In a bold break from her own party, conservative New Hampshire Governor Kelly Ayotte vetoed seven Republican-backed bills on Tuesday, including legislation that would have made it easier to ban books in schools and loosen religious exemptions for childhood vaccinations.
One of the most controversial measures, House Bill 324, would have required public schools to implement a complaint system allowing parents to challenge and potentially remove materials deemed "harmful" to minors, the New Hampshire Bulletin reported. Critics, including teachers' unions and civil liberties advocates, warned the bill would open the door to censorship and allow individual parents to dictate content for all students. Ayotte agreed.
"Current state law appears to provide a mechanism for parents through their local school district to exercise their rights to ensure their children are not exposed to inappropriate materials," the governor said in her veto message. "Therefore, I do not believe the State of New Hampshire needs to, nor should it, engage in the role of addressing questions of literary value and appropriateness."
In vetoing House Bill 358, which sought to make it easier to claim religious exemptions for school vaccine requirements, Ayotte emphasized the importance of maintaining strong immunization standards to protect public health.
"While parents must be the final decision makers on what immunizations their child receives, the State already has an established process by which parents can claim a religious exemption, and I see no reason to change it," Ayotte said.
Ayotte also rejected House Bill 148, which would have allowed bathrooms and locker rooms to be segregated by biological sex, citing concerns about discrimination against transgender individuals.
The vetoes drew praise from public health experts and education advocates but provoked backlash from GOP lawmakers.
"Now that kids can't get porn on their phones while at school, at least they can still find it in the library," House Majority Leader Jason Osborne sarcastically wrote in a post on X.
Originally published on Latin Times
