| Cornerstone Legislative Update Week of June 19, 2023 |
 House Votes to Temporarily Halt Bill That Now Promotes the Harassment of Women HB 315: Contact your state representatives to communicate with the committee of conference. Urge your reps to request that the committee only support the bill as originally passed by the House. This week, rather than register a final vote, the New Hampshire House voted to send HB 315 to a committee of conference, where it will be further deliberated. HB 315, the “gay panic” bill, in the version most recently passed by the Senate and presented to the House for this latest vote, would have put the safety of women throughout the state at risk. While the original text of this bill was framed as a prohibition against the so-called, “gay panic defense,” in reality, it would have promoted sexual harassment by removing any ability for a woman on trial for murder to claim that she acted in self-defense against unwanted romantic or sexual advances. Under the law today, a woman who defends herself from a sexual predator does not need to show that the man physically attacked her. She only needs to show that she reasonably feared imminent assault. But under the Senate-amended version of HB 315, a woman would be blocked from claiming self-defense if a man engaged in “unwanted nonforcible romantic or sexual advances.” Earlier this year, the NH House of Representatives addressed the potential threat to women by passing their amended version of HB 315, which removed the language promoting sexual harassment. Cornerstone has no objection to this version. However, after passing the House, the bill was amended in the Senate to return it to its original, dangerous form. When the Senate-amended bill came before the House this week, rather than take a final vote, the House voted 199-175 to send the bill to a committee of conference to resolve the conflict between the two versions and determine the bill’s final form. A committee of conference is composed of Senate and House members who consider certain referred bills that have different versions that need to be reconciled. Once convened, the committee attempts to come to consensus to recommend a final version for the House and Senate to vote on. If committee consensus cannot be reached, the bill fails. WHAT YOU CAN DO: We now urge you to call your state representatives to weigh in with the committee of conference. Urge your reps to request that the committee only support the bill as originally passed by the House. CALL YOUR REPS |
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