Lawmakers in the New Hampshire House have rejected Senate changes to a bill that would legalize marijuana in the state. The move means House and Senate negotiators now have a week to find something that has eluded state lawmakers for years: accord on cannabis legalization.
It also dims the chances that New Hampshire will soon join 24 other states – including the rest of New England – in allowing recreational marijuana for adults.
The House has for the past decade repeatedly voted to legalize cannabis, regardless of which party held the majority.
Until last week, the Republican-led Senate never backed a legalization bill.
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Thursday’s House vote to reject the Senate plan – but approve a committee of conference over the bill – came after several staunch advocates for legalization took to the House floor to deride the Senate’s proposal as too flawed to support. That plan would have pushed off legalization until 2026 and create a 15-outlet franchise system for selling marijuana.
“This is not the New Hampshire solution,“ Rep. Kevin Verville, a Deerfield Republican, said. ”This is not what we are looking for.”
But the Senate plan is what Gov. Chris Sununu has said he would sign. Sununu had meanwhile promised to reject the version of the bill that cleared the House earlier this session.
The House’s plan would legalize marijuana immediately, allow adults to possess up to 4 ounces and let 15 state-approved but privately owned stores sell it.
The complicated State House politics surrounding cannabis – including the fact that Republican leaders in the Senate oppose legalization – were featured during Thursday’s floor debate.
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“That is the number one reason why you must vote today. You must vote yes,” said Rep John Hunt, a Republican from Ringe. “We have got to get marijuana off the block. We’ve got to get it going.”
But too few were persuaded.
“Yes, our constituents want legalization, and so do I,” said Rep. Heath Howard, a Democrat from Strafford. “But as representatives we have an obligation to insist on better policy.”
House and Senate negotiators have until June 6, to reach a deal on cannabis legalization. Any agreement on the policy would need to be voted on by the full House and Senate before June 13.
CONCORD, N.H. – New Hampshire lawmakers have moved to reject a Republican-backed proposal to launch an impeachment inquiry into the lone Democrat on the state’s five-member Executive Council.
On Friday, a key committee of lawmakers delivered a unanimous 17-0 vote against an impeachment inquiry into Executive Councilor Karen Liot Hill of Lebanon, N.H.
The vote on House Resolution 41 followed an abbreviated public hearing, after the bill’s sponsor withdrew his support for the proposal and instead asked lawmakers on the committee to recommend killing it.
The push for Liot Hill’s impeachment was led by Representative Joe Sweeney, a Salem Republican and the deputy majority leader in the New Hampshire House.
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At issue were several emails Liot Hill had sent from her official account to help a partisan law firm identify voters impacted by a new state law. The law tightened voter ID requirements for absentee ballots.
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Sweeney had previously called Liot Hill’s correspondence “political lawfare run out of a taxpayer-funded inbox.” In December, a review by the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office found that Liot Hill’s conduct was not illegal and did not constitute a misuse of office, clearing the complaint against her.
Reached by the Globe on Friday, Sweeney, who was not present at the public hearing, said in a statement he preferred to let voters decide whether Liot Hill should continue to serve in the upcoming November election.
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“After reviewing the matter and hearing the discussion, I believe the appropriate course is to move forward and allow the voters and the political process to do their work,” he said.
“The purpose of filing the resolution was to ensure that the constitutional questions raised were addressed seriously and transparently,” he said, noting that he stands by the process and the decision to recommend killing the resolution.
In an interview, Liot Hill said she was pleased with the unanimous vote from the House Judiciary Committee.
“The committee vote, I think, sends the message that there was no merit to this,” she said.
The proposal now heads to the full House of Representatives, which has the power to approve the committee’s recommendation to reject it.
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Amanda Gokee can be reached at amanda.gokee@globe.com. Follow her @amanda_gokee.
A woman has been arrested in connection with the death of her baby whose body was found in a pond in Manchester, New Hampshire last year. Hepay Juma, 26, of Manchester, is now charged with reckless second-degree murder.
The New Hampshire Attorney General said Juma was arrested for “causing the death of Baby Jane “Grace” Doe, her child, under circumstances manifesting an extreme indifference to the value of human life.”
On March 27, 2025, the baby’s body was found floating in the water at Pine Island Park in Manchester. The baby’s death was treated as suspicious following an autopsy.
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Investigators have not released any information about how they made the arrest or how the baby died.
Hepay Juma, 26, of Manchester, NH, is charged in connection with the death of her baby.
Manchester, NH police
At the time, Manchester Police Chief Peter Marr said the baby’s death was “extremely tragic.”
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Police asked the public for help after the baby’s body was discovered. They wanted to know if anyone saw someone discarding anything in the water in the previous 14 days, or if anyone knew a pregnant woman who gave birth during that time who needed medical help.
A funeral was held for baby Grace Doe last May, and the public was invited to pay their respects. “The way she was discarded is heartbreaking, and it is important that we give her a proper farewell,” Chief Marr said last year.
The baby was named Grace by police “to celebrate the kindness extended to her by those who refuse to let her life go unrecognized.”
Juma is scheduled to be arraigned on Friday in Manchester District Court.
