This story was originally produced by the Concord Monitor. NHPR is republishing it in partnership with the Granite State News Collaborative.
Lisa Beaudoin walked into the Legislative Office Building in Concord on Tuesday in a last-ditch effort to plead with state lawmakers not to cut Medicaid in the state budget.
If police were to take her into custody, so be it.
“If that meant having to be arrested while engaging in nonviolent civil disobedience, we understood that that could be a consequence of our actions,” said Beaudoin, a disability rights advocate and the chair of Concord City Democrats. “We didn’t go in with the intention. We went in prepared.”
She and two other advocates from the Hands Off Medicaid campaign – Jules Good of Newmarket and Sarah Chapman of Nottingham – were arrested on charges of disorderly conduct after staging a Medicaid “die-in” and refusing to leave the building after hours.
As lawmakers were preparing to recess budget deliberations for the day shortly after 4 p.m., the three protesters, dressed in black clothing, could be seen on the livestreamed meeting video rising from their seats and lying down on the floor in front of legislators.
“That is a Medicaid die-in because that's what's going to happen,” Beaudoin said. “When New Hampshire's Medicaid system gets slashed, people will die.”
Beaudoin hoped the stunt would appeal to lead budget writers in the final stage of the state budget process, asking them to remove proposed work requirements and monthly premiums, but she said none of the lawmakers engaged with them.
The protesters also delivered more than 300 note cards to lead budget writers in the Legislature, each signed with a different person’s name and town of residence and conveying stories from Medicaid recipients to show that “working Granite Staters are not a piggy bank for the rich,” Beaudoin said.
She also called on Gov. Kelly Ayotte to veto any state budget that contains cuts of any kind to Medicaid. Lawmakers must vote on a budget by June 26, and Ayotte has until June 30 to sign it, veto it or allow it to become law without her signature.
Beaudoin, Good and Chapman stayed on the floor of the committee room and began to read those note cards for about half an hour, according to Chris Vetter, director of safety services at the State House legislative complex.
Vetter’s team immediately called the New Hampshire State Police, which arrested the three protesters on charges of disorderly conduct when they refused to leave despite several warnings.
He said they were “peaceful but noncompliant.”
“They were given the opportunity to stand up and exit on their own, and they chose not to,” Vetter said.
All three made bail and are scheduled to appear in court on August 8.
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