media. Unfortunately, the reality was that any meaningful negotiations on these bills took place exclusively between Republicans. On several committees, no Democrats were appointed at all. On the budget, much of the negotiating took place away from scheduled Committee of Conference sessions in separate meetings to which Democrats weren’t invited. Meanwhile, the few Dems appointed to a Committee of Conference on other bills often found themselves in a no-win position. That’s because if they voiced any disagreement with the majority’s final recommendation, they were simply replaced with compliant Republicans.
The bottom line is that with a 41 vote majority in the House and 16-8 majority in the Senate, Republicans felt they could pass legislation simply by shoring up their own factions with no need to negotiate with Democrats.
And with one notable exception, that’s exactly what they did—even though they were forced to sweat out a few anxious moments.
The Biggest Anxious Moment: The Budget
In the days leading up to the votes on HB 1 and HB 2—the two bills that make up the state budget—Gov. Ayotte retreated from her hard-line Trumpian persona and struck a pose as a moderate by threatening to veto the budget over last-minute committee of conference backroom deals between House and Senate Republicans that would have resulted in Manchester losing $10 million in education funding and a group of police officers and firefighters whose pension benefits were reduced in 2011 not having their benefits restored. In the end a fix was passed that addressed both issues in part.
But the fix, which passed by a large 322-41 margin, with support from all Democrats, served to raise the ire of budget-hawking House Freedom Caucus Republicans who felt the fixes were too expensive.
With Democrats united in opposition to the budget, shaky Republican support (if you consider 90% support to be “shaky”) resulted in the initial vote on HB 1 failing 182-183. But wait, there’s more! In the NH House, the rules allow a member who voted on the prevailing side to request reconsideration (a new vote) if they claim to have voted the wrong way by mistake. More often than not, this is less the result of a mistake than the outcome of coercion, arm-twisting, and assorted threats and extortion attempts. And sometimes, in combination with members leaving early for the day, a close vote can be flipped later in the day—which is exactly what happened after a lunchtime arm-twisting/bribery break that lasted nearly 2 hours. In one example, Rep. Travis Corcoran (R-Weare) proudly posted on X that he flipped his vote to YES after receiving a promise from House GOP leadership that in the 2026 session that they will support his attempt to defund refugee support services coordinated by the NH Department of Health and Human Services. Funded primarily via federal grants, these services include cash and medical assistance, access to English language classes, vocational and employment assistance. And, as Garry Rayno reports, this apparently wasn’t the only dark-corner deal done with some of our state house lesser-devils to shore up support.
When the House reconvened, a motion was made to reconsider the vote, which passed by 5 votes. On the second try, the first budget bill, HB 1 passed 185-180. After a motion was made successfully to restrict debate (because the last thing Republicans wanted was to give Dems another chance to point out the many ways this flawed budget fails the people of New Hampshire), the second budget bill, HB 2 eventually passed 193-173.
Striking yet another pose as a moderate, Gov. Ayotte, with a straight face, praised the budget for “protecting the most vulnerable”. While the final budget she signed on Friday did manage to untie funding for developmental disability services from the railroad tracks that House budget writers had attempted to tie it to, her claim that this budget protects vulnerable people is disingenuous at best.
Not only does this budget provide a school-voucher-palooza windfall of tens of millions of dollars to wealthy people looking for a handout to send their kids to private school, it cuts $51 million from the budget of the Department of Health and Human Services, whose mission in large part is literally to help our state’s most vulnerable people. Meanwhile, it imposes a new income tax on low-income people enrolled in the Granite Advantage health care program as well as parents of kids who take part in the Children’s Health Insurance Program, along prescription drug copays and new work requirements that will drive many people away from the program.
Other lowlights:
The budget for the Office of the Child Advocate was cut in half, leaving it unable to fulfill its statutory obligations
At a time when the legislature is imposing a laundry list of new requirements on school administrators and districts, the budget increases funding for public education by only 2%—well below the rate of inflation—which means NH’s status as last among the 50 states for public education funding will remain intact.
Racist, anti-DEI provisions were added with no public hearing along with a provision that threatens to strip state funding from communities that “knowingly or unknowingly” violate intentionally vague rules about classifying people based on personal characteristics, like race or disability, as a way to reach specific goals.
The YDC Settlement Fund was drastically underfunded, opening up the state to more costly lawsuits—which not-so-coincidentally started to be filed almost immediately.
Huge cuts were made to family planning services, where the outcome will be measured not only in terms of unwanted pregnancies—but also in unwanted and untreated sexually transmitted diseases..
The New Hampshire State Council for the Arts—which Republicans claim to have “saved”—was defunded to a level where it will no longer be eligible for federal matching grants. But no worries! It’s now authorized to collect private donations through a “Patron of the Arts Fund” tax deduction gimmick that effectively means the Council for the Arts must now compete for donations with the same organizations they used to fund. With 90% of its current budget removed, the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts is now the lowest-funded State Arts Agency in the United States.
The budget of the state university system—already one of the most underfunded in the country—was cut another 20%
To be fair, not every provision in the budget was cruel, short-sighted, or unpopular. For example, the final budget contained a bundle of maternal health care initiatives (from SB 246). These include expanded access to at-home post-partum medical visits, peer support networks, and a provider consultation hotline.
But provisions like this one were few and far between.
So to minimize potential blowback, Gov. Ayotte and House and Senate Republicans repeatedly took to social media to distract both the media and the public with provisions included in the budget that will impose a bell-to-bell cell phone ban in NH public schools and an end to motor vehicle inspections.
While the projected impact on insurance rates, state revenue, and highway safety make ending inspections a questionable policy; saving $40 a year and avoiding the hassle of booking an inspection led to this provision winning support from members of both parties. At the same time, the cell phone ban drew wide support from parents, teacher organizations, and reps from both parties.
In the end, these two issues were regrettably among the very few aspects of the budget battle that seemed to break through to a wider audience.
So What Else Happened?
Committee of Conference reports on bills approved by both the House and Senate last week are headed to the governor for signature. Although there were few surprises and many disappointments, there were many hard-fought battles along the way.
Mandatory Minimums for Fentanyl Possession Defeated, Reconsidered, Passed, and Then Shot Down for 2025 in the Senate. While not every vote was as dramatic as the budget vote, this one came close. SB 14 , a bill that curiously paired mandatory minimum sentences for crimes involving fentanyl with a provision that lowered the penalty for possessing the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, was eventually defeated after a torturous, rollercoaster journey. Initially, the bill was rejected by a tight 183-186 margin. But later in the day, House approved a motion reconsider the bill and eventually flipped the earlier vote, passing the Committee of Conference report 185-182. But wait, there’s more! To actually get the bill over to the governor for signature, the Senate also had to approve it—and to make a long story somewhat shorter, it didn’t. So how did a bill that was one of Gov. Ayotte’s legislative priorities wind up failing in a state senate where Republicans hold a super-majority? Unfortunately it wasn’t because they had an awakening to the fact that mandatory minimums are a failed policy that would unnecessarily take discretion away from NH judges (most of whom have been appointed for the last 8 years by Republican governors) who already have the power to sentence offenders to up to 30 years. It was because of a (womp…womp) failed political ploy. In order to win the support of an extreme faction “Liberty Republicans” (who seem to be big fans of shrooms), the bill was amended in the House to also reduce the penalty for first offense possession of psilocybin (the active ingredient in “magic mushrooms”) from a felony to a misdemeanor. This proved to be some tough fungus to swallow—even for Republican supporters of mandatory minimums in the Senate. But the provision that finished it off was the addition of a 3/4 ounce possession limit for psilocybin—the psychoactive chemical compound itself and NOT the bulkier, heavier magic mushrooms that contain it. Turns out that’s a YUGE amount of psilocybin—enough for 1,082 individual 20mg doses. This drew the ire of the NH Chiefs of Police Association, which resulted in the bill being tabled in the Senate. During debate on the bill in the House, Rep. Jodi Newell, in one of more poignant moments of the entire session, told the story of her late husband’s addiction and death and how the bill would sweep up and impose long sentences on far too many addicts who are not dealers. You can view her speech here.
The Anti-Transgender Jihad Continues. HB 377 passed 202-161. It prohibits the use of surgical treatment and puberty blocker medication on children under the age of 18 for treatment of gender dysphoria. While bill was amended to allow children who start treatment before January 1, 2026 to continue treatment, the full ban will apply to children and their parents seeking treatment after that date. During the debate, Rep. Alice Wade (D-Dover) said, “We’ve heard time and time again this session parents should have the final decision about their child’s health care and here we are…We’ve lost the principle of minding our own damn business. This is not parental rights, this is discrimination.” Meanwhile, HB 172, a bill that would limit breast surgeries for minors and provides a private right of action against the surgeon for violating the statute, passed 191-163. More.
Creative New Ways to Hate on Immigrants. Eager to show support for the lawless federal effort to rid the United States of anyone with darker skin or a foreign accent, GOP legislators in the House passed two more anti-immigrant bills.
HB 506 passed 197-159. This bill was amended in the Senate to tack on a provision invalidating out-of-state driver's licenses issued specifically to undocumented immigrants. Additionally, it imposes criminal penalties on drivers stopped by police who present these licenses—most of whom would have no idea that their license wasn’t valid in NH.
HB 71 passed 204-163. It bans public schools and state colleges from offering shelter to undocumented people by threatening to withhold state financial assistance to schools and communities that do. This issue has never even been suggested in New Hampshire and is a classic example of a manufactured issue.
Surprise! Yet Another Bill Expanding “Parental Rights” Passes. One of the great ironies in a state that is one of the few to have enshrined the right to privacy in our state constitution is that our legislature doesn’t see fit to apply it to children. HB 273 passed 201-165. It requires librarians to disclose materials borrowed by children under the age of 18 if a parent requests it. Librarians and many parents opposed the bill. It didn’t matter.
Micromanaging Elections and Making Voting Harder. Under the banner of making elections “more secure” in a state where voter fraud is virtually nonexistent (and most of those caught voting illegally are Republicans), a number of bill were passed that will ultimately result in legitimate voters being denied their right to vote.
SB 218 requires absentee voters to prove not just that they live in New Hampshire—but that they are also US citizens. This despite the fact that 1) no evidence was presented showing that even one non-citizen voted in a New Hampshire election and 2) non-citizens voting in federal elections are already subject to deportation and up to a year in prison. Meanwhile, lack of easily-lost documentation, such as a birth certificate, will add more people to the growing list of people blocked from the voting by Republicans.
SB 287 requires those requesting an absentee ballot to provide a copy of their photo identification with their application. The bill assumes all voters have access to a copier or can make a trip to the clerk’s office to pick up a ballot in-person. It’s one more thing that makes voting more difficult without any evidence that it makes the process more secure.
HB 154 allows individual voters to request that their ballots be hand-counted even in polling places that use machine tabulation. Another brick on the load for volunteer election workers.
SB 221 requires an annual purging of voter registration records with a 5-year lookback period, replacing the current 10-year lookback period. This will add expense for municipalities and result in many more voters being wrongly disenfranchised.