Concord update: What’s happening on education, energy and gun violence prevention
If you have any questions or would just like to spend a few minutes chatting, I will be having Office Hours on Saturday, May 13 between 10 a.m. and 12 noon at the Lane Memorial Library in Hampton.
Education bills
A significant focus of this legislative session has been on bills dealing with education. The House Education Committee has had 109 bills referred to it. These have been on a range of topics, including school funding, eligibility for and the administration of so-called Education Freedom Accounts (EFA), students’ and parents’ “rights” and “instruction on the nature of communism.”
In April, the House acted on the following education bills:
HB 430, which requires that any child applying for funding under the EFA program must have attended at least 1 year of public school. This was introduced in response to the fact that over 80% of the students currently receiving EFA funds were never enrolled in a public school. Defeated 194 no (Hampton state Rep. Tracy Emerick and Jason Janvrin) to 192 yes (Hampton state Reps. Mike Edgar, Chris Muns and Candice O’Neil)
HB 626, which requires the NH Department of Education (NHED) to directly administer the EFA program. As enacted by the Legislature and signed into law by Governor Sununu, the program is currently administered by an independent third party who is paid an administrative fee of 10%. Defeated 195 no (Emerick, Janvrin) to 194 yes (Edgar, Muns, O’Neil)
HB 10, establishing the so-called parental bill of rights. While everyone agrees that schools must work in partnership with parents and legal guardians, this bill would have pitted parents and schools against each other. It also contained specific provisions calling out and placing LGBTQ+ students at risk. Defeated 195 no (Edgar, Muns, O’Neil) to 189 yes (Emerick, Janvrin).
While HB 10 was defeated, a version of the bill (SB 272) passed the Senate along party lines. Under the bill, if a parent asks about any nicknames or accommodations made by the school for their child, a teacher will need to answer truthfully, unless there is “clear and convincing” evidence that disclosing the information would risk the parent abusing or neglecting the child. Furthermore, the bill states that parents may sue the educator for declaratory damages if they believed the educator had violated the law and not given the information.
I expect the full House will vote on SB 272 on May 18.
Changes to the definition of ‘public’ education
In addition to these bills, NHED is in the process of finalizing sweeping changes to New Hampshire’s Minimum Standards for Public School Approval. The proposed standards could remove student protections, strip local control, and open the door to the “unbundling” of public schools. Given the magnitude of these changes it is important that local school board members, educators and community members provide feedback and input to NHED.
SAU 21 (North Hampton, Hampton Falls, Seabrook, South Hampton and Winnacunnet) and SAU 90 (Hampton) are hosting a Community Listening Session pertaining to these changes on Monday, May 15, at 6:30 p.m. at Winnacunnet High School. I hope to see you there!
Energy bills
Natural gas is the “fuel of choice” for most of the largest power plants supplying electricity in New England. It has also become the predominant fuel for home heating. As a result, we are very much at the whims of the market for natural gas.
Our electric bill consists of two parts – delivery service and the electricity we consume, which is your energy supply service. Delivery service is the system of poles and wires that brings electricity to your home or business. Your electric utility (Unitil in Hampton; Eversource or Liberty, elsewhere) delivers electricity to you and all customers within its defined service area. Their cost to do so represents only about 20% - 25% of our monthly bill.
The balance of our bill is for the electricity we use in our home or business. Who supplies that energy is up to you. You may continue to buy your energy supply from your electric utility, or you may choose to buy your energy supply from a competitive energy supplier. For a list of the approved competitive energy suppliers in New Hampshire go to: www.energy.nh.gov/consumers/choosing-energy-supplier.
Although these options do exist, most of us continue to purchase our power directly from our utility. Since those utilities no longer generate any power on their own, they must purchase any power they supply to us from independent power producers. By law, each utility is required to go out to the market every six months and secure the power it needs and to lock in what is referred to as the “default service rate” it will charge us for the next six months.
If the utility goes out to market when the supply of natural gas becomes restricted – for example, after Russia invaded Ukraine – the price for electricity that is locked in for the next six months is likely to be higher. When supplies of natural gas are plentiful (as appears to be the case right now), the price of natural gas on the spot market goes down. Whether or not that translates into a lower price for electricity the utility can offer us is dependent on when the utility goes out to market again to reset its default service rate.
I serve on the House Science, Technology & Energy Committee. The committee is evenly split between Democrats and Republicans. Democratic members of our committee believe that the way to address the rising cost of energy is to invest in programs and policies to conserve energy, reduce demand and diversify our sources of electricity so that we are not as dependent on the whims of the natural gas market. We believe we should be investing in more clean renewable sources of energy such as solar and wind-generated power. Republicans on the committee – and Governor Sununu – do not agree and instead want to “double-down” on our investment in – and reliance – on natural gas and other fossil fuels.
On May 4, the full House of Representatives voted on the following energy-related legislation:
SB 52 - FN, which establishes a committee to study electric vehicle charging infrastructure funding - passed 187 yes and 184 no.
This was a “division vote” where the names of those who voted one way or the other are not recorded; I voted yes.
As the number of electric vehicles on the road increases, New Hampshire is at risk of becoming a charging station “desert” unless additional action is taken.
SB 69-FN, which enables NH nonprofit organizations that invest in renewable energy projects to receive a credit for any power they generate but do not use and are able to sell back to their utility; a practice known as “net metering.” The vote on this bill was tied186 yes (Edgar, Muns, O’Neil) and 186 No (Emerick, Janvrin). As such, the bill was not enacted. A motion to table the bill did pass 190 yes and 181 no (I voted yes), which does mean that the bill can be reconsidered in the future.
SB 79, which allows small businesses and corporations that invest in renewable energy projects of up to 5 MW to get the benefit of “net metering” – passed 194 yes (Edgar, Muns, O’Neil) and 179 no (Emerick, Janvrin). It is unfortunate that those who voted in favor of this bill did not also vote to give the nonprofits the same cost-saving opportunity.
SB 167-FN-Local, which establishes a green hydrogen advisory committee within DOE - defeated 186 yes and 187 no; I voted yes.
There’s a lot of hype around hydrogen. It’s an attractive fuel source because it doesn’t produce carbon dioxide and it can be used in sectors such as transportation (e.g., airplanes) that are difficult to decarbonize. It can also be extracted from water using clean renewable electricity from – for example – wind power. This vote was particularly disappointing since it came on the heels of N.H. choosing not to join with 7 other northeastern states in developing a $3.62 billion regional clean hydrogen hub.
SB 166-FN, which establishes a grid modernization advisory group within DOE to help review the many aspects of grid modernization that the state will need to address through regulation or legislation – passed in a voice vote; I voted yes. It is essential that our electric grid will enable us to take full advantage of new and evolving renewable energy projects and other technology that is and will become available.
Gun violence prevention bills
As I have reported in earlier updates, the N.H. Legislature has – sadly – not taken any meaningful action to address the risk of significant gun violence occurring in our state. The votes on these measures have mostly been along partisan lines; Democrats arguing for sensible measures to control access to firearms; Republicans believing that no additional measures are necessary.
And yet, we continue to see mass shootings occur almost daily around the country. We had our own “near miss” here on the Seacoast on April 12 when a man posted a video of himself brandishing a handgun while in a vehicle outside of Portsmouth High School. I keep asking my colleagues: “What needs to happen in the future for you to support actions you could take now?”
If you are interested in demonstrating your support for positive action, please consider participating in the Wear Orange Weekend on Friday, June 2, Saturday, June 3, and Sunday, June 4, 2023 (actions planned all weekend at various locations, more details to come). To sign up to host or support an event, contact jonathan@granitestateprogress.org.
Office hours
I hope to see you on Saturday, May 13 between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. at the Lane Memorial Library in Hampton.
In the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact me at chris.muns@leg.state.nh.us.
Chris Muns is one of Hampton’s five N.H. state representatives. He is currently serving his second term, having previously served between 2012 and 2014.
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Concord update: What’s happening on education and energy and gun violence prevention
