The state Senate voted along near party lines Thursday to pass a $15.8 billion state budget. The final votes came after a long — and at times testy — debate, during which Democrats tried to reverse Republican policies touching Medicaid, housing, childcare, and school choice.
Overall, the Senate budget plan spends about $200 million more than the House’s budget, but about $200 million less than the plan proposed by Gov. Kelly Ayotte. It largely reverses the House's deep cuts to higher education and mental health services, and undoes reductions to Medicaid provider rates.
Among other things, the GOP-written budget would lift caps on the state's voucher-like education freedom accounts, a policy that Republicans, like Sen. Victoria Sullivan, argued was critical.
"I know families, their children were literally been saved by education freedom accounts because they were so horribly bullied and in such a dark place in the schools that they were in, that without that, we would have had casualties," Sullivan said during Thursday’s floor debate
Throughout Thursday’s debate, Republicans like Sen. Jim Gray, who leads the Finance Committee, defended the Senate plan as balanced.
"The budget lives within our means, and more importantly, taxpayers are also benefiting from this budget,” Gray said.
Democrats, like Sen. Cindy Rosenwald, meanwhile, took persistent aim at specific policies, including a new requirement that people insured through Medicaid pay monthly premiums.
"It’s a clear choice that we are facing: impose this new income tax on our poorest residents, which will lead, I believe, to increased illness and death, and use the money to pay for welfare for the wealthy,” Rosenwald said.
Thursday was a busy day at the State House, with both chambers in session. Here’s what else happened.
Stiffer penalties for drug possession
The New Hampshire House backed a bill that would impose mandatory minimum sentences for possession of at least 20 grams of fentanyl.
Stiffer penalties for fentanyl have been a priority for top Republicans this year – including Ayotte.
Under the bill approved Thursday, possession of 20 grams of fentanyl would carry a minimum prison term of three and half years. Possessing 50 grams would boost that minimum sentence to seven years. If a perpetrator had no prior record, a judge could waive those minimums.
Rep. Terry Roy, who leads the House Criminal Justice Committee, told colleagues passing tougher penalties sends a message.
“We have built in judicial discretion, but for people that are repeatedly bringing these poisons up here to kill our children -- we have had enough,” Roy said. “The public sent us up here to do something about it and for the past decade we have done nothing but enable.”
Critics of the bill say mandatory minimum sentences will increase state prison costs without reducing drug crimes.
Parental rights effort moves ahead
Lawmakers sent Ayotte a parental rights bill Thursday that would force schools to tell parents anything their child disclosed, including their gender identity and potentially abuse at home.
The bill largely reiterates parents’ existing rights, including the right to opt a child out of certain classes and preview curriculum.
Sen. Victoria Sullivan, a Manchester Republican, summarized the bill with one sentence.
“The legislation affirms that parents have the fundamental right to direct the upbringing, education and health care of their children,” she said.
LGBTQ rights advocates, however, have said the bill endangers children who don’t feel safe telling parents their gender identity or sexual orientation. Rep. Amy Malone, a Rochester Democrat, said the bill put others at risk too.
“What about the children revealing that they are in unsafe situations, sharing fears about their home life?” she said. “Mandatory disclosure can force children to reveal themselves in ways that put them directly in harm’s way.”
Lawmakers eliminated a measure that would have required parental consent for medical treatment. Ayotte and advocates raised concerns that could jeopardize time-sensitive sexual assault investigations and treatment.
The bill would take effect July 1 if Ayotte signs it.
Limits on gender-affirming care for minors
The New Hampshire Senate on Thursday approved a pair of bills that would ban most gender-affirming care for transgender minors.
One of the bills would bar doctors from administering puberty blockers or hormone treatments to patients under 18. Patients already receiving those treatments before Jan. 1, 2026, would be allowed to continue with them, under an amendment added by the Senate.
The other bill would prohibit gender-affirming chest surgeries before age 18.
The bills are part of an increased focus on transgender issues by Republicans in Concord, who last year passed laws barring trans students from girls’ sports and banning gender-affirming genital surgeries.
Most major medical societies in the U.S. – including the American Medical Association and American Academy of Pediatrics – support access to gender-affirming care for transgender youth. They say those treatments can be critical to trans teens’ mental health, by avoiding the distress of going through puberty in a body that doesn’t match one’s gender identity.
Republican lawmakers, in New Hampshire and nationally, have called those treatments inappropriate for children and questioned their long-term side effects.
