There are two bills that were recently voted on in the New Hampshire House of Representatives that demonstrate why voters who care about public education and the growing influence in New Hampshire politics of the Free State Movement need to pay attention .

HB 1671: In February, New Hampshire Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut introduced HB 1671.  The bill changed the core academic requirements for an adequate education by removing art, health, and physical education, engineering, computer science, digital literacy, and world languages. It also changed the reporting and accountability requirements for public schools and hurt the state’s college-and-career readiness effort, the “Drive to 65 Act.”

Due to significant public opposition, on March 8 the House Education Committee removed the Edelblut changes and added personal finance literacy and logic/rhetoric.  HB 1671 came from the Commissioner of Education who was nominated by Chris Sununu and approved by our Executive Councilor Joe Kinney.  If you care about good public education, remember this in the November elections and vote them out.

CACR 32: On March 10, the House defeated, by a vote of 323 to 13, a proposed constitutional amendment to “peacefully declare” the state’s independence from the United States and establish itself as a sovereign nation.  The debate over sovereignty was the first in a state legislative body in this country since before the civil war.

This constitutional amendment was heard in committee in January.  New Hampshire Public Radio reported that  Committee Chairman Rep. Al Baldasaro, a Republican from Londonderry, asked how many members of the public who came to testify were members of the Free State Project – about two-thirds raised their hands.

While CACR 32 was an extreme piece of legislation, many other bills that change the New Hampshire way of life are being proposed and passed. Voters need to pay attention and learn how their Representatives and Senators are voting.  

Free Staters and Libertarians who run as Republicans have won 90 seats in the legislature, and  Free Stater Jason Osborne was made New Hampshire House Majority Leader.  The legislative system in New Hampshire is set up so each bill is heard before a committee where people from all sides provide testimony and Legislators can ask questions to better understand the proposed legislation.  

The New Hampshire Liberty Alliance reviews bills and gives them a rating of either “pro liberty” or “anti liberty” and provides these ratings to Legislators before a vote.The 2021 ratings show the following for Andover’s legislators: Louise Andrus: 100%; Natalie Wells: 93.8%; and Harold French: 75%, according to NHLiberty.org/liberty-ratings.