Veto Day is scheduled for Oct. 10. (Dana Wormald | New Hampshire Bulletin)
Lawmakers will have a chance to override more than a dozen vetoes from Gov. Chris Sununu when they convene for “Veto Day” on Oct. 10.
If a vetoed bill receives a two-thirds majority vote in both the House and Senate, it becomes law over the governor’s objections. Each chamber, scheduled to meet at 10 a.m., can be observed by the public in person or through livestreams for the House and Senate.
Bills will go back to the chamber where they started; House bills go to the House, Senate bills to the Senate. Then, if at least two-thirds of members present and voting agree to override the veto, the bill proceeds to the other chamber. If they don’t, the veto is sustained and the bill dies.
For the bills that pass the first vote, the process repeats in the next body: Another two-thirds vote means the bill passes, and less than that means the veto remains in place.
Sununu has vetoed 15 bills, spanning topics from cannabis greenhouses to administrative rulemaking. Before reaching his desk, these bills were approved by majority votes of the Republican-controlled House and Senate.
Here’s a rundown of what the governor rejected – and what he said his reasons were.
HB 194 would require the director of the Division of Historical Resources to create a list of public monuments. It would also give the Joint Legislative Fiscal Committee approval powers over changing or removing historical markers. Sununu said in his veto message that this bill “crosses the line of separation between the branches” of government.
HB 274 would direct agencies to notify legislative policy committees and stakeholders of proposed rulemaking. Agencies could also be ordered to pay attorneys fees in cases where they adopt rules after final objection from the Joint Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules and a court finding that the rule is invalid. Sununu argued the bill would “increase bureaucracy with broad strokes and will be onerous to implement.”
HB 396 would allow public and private organizations to classify people using “biological sex” when it comes to bathrooms, athletic events and competitions, locker rooms, prisons and other correctional facilities, and mental health hospitals or treatment centers, rolling back some gender identity anti-discrimination protections the governor approved in 2018. Though he vetoed this bill, Sununu signed some other measures aimed at transgender people. “The challenge with HB 396,” Sununu wrote, “is that in some cases it seeks to solve problems that have not presented themselves in New Hampshire, and in doing so invites unnecessary discord.”
HB 1093 would prohibit mask mandates in schools. “Just because we may not like a local decision,” Sununu said in his veto message, “does not mean we should remove their authority.”
Under HB 1187, lease agreements could not be used to finance “building or facility improvements that become fixtures related to the installation, purpose, or operation of such equipment,” except for certain energy performance contracts. Sununu said this would “effectively prohibit the use of municipal leases to acquire fixtures, a practice that is both common and beneficial to municipalities and businesses alike.”
HB 1233 would exempt certain animal chiropractors from veterinary licensure requirements. “The exemption set forth in this bill is vague,” Sununu wrote in his veto message, “and stakeholders from the chiropractic and veterinary communities have been uniform in expressing concern over potential unintended consequences …”
HB 1293 would limit use of certain phosphorus-containing fertilizers and prohibit applying fertilizer within 25 feet of a storm drain or elsewhere where it can enter a storm drain. Sununu argued the bill “would put countless well-meaning families unintentionally in violation of the law when maintaining privately owned lawns.”
HB 1415 would have created liability for PFAS-contaminating facilities. A different bill that Sununu signed, which banned certain PFAS products for sale in the state starting in 2027, created “strict liability” for PFAS polluters; this standard was much less protective than the vetoed bill. In his veto message, Sununu cited the fact that the standard conflicted with the one in the bill he signed, which “makes it extremely difficult to administer both and enforce them appropriately.”
HB 1581 would allow alternative treatment centers – therapeutic cannabis dispensaries – to operate additional cultivation locations, including greenhouses, with approval from the Department of Health and Human Services. Sununu said he vetoed it because of its “scant detail regarding safety, security, and location requirements.”
HB 1622 would bring greater transparency to use of public comments in rulemaking and, according to one of its sponsors, formalize existing processes into law. Sununu argued this bill would “substantially increase the burden on executive agencies” when rulemaking “without providing the financial support to do so.”
SB 63 would change when towns can make public health ordinances. Sununu said this created “more confusion than clarity.”
SB 318 would turn the manufactured housing installations standards board and the board of examiners of nursing home administrators into advisory boards. It would also create an advisory board for massage therapists, reflexologists, structural integrators, and Asian bodywork therapists. Sununu said “industry leaders and stakeholders” had concerns about the language of the bill and “have stated that it would negatively impact New Hampshire’s housing industry.”
SB 501 would allow the Department of Motor Vehicles to issue New Hampshire driver’s licenses to noncitizens living in the state who have been “granted conditional or permanent residence” or an Employment Authorization Document. Certain noncitizens can already apply for licenses in the state. “Due to this bill’s ambiguity, reliance on terminology not currently used by the Department of Motor Vehicles, and unanswered questions,” Sununu said, “Senate Bill 501 threatens to create unnecessary confusion in a process that is already working well.”
SB 507 would exempt those convicted of a felony or class A misdemeanor from the three-year time limit to petition for a new trial in cases with “newly discovered evidence, new or additional forensic testing, or new scientific understanding that would have been material for the fact finder.” Sununu said that while it was “well-intentioned,” he believed “the open-ended language of this bill could have the unintended consequence of encouraging baseless assertions unnecessarily bogging down proceedings.”
SB 543 would establish an environmental adaptation, resilience, and innovation council. Sununu felt the stated goals of the council were “ultimately overly broad, vague, and impotent.”