Governor Ayotte Signs 16 Bills into Law

CONCORD, NH - This week, Governor Kelly Ayotte signed the following bills into law:

• HB 77 - prohibiting certain licensees from electronically recording or storing personal information obtained from an identification card.
• HB 90 - relative to the definition of part-time teachers.
• HB 138 - relative to tax impact notation on warrant articles with multi-year impacts.
• HB 235 - relative to amending the educator code of ethics and code of conduct to include responsibility to parents.
• HB 242 - relative to brew pub licenses.
• HB 354 - relative to alternate certification pathways for career and technical education instructors.
• HB 404 - relative to information on the hike safe card.
• HB 437 - providing specific curative measures for undischarged mortgages.
• HB 467 - defining “social districts” and enabling municipalities to create social districts.
• HB 627 - relative to permitting the public utilities commissions to approve new providers for the Lifeline program.
• HB 694 - requiring leases of land, buildings, or space by state agencies to be at fair market value.
• HB 699 - relative to special education definitions.
• HB 731 - relative to supportive housing options for individuals with developmental disabilities.
• SB 58 - relative to venue in criminal prosecutions of distribution of a controlled drug with death resulting.
• SB 153 - relative to expedited driveway permitting of major entrances for residential use of 20 units or greater and the time frame for approval or denial of permit applications.
• SB 258 - establishing crimes related to the fraudulent use of gift cards.

Governor Ayotte also vetoed the following bills this week:

• HB 356 - enabling school districts to adopt partisan school district elections.
• HB 781 - requiring school districts to adopt policies establishing a cell phone-free education.

The Governor’s veto statement for HB 356 is below:

“Local school board elections are run properly and in a nonpartisan manner, and there is no need to fix a system that is not broken. Making these local elections into partisan fights will create unnecessary division between Granite Staters. For the reason stated above, I have vetoed House Bill 356.”

The Governor’s veto statement for HB 781 is below:

“Thanks to the leadership of Representative Litchfield and others in the House and Senate, a bell-to-bell ban on cell phones in schools with stronger language was passed in House Bill 2. I am grateful for the work that went into getting that language into the budget which I signed into law.  Our bell-to-bell ban will ensure students can learn without the distraction from screens and ensures teachers do not have to police cell phone use in the classroom, making New Hampshire an even better place to learn. For the reason stated above, I have vetoed House Bill 781.”