New Hampshire

NH Republicans introduce bill to mandate abortion video showing in health class

Published

1 year ago

February 8, 2025

Press Room

NH Republicans introduce bill to mandate abortion video showing in health class

New Hampshire Republicans introduced a bill Wednesday to mandate the showing of abortion videos in public school health class.
They also introduced bills to require the showing of the “Meet Baby Olivia” video and to provide information about adoption in health class.
Bill sponsor says bill is for education purposes; Planned Parenthood said the materials are “anti-abortion propaganda.”

New Hampshire Republicans introduced a bill Wednesday to mandate the showing of abortion videos in public school health class.

HB 662 was one of three bills some state representatives have filed in an effort they say is to educate New Hampshire public school students on abortion.

While a bill to ban abortions after 15-weeks was withdrawn Thursday, these bills are a few of the ones keeping the abortion issue alive in Concord.

What would the abortion video bill do?

HB 662 would require public high schools to show at least two of three videos developed by Live Action, an anti-abortion activist group, as part of the school’s health and wellness education. The videos are described as showing the process of chemical or surgical abortion during the first or second trimester through “high quality, computer-generated rendering or animation.”

The legislation would also prohibit schools from offering any course materials from entities that provide abortions.

Why do legislators want to mandate abortion viewing in health class?

Prime sponsor Rep. John Sellers, R-Bristol, said that the videos are “nonpolitical and non-religious” and that the goal of the legislation is purely educational.

“I believe that this information is information our kids really need to know and understand what they’re getting into and how it may affect them,” he said Wednesday. “Banning these educational videos would be no different than banning books and not allowing the children to learn.”

“Meet Baby Olivia” bill and more

In addition to HB 662, Sellers sponsored two other bills related to education on abortion in schools.

HB 667 would require the showing of another video made by the anti-abortion group Live Action called “Meet Baby Olivia” which purports to depict the process of human development. It would make the viewing of this video a graduation requirement and would also mandate the New Hampshire public universities and colleges certify that students have seen the video.

The language of this bill is like many others introduced around the country. North Dakota and Tennessee have already enacted laws requiring schools show “Meet Baby Olivia” or something like it, and lawmakers in several other states, including Iowa, Arkansas, and West Virginia, have introduced similar bills this year.

Sellers also sponsored HB 730, which would require school districts to discuss and provide materials related to adoption for at least one hour a year during health education and anytime sexually transmitted infections or contraception are discussed.

Planned Parenthood says bills push “anti-abortion propaganda”

Planned Parenthood of Northern New England and New Hampshire said that while they support a wide variety of sex education topics, these bills “seek to require anti-abortion propaganda to be shown and provided in New Hampshire public middle school, high school, and colleges.”

The organization said that the videos mentioned in the bills are biased and not based in medical practice or science. The “Baby Olivia” video, they said, has not been endorsed by “any unbiased media organization.”

They also said that requiring the provision of adoption information “stigmatizes sexual and reproductive health care.”

“All three of these bills seek to push an anti-abortion agenda on teenagers and young adults across the state. These bills all seek to shame teenagers,” read their testimony. “New Hampshire students deserve to have honest, medically-accurate, and complete information when it comes to making healthy lifelong decisions.”

All three bills saw hundreds more people in opposition than in support on the online testimony. They are all awaiting a recommendation from the Education Policy and Administration Committee before heading to the House floor for the first vote in the bill process.

Source link

Click to comment

New Hampshire

New Hampshire employment law in 2026 – NH Business Review

Published

10 hours ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

New Hampshire employment law in 2026 – NH Business Review

What employers are getting wrong, and how to fix it before it becomes a claim

New Hampshire’s employment law landscape heading into 2026 may not be dramatically different from last year, but the real risks lie in implementation missteps. From the initial setting of wages, to calculating and distributing wages, employers will likely find a specific statute and/or labor regulation governing the transaction. Failure to follow these detailed wage and hour laws can result in significant back wages and other penalties being imposed by the state or federal Department of Labor following an audit. Fortunately, however, this area of employment law is relatively easy to master, once you are familiar with the basics.

Notice compliance

One of the most common pitfalls for employers in New Hampshire is misunderstanding the wage and hour notice requirements under RSA 275 and the related New Hampshire Department of Labor Administrative Rules.

At the time of hire, employers must notify employees in writing of their rate of pay and the day and place of payment. This notice is traditionally delivered to employees by way of an offer letter or some sort of “New Hire Rate of Pay” form. (A sample form is available from the New Hampshire Department of Labor website.) What surprises most employers, however, is that Lab. 803.03(f)(6) also requires employers to request and obtain their employees’ signatures on this written notification of wages, and employers must keep a copy of the signed written notification of wages on file. Further, employers must notify employees in writing during the course of employment of any changes to wages or day of pay prior to such changes taking effect, and the employer must obtain the employee’s signature on this subsequent notification as well. (See RSA 275:49; Lab. 803.03.)

Employers are further required to notify employees in writing, or through a posted notice maintained in a place accessible to employees, of:

• employment practices and policies with regard to vacation pay, sick leave and other fringe benefits.

• deductions made from the employee’s payroll check, for each period such deductions are made.

• information regarding the deductions allowed from wage payments under state law. (RSA 275:49; Lab. 803.03.)

Policies regarding vacation and sick leave should inform employees whether or not the employer will “cash out” unused time at year end or at the end of employment, and if so, under what terms. Again, if any changes are made to vacation pay, sick leave and other fringe benefits during the course of employment (all of which are considered “wages” under New Hampshire law), employers must request and obtain their employees’ signatures on the written notification of the change, and must keep a copy of the signed form on file. (Lab. 803.03.) Importantly, notification by way of pay stub alone is not sufficient, and, these requirements apply to both increases and decreases in pay.

Two-hour minimum (reporting pay)

Another frequently overlooked obligation is New Hampshire’s two-hour minimum reporting pay requirement. Under RSA 275:43-a, non-exempt employees who report to work but are sent home early must generally be paid for at least two hours. Weather-related closures, client cancellations or operational slowdown days can trigger this rule. Employers should also note that the New Hampshire Department of Labor currently applies this law to remote-based employees. Consequently, employees who “report to work” at an employer’s request from a home office may likewise have a right to two hours of pay, depending on the circumstances.

Salaried vs. hourly employees

Misclassification of employees as exempt from overtime remains a significant source of compliance exposure. The position’s job duties — not the titles or label such as “salaried” — determine whether an employee qualifies for an overtime exemption.

Employers, particularly in nonprofits, health care and small businesses, unintentionally misapply exempt classifications to roles such as administrative staff, office managers, executive assistants, program coordinators or hybrid jobs that involve significant non-exempt tasks. Over time, as organizational needs evolve and employees take on broader responsibilities, job duties can drift outside of an exemption’s scope.

Best practice is to periodically review job descriptions and actual job duties to ensure continued compliance with exemption criteria, particularly following any significant restructuring or job redesigns.

Peg O’Brien is chair of McLane Middleton’s Employment Law Practice Group. She can be reached at margaret.o’brien@mclane.com.

Source link

New Hampshire

New photo released in unsolved 1997 homicide of a N.H. woman

Published

22 hours ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

New photo released in unsolved 1997 homicide of a N.H. woman

Local News

“Our family wants to know what happened, who did this and why,” said the family of the victim.

A new photo has been released of the victim in a nearly 30-year-long unsolved murder case, in the hope of finding any new potential witnesses in the cold case, New Hampshire officials said.

“Our family wants to know what happened, who did this and why,” the family of Rosalie Miller said in a press release. “We miss her and want to give her peace.”

Miller was last seen on December 8, 1996 at her apartment in Manchester. At the time of her disappearance, Miller had plans on meeting friends in the Auburn, New Hampshire area, officials said.

Her body was found on January 20, 1997 in a partially wooded spot on a residential lot along the Londonderry Turnpike in Auburn, officials said in the release.

The autopsy report declared Miller’s death a homicide by asphyxiation due to ligature strangulation, N.H. officials wrote.

As part of a new effort to garner public help with the case, an “uncirculated” photo of Miller, 36, is being distributed “in hopes it may jog the memory of someone who saw or spoke with her in the winter of 1996,” Attorney General John M. Formella and New Hampshire State Police Colonel Mark B. Hall announced on behalf of the New Hampshire Cold Case Unit in a joint press release.

Investigators are especially hoping to talk to anyone who was in contact with Miller in December of 1996 or anyone “who may have seen her in the vicinity of the Londonderry Turnpike in Auburn during that time,” officials said in the release.

The newly released photo of Rosalie Miller, 36, who was strangled to death nearly 30 years ago. – Attorney General John M. Formella and New Hampshire State Police Colonel Mark B. Hall

“We are releasing this new photograph today because we believe someone out there has information, perhaps a detail they thought was insignificant at the time, that could be the key to solving this case and bringing justice for Rosalie and those who loved her,” Senior Assistant Attorney General R. Christopher Knowles, New Hampshire Cold Case Unit Chief said in the release.

The New Hampshire Cold Case Unit encourages anyone with any amount of information to contact the group at [email protected] or (603) 271-2663.