Oct. 10—CONCORD — The politically divided New Hampshire House of Representatives met Thursday to dismiss half of the 10 House bills that Governor Chris Sununu had spoken out.
However, when it comes to removing a governor, it takes two legislatures to tango.
A short time later, the Republican-led Senate on Thursday backed all but two of Sununu’s actions: one limiting the application of fertilizer to limit its application near lakes and ponds (HB 1293) and the other seeking greater influence to apply to stakeholders when it comes to state agency regulations (HB 1622).
Thanks to Democrats’ votes in the House of Representatives, Republican Gov. Sununu won battles this year over his most high-profile vetoes, one to ban mask mandates for students in public schools (HB 1093) and the other to allow bathrooms, locker rooms, and state prison buildings may only be segregated for prisons of the same biological sex (HB 396).
A united group of 12 Senate Republicans supported Sununu in upholding three other vetoes that the House of Representatives had sought to override.
The bills would have placed much stricter limits on the amount of forever chemicals, or PFAS, in groundwater (HB 1415), would have allowed medical marijuana retailers to grow cannabis in a greenhouse (HB 1581), and would have forced all state departments to take all possible inform stakeholders about the proposed agency (HB 274).
The Senate also supported all five bills that Sununu vetoed.
Advocates emphasized that fertilizer limits that take effect Jan. 1 will help reduce the threat of cyanobacteria blooms that emerged in Lake Winnipesaukee and other large bodies of water last summer.
Scientists conclude that phosphorus is a key component that chokes off oxygen, which can lead to this bloom.
The bill would ban the application of fertilizer within 25 feet of a storm drain and not allow its application anywhere during times when heavy rain is forecast, when the ground is frozen or when grass is not actively growing.
“This bill will help improve and preserve the quality of our state’s water,” said Rep. Jim Creighton, R-Antrim and vice chairman of the House Environment and Agriculture Committee, who endorsed it 20-0.
Rep. Mike Bordes, R-Laconia, said the bill was full of exemptions, such as those for golf courses and turf farms. He claimed it would do little to prevent the spread of these green-colored algae blooms.
“We have a major cyanobacteria problem here, but this bill will not help. This is a toothless bill that will not be enforced,” Bordes said.
Rep. Carroll Brown, R-Bristol, a retired Department of Environmental Services employee, said phosphorus has been largely eliminated from fertilizer sold at retail.
“Take a sample at the lake and if it’s X, you can’t tell where that phosphorus came from,” Brown said.
The House voted 232-99 to override this veto and the Senate agreed by a 22-1 margin, with only Sen. Keith Murphy, R-Manchester, supporting Sununu.
The agency regulatory bill would allow stakeholders who sue over a state agency regulation to have their legal fees paid if they prevail in court.
It also requires agencies to refund any fees covered by an expired agency rule.
The House voted 318-11 to override the veto, and the Senate followed suit by a 23-0 margin.
Sununu said the biological sex law would conflict with the anti-bias law in the school law
A coalition of civil rights groups had urged Sununu to veto a bill on biological sex, charging that it targeted transgender youth and adults.
In his veto, Sununu said the language would conflict with the law he signed in 2018 to ban discrimination against students based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
“The challenge with HB 396 is that in some cases it tries to solve problems that haven’t arisen in New Hampshire, thereby provoking unnecessary disagreement,” Sununu said.
House of Representatives Deputy Majority Leader Jim Kofalt, R-Wilton, and his primary sponsor, implored the House to override Sununu’s veto.
“The message was don’t hate us, and that struck me because my response was, ‘I don’t hate you, I never have,’ and yet that’s the way the bill is drafted,” Kofalt said.
“I think on many issues, both left and right, we’ve been taught to believe that if we disagree on policy, we should hate each other; that’s not true.”
Rep. Shelley Devine, D-Nashua, said the bill would endorse bigotry.
“The message is, ‘You’re a freak; what are you doing here?'” Devine said.
The vote in the House of Representatives to override this veto was 164 votes in favor and 168 votes against.
The four Republicans in the House of Representatives who joined all Democrats in opposing the biological sex law were Reps. Dan Wolf of Newbury, Josh Yokela of Fremont, Sherry Gould of Bradford and Bordes.
As for mask mandates, Rep. Arlene Quaratiello, R-Atkinson, said that since the COVID-19 pandemic, many studies have concluded that student learning has suffered because of these restrictions.
“No one, especially no child, should be forced to do anything that could cause him or her physical or emotional harm,” she said.
Rep. Peggy Baldwin, D-Rye, said the bill would encroach on local control.
“No one can predict what will happen in the future, best practices in health and disease prevention continue to be based on scientific advances,” Baldwin said.
On this issue, 160 people wanted to override the veto, while 172 did not.
Only one House Democrat, Jonah Wheeler of Peterborough, supported the ban on masks in schools, while nine Republicans in the House of Representatives supported Sununu’s veto on the issue.
klandrigan@unionleader.com
