Lawmakers Uphold Ayotte's Vetoes Of So-Called 'Bathroom' Bills

By GARRY RAYNO, InDepthNH.org, InDepth NH

CONCORD, NH — Lawmakers were unable to muster the vote to ultimately override any of the three “bathroom” bills that would allow businesses, prisons and jails and hospitals, to restrict the use of bathrooms, locker rooms and other facilities to a person’s biological sex at birth.

The House voted Wednesday to sustain Gov. Kelly Ayotte’s vetoes of Senate Bills 268 and 552, and House Bill 1442, while the Senate voted to override SB 552 on a 16-8 vote, but it failed in the House to reach the two-thirds majority necessary for an override 161-142.

In the Senate, which voted on the bill first, Sen. Kevin Avard, R-Nashua, said the bill protects women in sports and designated spaces.

“This bill is a commonsense measure to protect the privacy and safety of girls and women, they deserve spaces designated just for them,” Avard said. “This policy reflects reasonable standards that Granite Staters strongly support.”

But in the House Rep. Alice Wade, D-Dover, a transgender woman, said the problem is there is no way to actually enforce the ban as any judgment is totally based on appearance. None of those judgements work in the real world, she noted.

Wade said the last time she went to her doctor she was asked about her period so they could put it in her chart.

“If they can’t tell,” she said, “How how do you think this is going to go.”

Wade said if someone commits a crime in a restroom, they should be arrested whether they are trans or not, but what they are doing is creating a climate of fear.

“We should be focusing on issues that actually matter to our constituents,” Wade said.

Rep. Erica Layon, R-Derry, claimed the trans community has failed to police itself as some claim trans identity to gain access to women’s bathrooms or girls’ bathrooms.

The bill would ensure there are no predators hiding under a trans identity for nefarious reasons, Layon said.

Rep. Heath Howard, D-Strafford, said the many trans bills introduced this session are an attempt to humiliate transgender people.

“We need to stop this culture war,” he said.

The House voted to sustain the governor’s veto on House Bill 1442 on a 165-149 vote, while the Senate voted 24-0 to sustain the governor’s veto of Senate Bill 268.

Book Ban

The Senate voted to override the governor’s veto of Senate Bill 434, which would have established a procedure for parents or anyone else to challenge material in schools, or libraries that they believe is harmful to minors, although school districts are currently required to have policies in place that determine if challenged material is appropriate for certain age levels.

In vetoing the bill the governor said the restrictions need to be much narrower and the government should not determine what is art or something else.

The prime sponsor of the bill, Sen. Tim Lang, R-Sanbornton, said when it comes to children, there is no such thing as too much protection.

“This bill would ensure that all school districts have a clear, compliant process, including appropriate appeals, for parents who find materials in public school libraries they believe are harmful to minors,” he said. “Decisions about whether to exclude materials based on parental complaints would remain local, made by educators and school board members.”

The Senate voted 16-8 to override the governor’s veto, but the House did not have the votes for an override.

Opponents in the House said the bill would interfere with students’ first amendment rights to access materials and would allow a single parent to decide what other children could read or access.

The House voted 165-140 which failed to reach the two-thirds majority to override the veto.

The House also voted to sustain the governor’s veto of Senate Bill 661 which concerns risk pools for self-funded health insurance programs that the Senate had overridden on 23-1 vote.

The House had killed House Bill 1491 which also dealt with the same topic.

And the Senate voted to sustain the governor’s veto of House Bill 1766, which was a bill to reform the state’s cruelty to livestock investigations statutes, after the House had voted 249-56 to override the governor’s veto.

During the day, lawmakers sustained the governor’s veto on a number of bills that effectively killed them including a bill to establish a commission on transitioning all public schools into charter schools.

Also sustained was House Bill 1092 which would have allowed lawmakers to install or remove historical markers instead of the governor, and also House Bill 1072 which would have prohibited the Department of Labor from surprise visits to workplaces.

Also sustained was House Bill 1336, which would have allowed landlords to collect an additional month’s rent as a second security deposit from a tenant with poor credit, and House Bill 232 which would have provided state protection allowing a medical worker to refuse to participate in abortion procedures for religious beliefs.

Lawmakers also sustained Senate Bill 481, which would have had the money from the sale of the Sununu Youth Services Center in Manchester go into the state’s general fund instead of the Youth Detention Center Victims Abuse Fund.

The meeting is likely the last for the 2025-2026 legislature barring a special session.

Nancy West and Aaron Davis contributed to this report.

Garry Rayno may be reached at garry.rayno@yahoo.com.

This story was originally published by InDepth NH.