Segregating bathrooms/locker rooms by sex goes to Sununu
May 22—CONCORD — A bill (SB 396) to make it legal to segregate public bathrooms, locker rooms and prisons by biological sex is on its way to the desk of Gov. Chris Sununu.
The state Senate approved the House-passed bill along party lines Wednesday with supporters insisting the state should respect the rights of women and men to have zones of privacy.
"Men and women are equal in the eyes of the law, but that does not mean ignoring the fundamental rules of biology amounts to illegal discrimination," said Sen. Bill Gannon, R-Sandown.
Sen. Debra Altschiller, D-Stratham, said the bill violates the rights of transgender individuals to use facilities that identify with their chosen gender.
"Biological sex is used to exclude and lessen transgender people," Altschiller said. "We are clawing back rights against individuals who want to use a bathroom."
Cornerstone Action New Hampshire, a socially conservative interest group, lobbied in support of the measure.
Liz Canada, advocacy director for the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said it's up to Sununu to block the bill and three others that critics say target LGBTQ+ individuals.
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During an all-day session Wednesday, the Senate also approved bills dealing with educational choice, the aftermath of COVID-19 and gun rights, among other issues.
EFA expansion passes
A move to make more families eligible for taxpayer-paid education grants known as Education Freedom Accounts won approval though it faces an uncertain future in the House.
The Senate approved the bill, 14-10, raising the eligibility for families from 350% to 400% of the federal poverty level, the latter representing about $125,000 a year for a family of four.
The amendment was added to a House-passed bill (HB 1665) with Sununu's support that would raise the limit to 500% of the federal poverty level or $150,000 for that same family.
The House only passed its version by a single vote in February, so its survival will depend on attendance in that closely divided chamber when the bill resurfaces there.
Guns in locked cars at work endorsed
The Senate gave final approval to the House-passed bill that would require all employers that receive state or federal grant money to permit their employees to have loaded guns locked in their cars as long as they are not in public view (HB 1336).
Mask mandate ban gets final approval
The Senate also passed and sent to Sununu a ban on public schools adopting mask mandate policies (HB 1093).
Senate Majority Whip Regina Birdsell, R-Hampstead, said the COVID-19 pandemic revealed that mask requirements often created a harmful learning environment for public school students.
But Sen. Suzanne Prentiss, D-Lebanon, said the bill violates local control and ignores the possibility that a future public health emergency could call for a similar response.
"There is this whole stigma now around facial masking, but there could be other situations where there is a respiratory illness" where a mask restriction would be necessary, she said.
The Senate passed the bill by the same 14-10 partisan margin.
Safe Haven expanded
The Senate passed legislation (HB 1607) to expand from seven to 61 days the age of a newborn that someone could leave with a hospital or law enforcement agency without being prosecuted for neglect or abandonment.
Much of the debate was over an amendment that prevents law enforcement from using any evidence obtained at the time of disposal in a criminal or civil case against that person who turns over the child.
The Senate passed the bill 14-10, and it goes back to the House of Representatives for further review.
Deep fakes reform bill moves ahead
Without debate, the Senate approved outlawing the use of deep fakes in elections such as the robocalls that used President Biden's sounding voice to urge Democrats not to vote in the state's presidential primary last January.
The only change made to the House-passed bill (HB 1432) was a technical amendment and it will return to the House later this month.
