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Hassan Signs Bill to Increase Funding For Domestic Violence Prevention

Allegra Boverman for NHPR

New Hampshire residents will now pay an additional $5 for a marriage license. That is after Gov. Maggie Hassan signed a bill Monday that will up the fee to $50 in order to help fund prevention programs for domestic violence across the state. 

This fee hasn’t been increased in more than two decades. According to the bill, $43 of the fee will go towards the grant program meanwhile the rest will go to cities and towns, which process the marriage licenses. 

The bill also creates an additional $50 penalty for anyone convicted of domestic violence, on top of existing criminal penalties. Last year, half of the state’s homicides involved domestic violence. 

Hassan said the measure will strengthen the state's so-called "Joshua's Law," which made domestic violence a crime last year. "Joshua's Law" is named after Joshua Savyon, 9, of Amherst, who was killed by his father at a YMCA in Manchester in 2013.  

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