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| A M I N I S T R Y O F C O R N E R S T O N E |
| Last Thursday February 1 in Representative Hall: the vote to reconsider HB 396 (State Definition of Biological Sex) –meaning, to bring it up for another vote–fails by a slim margin; thus the bill will advance to the Senate in early April! THANK YOU For Powerful Prayers & Passionate Presence! Pro-abortion Constitutional Amendment DEFEATED State Definition of Biological Sex Bill Advances to the Senate Due in large part to your engagement on these two issues, the House delivered two good decisions last week, but by the slimmest of margins. While CACR 23, a proposed constitutional amendment protecting a right to an abortion, garnered 193 votes for and only 184 votes against, it failed to attain the required three-fifths vote (about 240 votes) to move a constitutional amendment forward. If three-fifths of both chambers approve of a constitutional amendment, the measure then skips the governor and goes straight to the people for a vote on our November ballots, where two-thirds of Granite State voters would need to in favor in order to adopt the amendment. Click here to see how your representatives voted.Be sure to thank them for their “NO” vote or ask them about their “YES” vote. CACR 24 is a similar pro-abortion constitutional amendment that has been heard by Senate Judiciary and will come up for a vote in the Senate soon. We will keep you posted! While there are several important, commonsense gender bills making their way through both chambers, HB 396 is the bedrock bill that we are paying the closest attention to. It underlines that state’s right to classify people according to their actual biological sex, and not only according to their perceived gender identity. The important guardrails that could then be erected in terms of athletics, education, prisons, and other public accommodations, are vital. Read the bill’s full rationale and text here. After a close vote in favor of HB 396 on Thursday January 4 (192-184), one of the three Democrats who voted for the bill then filed a motion for reconsideration, meaning, he used an appropriate procedural channel to ask that it be voted on again. That vote for reconsideration came to the full House last Thursday February 1, and as the image above indicates, that measure failed by just 3 votes. This means that HB 396 has passed the House as per the original January 4th vote, and it will now move on the the Senate in early April at “crossover,” when bills that pass out of one chamber then proceed to the other chamber. Because of these razor-thin margins, your continued, winsome influence is now very much needed regarding two bills that are being heard tomorrow, one on Assisted Suicide and the other on the expansion of our amazing Baby Safe Haven law. And scroll further down for an encouraging summary of the status of all of the bills we’ve asked you to engage in.Thank you for your continued support! Over the course of the next few weeks, the tempo of engagement may slow down…a bit. T O M O R R O W Wednesday, February 7 Defend New Hampshire Against Assisted Suicide Act now: sign in in opposition to HB 1283. Sign-ins for this bill will close at midnight tomorrow. Once again, legislators are introducing an assisted suicide bill in Concord. HB 1283, relative to end of life options, would legalize physician-assisted suicide for those facing an illness which a physician has determined would be terminal within 6 months. HB 1283 will be heard at 10:00 AM tomorrow, Wed 2/7 in the House Judiciary Committee on in the Legislative Office Building, Room 206-208. Although the bill contains what some may feel are “reasonable” restrictions, we only need look to Canada, where over 4% of the population used assisted suicide to end their own lives in 2022, to see how ever-broadening criteria can lead to alarming numbers of assisted suicide deaths and normalize state-sponsored end of life measures. WHAT YOU CAN DO: 1. Register your opposition to HB 1283 by signing in. Here are step-by-step instructions on how to sign in. 2. Submit written testimony. You can do this when you sign in. Simply hit “choose file” under step number four to upload a document with your testimony, or type your testimony into the provided box. 3. We urge you to come and testify in person (we’ll be there, too!), especially if you fall under or know someone who falls under any of the following categories:Someone who has struggled with suicidal ideationA member of the disability community A member of the brain injury communitySomeone who has cared for a terminally ill loved one or an elderly individualWe have step-by-step instructions on how to testify here. You can also reach out to us at cornerstone@nhcornerstone.org if you have any questions about the testifying process. Important Note: Some have had issues with the House remote sign-in page. If you are encountering problems, you can also email the committee to directly register your opposition to the bill and/or submit written testimony. You can find their contact info here or email the full committee at HouseJudiciaryCommittee@leg.state.nh.us Please let us know if you can come to be present to pray, observe/support, or testify. Assisted suicide should never be a course of action the state should promote. Caring, not killing, is the right approach when we’re faced with terminal illness or any distressing life situation. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Protect Babies from Deadly Abandonment Act now: sign in in support of HB 1607 Sign-ins for this bill will close at midnight tomorrow. New Hampshire’s phenomenal, approximately 20-year old “Safe Haven Law,” sometimes called the “baby drop-off law,” is a critical protection that has already saved the lives of many unwanted newborns (see the law, RSA 132-A here). Yet the current law faces grave threats, endangering the infants who rely on “safe havens” to protect them from starvation, exposure, or even violent death. HB 1607, relative to expanded safe haven protections, is a bipartisan bill that will address these threats and expand the current law in the following ways: Expand the age of drop off from 7 days to 61 days! Provide an exclusionary rule to prevent mothers from being prosecuted for crimes discovered as a result of their abandonment of a baby under 61 days. Provide an opportunity for safe and regulated baby boxes. To learn more, read our blog post here. HB 1607 has been scheduled for a hearing tomorrow, Wednesday, February 7th, at 2:45 pm in the House Health, Human Services & Elderly Affairs Committee meeting in the Legislative Office Building, room 206-208. WHAT YOU CAN DO: 1.Register your support of HB 1607 by signing in. Here are step-by-step instructions on how to sign in. 2.Submit written testimony. You can do this when you sign in. Simply hit “choose file” under step number four to upload a document with your testimony, or type your testimony into the provided box. 3. We urge you to come and testify in person. We’ll be there tomorrow! We have step-by-step instructions on how to testify here. You can also reach out to us at cornerstone@nhcornerstone.org if you have any questions about the testifying process. Did you know that your church already is a safe haven for unwanted babies? See below. YOUR CHURCH already is A BABY SAFE HAVEN as per NH Law! Find out how to best leverage this opportunity to serve vulnerable moms and babies in your community How do we best prepare for a dropped off baby? What do we do when a baby is dropped off? What signage do we need and how do we get it? Find the answers to these questions and more HERE. How Are We Doing? YOU’RE DOING GREAT! YOUR INVOLVEMENT IS MAKING A DIFFERENCE!  Schedule A Concord 101 Today The 2024 Legislative Session has now begun! Book a Concord 101 for your church, class, or group today. Are you… *intimately acquainted with God’s heart for civic government according to the Scriptures?*aware of the unparalleled opportunity we believers in the Granite State have to influence our civic government for good? *knowledgeable about how a bill becomes a law in NH and how you can effectively participate in that process? *ready for what’s coming legislatively THIS SESSION now underway? If not, email lgawlak@nhcornerstone.orgtoday for more information and to schedule an interactive Concord 101 seminar! BOOK NOW for February, March, or April of 2024! Subscribe to the Family Update: Policy Updates/Calls to ActionShareTweetForward Sunday, March 24, 2024, join us at Grace Capital Church for a Concord 101 class. Sign up here… https://www.nhpatriothub.org/event/concord-101-learn-about-nhs-government-and-the-importance-of-having-god-in-our-governmen/ |
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