SB434: Bill Hearings & Public Record
SB434 - relative to regulation of public school materials.
Link to bill on General Court: https://gc.nh.gov/bill_status/billinfo.aspx?id=1219&inflect=2
Links to Bill Sponsors on General Court:
(Prime) Lang (R), http://gencourt.state.nh.us/senate/members/webpages/district02.aspx
Ruth Ward (R), http://gencourt.state.nh.us/senate/members/webpages/district08.aspx
Carson (R), http://gencourt.state.nh.us/senate/members/webpages/district14.aspx
Pearl (R),http://gencourt.state.nh.us/senate/members/webpages/district17.aspx
Avard (R),http://gencourt.state.nh.us/senate/members/webpages/district12.aspx
Victoria Sullivan (R),http://gencourt.state.nh.us/senate/members/webpages/district18.aspx
Keith Murphy (R),http://gencourt.state.nh.us/senate/members/webpages/district16.aspx
Innis (R),http://gencourt.state.nh.us/senate/members/webpages/district07.aspx
Birdsell (R),http://gencourt.state.nh.us/senate/members/webpages/district19.aspx
Rochefort (R),http://gencourt.state.nh.us/senate/members/webpages/district01.aspx
Moffett (R),http://gencourt.state.nh.us/house/members/member.aspx?pid=7144
Drye (R), http://gencourt.state.nh.us/house/members/member.aspx?pid=9284
Noble (R),http://gencourt.state.nh.us/house/members/member.aspx?pid=10626
Freeman (R) http://gencourt.state.nh.us/house/members/member.aspx?pid=8324
We define SB434 as a school censorship bill and an anti-free speech bill. This bill would allow a single person within a school district to challenge items and have them removed for the entire district. Despite mechanisms already being in place for parents to prohibit their child from accessing content and materials that they deem inappropriate, this would empower a single person to remove materials for all students - effectively censoring materials district-wide. It’s important that we trust educators to build inclusive and thoughtful classrooms where students can critically engage with a variety of age-appropriate materials, and not create easy mechanisms for censorship.
BILL UPDATE:
Committee hearing has been scheduled for 02/03/26 at 9:15 at the State Library, Map Room. 🎬 Hearing lasted 40 minutes.
Committee moved it to Exec session, must release recommendations within 1 week.
OTPA (ought to pass with an amendment) vote 3-1
Scheduled for Full Body Senate Vote on 02/19/26 - Senate Approved 16Y-8N 🎬 lasted 21 minutes.
Introduced to House on 02/19/26 and referred toHouse Education Policy and Administration HJ 5
Public hearing in House Education Policy and Administration (04/08/26 at 1 Granite Place, Room 232 at 11:30am) 🎬 lasted 121 minutes
House vote OTPA on 05/14/26 - 188y-161n
Total Time spent on SB434 public hearings + votes: 3 hours, 2 minutes
