State Representative Victoria Sullivan (R-Manchester Ward 9) issued the following statement regarding the veto of her bill, HB 332 by Governor Margaret Wood Hassan. We publish it in full as received. We’ve also included several related links for your edification. ~Publis
To read the governor’s veto message, click here.
To read the bill, click here.
To hear our interview with Sullivan about the bill, click here.
For Immediate Release.
Sullivan: Will keep fighting for parents rights.
(June 26, 2015) In response to Governor Maggie Hassan’s veto of HB332, State Representative Victoria Sullivan (R, Manchester), sponsor of the legislation, released the following statement: .
“I am truly disappointed in Governor Hassan’s decision to veto HB332 today. The intention of this common sense legislation was to give parents ample notification of certain subject material, specifically material relating to human sexuality, prior to its teaching in our schools. Parents should be allowed the opportunity to have important discussions on sensitive topics with their children prior them learning about it in the classroom. There have been very public local incidents where New Hampshire parents would have preferred to have handled particular subject matters in a different manner than an educator did. In these instances, parents found out after the lesson has already been taught, which made for a very difficult and confusing situation for the children involved.
“This bill would alleviate that kind of conflict between parents and schools, and instead make them partners in education, which should always be the goal we strive for. However, instead seizing the opportunity to partner with parents, Governor Hassan was threatened by HB332. In her statement she said, ‘this bill aims to put in place additional barriers for New Hampshire students who decide to access education about sexual health.’ The barriers to which the Governor refers to are Granite State parents who, under the 14th Amendment, have the Constitutional right to direct their children’s education.”
“Once again, Governor Hassan has made the decision to put the involvement of every day parents second to extreme liberal special interest groups. As a mother myself, I cannot fathom anything more important than a parent’s rights, and the governor can be assured that I will not be deterred in my fight for New Hampshire families.”
