This past week the Senate voted to pass HB 701, a right to try expansion that would give terminally ill patients greater access to next generation treatments in development. The bill has already passed in the NH House. Unfortunately, the bill was amended to include the requirement that patients undergoing these treatments have a condition that would result in death in the “near future.” This is an issue for several reasons. The wording is extremely vague, meaning doctors would err on the side of safety, thereby denying many patients in need of the chance to receive experimental treatment. Additionally, by the time they are “near death” most patients are too weak and their time is too limited to meaningfully receive and respond to treatment.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Since the bill was amended by the Senate, both Senate and House must now vote in favor of a committee of conference to agree on a final version of the bill. If they do not, the bill effectively dies.
Contact your senator and representatives to vote in favor of a committee of conference and ask that they vote to RESTORE HB 701 to the form passed by the Senate HHS committee.
SB 100 Passes with Amendment
Last Thursday the NH House passed SB 100 with the amendment proposed by Rep. Cordelli. Cornerstone supported this amendment, as it will help restore the CRT Ban to our public schools.
Currently, NH law prohibits teaching critical race theory (CRT) in public schools. Unfortunately, the law is practically unenforceable due to agency non-enforcement as well as a 2024 NH federal court declaratory judgment that the law was unconstitutional. This amendment will help remedy this situation.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Since the bill was amended by the House, both Senate and House must now vote in favor of a committee of conference to agree on a final version of the bill. If they do not, the bill effectively dies.
Contact your legislators and ask them to vote in favor of a committee of conference and to vote to pass the bill as amended.
Help Protect Churches from Unfair Taxes & Discrimination
The House unfortunately altered SB 291 before passing it, a bill that, in its current amended form, will actually remove vital tax exemptions for several churches.
SB 291 was originally a positive bill to alleviate the unfair taxing of churches and enable them to help solve the housing crisis in their communities.
However, the bill as amended will now actually curtail churches’ tax exemptions – the opposite of its original purpose. SB 291 will, for the first time in New Hampshire’s history, expressly interfere in church spending by requiring that certain church income be spent only on pastor compensation.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
SB 291 will now go to a committee of conference, a group composed of both House and Senate members, which will review the bill and possibly amend it.
We urge you to contact your representatives and your senator, and ask them to oppose any text in the committee of conference that conditions church tax exemption on how the church spends its income. Alternatively, you can simply ask them to oppose the House bill and restore the version of the bill that passed in the Senate, which supported, rather than harmed, churches.
Oppose A Bad Amendment to HB 712
HB 712, a good bill, which would prohibit breast surgery for minors, was unfortunately amended by the Senate last week to include text copied from SB 36, a pro-abortion bill we opposed. This language was openly crafted by a Planned Parenthood lobbyist while SB 36 was in the Senate. Although it purports to be an “abortion statistics” reporting requirement – something we have supported for years – the text would actually enable the abortion industry to publish fake, invented statistics as official government reports. Submitting false statistics would only be punishable by the extremely liberal DHHS – the same agency that openly thwarted and nullified the Patients’ Bill of Rights – and the penalty for lying or failing to report would be less than a parking ticket.
The bill’s requirements also have enormous holes. The bill would not even require that abortionists report the specific gestational age of the child, nor the patient’s age. Even Massachusetts requires that abortionists report the child’s gestational age and the patient’s age.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Since HB 712 was amended by the senate it is now headed to a committee of conference, a group composed of both House and Senate members, which will review the bill and possibly amend it. Contact your senator and representatives and ask that they remove the abortion statistics amendment before passing HB 712 in the committee of conference.
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