Several new laws addressing domestic and sexual violence in New Hampshire took effect Wednesday, with the start of the new year.
The laws – which were passed and signed by Gov. Chris Sununu last year – include a change in the marriage age, new protections for tenants experiencing domestic violence and an effort to crack down on sexually explicit “deepfakes.”
“Protecting victim’s rights and holding offenders accountable are issues that we continue to see broad bipartisan support for,” Amanda Grady Sexton, a spokesperson for the New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, said in a news release last week. The advocacy group represents 12 independent crisis centers around the state.
Here’s a closer look at some of those measures.
New protections for tenants
The threat of financial consequences for breaking a lease can sometimes trap people in dangerous situations, said Pamela Keilig, who works on public policy for the coalition. That’s especially true when abusers are also controlling their victims’ financial lives in other ways.
“Many survivors face risks of becoming homeless, either with themselves or their children,” she said.
House Bill 261, one of the bills lawmakers passed in 2024, is an attempt to lessen those obstacles. It allows victims of domestic violence, sexual violence or stalking to terminate a lease early, without financial penalty, in order to leave an abusive situation.
The bill also strengthens an existing prohibition on evicting someone solely because they are a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking. Though tenants already had that protection under the previous law, Keilig said it was too limited, requiring tenants to show they had obtained a protective order against the perpetrator.
“It's not always safe to seek a protective order based on the situation, or they may not have been able to report yet to law enforcement,” she said.
Under the new law, tenants at risk of eviction can prove they’ve been a victim of abuse in other ways. That includes submitting a written statement from an attorney, health care provider or victim advocate, or self-attesting under penalty of perjury. The law also requires landlords to keep that information confidential.
Combatting ‘deepfakes’
Two other laws that took effect Wednesday target the use of AI image generators to create sexually abusive material – a growing problem Keilig said states are just starting to address.
One of them outlaws sexually explicit images of children that are computer-generated, but “indistinguishable” from real images – an attempt to address what researchers have warned could be a flood of AI-generated child sexual abuse material.
The second law makes it illegal to share sexually explicit “deepfakes” of someone – realistic but false images, generated or altered by AI – without that person’s consent.
“When you have these images that are digitally created, we've seen victims lose employment,” Keilig said. “We've seen, obviously, devastating emotional trauma.”
Marriage age, employment restrictions
Keilig also pointed to two other new laws she sees as important safeguards against domestic and sexual abuse.
After years of advocacy, New Hampshire lawmakers outlawed child marriage as of Jan. 1, raising the the legal marriage age in the state from 16 to 18.
“Children who are married face an increased risk of abuse,” Keilig said. “So it's also a step in breaking cycles of violence and abuse in our state as well, whether it's physical, emotional or even economic.”
Another new law updates an existing law that prohibits registered sex offenders from working with children. The changes clarify that the law extends to roles involving the “direct supervision” of minors.
