NH Senate begins discussion of trans athletes in youth sports | Close
Retirement changes the 2024 election cycle. good morning. I'm Adam Sexton. The state Senate is at a critical moment, with senators introducing their final bills and Sens. Sharon Carson and Donna Souci leading the debate on the grand floor, all bills passed in the House. Deliberations have begun. Republican and Democratic leaders. They will join us here this morning. Thank you, Senators, for being here. We value that time. Thank you for the invitation, Adam. good morning. So it looks like one of the big battles for next session day on Thursday is over. How transgender athletes are allowed to participate in interscholastic and collegiate sports in New Hampshire. Senate Bill 375 would separate everyone by sex at birth and create a new coeducational option. Senator Carson, why is this issue being elevated to the level that the state senate needs to address? Thanks for the question, Adam. Because that's the problem we're working on. We want to see what's happening in women's sports, not just here in New Hampshire, but across the country, to young women who have fought for so long to have the same sports resources and opportunities as boys. We are seeing the impact of this. Years later, they are seeing some of those opportunities taken away. We know that men are boys, physiologically different from women, and women are stronger in many other ways. Method. And it is very difficult for girls to compete with it. Therefore, we want to provide a fair and level playing field for everyone. And it's not. It's only fair to young girls today. Senator Susi, as you know, there was discussion in the House of Representatives about a similar bill. It was interesting. House Democrats are addressing the incident in Swampscott in which a non-transgender boy was playing with girls and fired a shot so powerful that it hit the girl in the face, sending her to the hospital. He said he can't talk about it. Major oral surgery. Please remove all the labels in that video. You see people who grew up with their bodies shaped by testosterone competing against people who didn't have a physical advantage. How about that? safety? Well, I think the issue is really about a level playing field. And I think what we can all agree on is that sports are an opportunity for young people to learn skills like teamwork, leadership and self-discipline, Keene. And I think it's really important that every child has the same opportunities. Transgender girls are girls. Like girls across our state, they should have the same opportunity to participate in sports. You know, these days in the NCAA, the leading scorers in the NCAA are women, not men. this. You know, this is an issue that I think is a national issue that's coming here to New Hampshire. And I think we need to focus on what the needs of new Hampshire students are. Let's see how this argument plays out. The other big debate that we saw on the Senate floor was obviously immigration. That comes up again and again in this session. You know. There is obviously a huge debate going on about sanctuary cities. And Senator Souci, you represent Manchester. Why do you think the state shouldn't ban sanctuary cities here in New Hampshire? Well, first of all, the mayor here in Manchester, New Hampshire, says this law is unnecessary and the way it's written is an unfunded mandate. Because I think I said that. He said there are two important reasons: The Manchester Police Department and cities and towns across the state should let immigrants know that police officers are there to help them and help them build. We have gone to great lengths to ensure the safety of our community. community. That's what I think. That's really, really important. The other thing is, as far as I know, no city or town has refused to join the federal government. When the federal government needs help enforcing immigration laws, it's there to do it. But I don't want chiefs to focus solely on federal law enforcement, but to make decisions on the ground about how to deploy staff. Senator Carson, of course you can answer that. New Hampshire is all about local control. Why can't towns and cities decide for themselves? First of all, we are not a home rule nation. I think this point really needs to be emphasized. But I think there are a few things that need to be said here when we're talking about sanctuary cities. Whether there is a need to distinguish between legal and illegal immigrants. The current problem is illegal immigration. New Hampshire welcomes legal immigrants to the state. We want them to be here. We want them to become part of the fabric of New Hampshire. Our problem is illegal immigration. Ames. When we talk about a city like Manchester, I think we're glad that the police chief has reached out to the immigrant community, the community, but are we talking about illegal immigration or are we talking about legal immigration? Is there one? Well, I think we're really talking about legal immigration here in New Hampshire and establishing a relationship with them. And that's what you want. We're talking about illegal immigrants, people who entered our country illegally. We know there are millions of them here right now. And in fact, today's news reports that another caravan of over 2,000 people is heading to our southern border. In fact, we've seen some terrible things happening here across the country. Just today they went out and captured five people in the sanctuary city of Boston, Massachusetts. Four of them were there, all illegal immigrants, and four of them were arrested. They were wanted on charges of child sexual abuse and child rape. And one person has MS. 13 Gang members. They've all been breaking the law since they got here. We've been on the Senate floor debating Maura Healey and the Governor of Massachusetts and the statements she made when an undocumented immigrant was arrested for raping a 15-year-old disabled girl. We hope that doesn't happen here in New Hampshire. We want to protect the people of our state from this. That's why I think it's a big problem. There is confusion in the use of the language we use to talk about illegal immigration, but that is our focus. we want to protect. People of New Hampshire Actually, a United Nations poll was just recently conducted. 80% of the state's residents are very concerned about this. Therefore, we are listening and responding. We just have a problem with the illegal immigrants who come here. Senator Susi, you serve on the Election Law Committee. I'd like to touch on a few more issues here quickly. You will receive a housing bill that will end it all. sorry. Please stop all excuses that allow you to vote without ID. Basically, affidavit voting is no longer necessary. I don't have an ID. You haven't voted. Sounds simple. idea. Democrats oppose it. why is that? I mean, I was actually at home in his early '90s when there was a federal law called Motor Voter and we passed same-day registration, and there would be a New Hampshire-specific solution that would comply with this federal law. I registered with this understanding. Law. I think this change could actually be problematic by disallowing the participation of some people who do not present and have accurate documentation at the time of registration. It could put us at risk. Exemptions from Federal Law. I also think it makes no sense. New Hampshire is a state where there are local government officials, checklist supervisors present at polling places, and surveillance registries for cities and city halls. That's not a problem or a problem. Senator Carson, do you support this change? No ID, no vote, no, no. Simple like that. Yes, it's very simple. Almost everything you do in the United States today requires ID. In fact, it is done not only here but all over the world. Why don't you want to confirm who you are? Are you who you say you are? So I do too, I think we agree. Yeah. No, there was no issue with voter ID. The world won't end if we implement it. In fact, it works very well. Our town officials, the people who work at our polling places, do a great job of following the law. So why change? As you know, a new affidavit voting system was introduced for elections from November last year. I recently asked the Secretary of State how many initial affidavit ballots were cast in primaries across the country. I was surprised to learn that only two affidavit votes were held in the entire state. Both of the 454,000 voters who cast affidavit ballots later submitted verified information proving they were eligible to vote. Sen. Souci, given this data, do you feel that affidavit voting is still an undue burden on voters? Well, I think the existing processes already work, so I don't think they're necessary. think. So the problem is, if someone you know moves, if someone gets sick, if someone becomes incapacitated after voting, that means affidavit voting cannot be immediately complied with. Their votes are not being counted. Their votes will not be counted. That, as you just said, is a real concern. If you only have two stats, well, you don't really need that. Yeah. Senator Carson, this theory that, obviously, based on the numbers, there are people who are going to come out and claim their home base and vote, if that person is the only one, it might not matter as much. It shows that there is. But what is your reaction to this data? I'm not surprised. We do a very good job of educating New Hampshire voters and making sure that the laws that we pass are very clear. And again, a lot of things happen. Let's go back to town officials and people who work at polling places to make sure that people in certain towns in New Hampshire know what's going on and what they need to register and vote. Sho. So this is just a success story for New Hampshire and I don't think it needs to change. I'd like to ask you a final quick question here. There are a lot of gun bills out there. Coming from home is Bradley Haas, um, the mental health information reporting bill that stemmed from the tragedy at the state hospital last year. That vote coming out of the House was slightly closer and a little more partisan than some had expected. Could this bill be an issue in the Senate? Senator Carson, to be honest with you, I'm focused on the rest of the Senate bill as it's on its way through. Hmm, but I saw that the bill was passed, but I didn't look into it in detail. Therefore, I will reserve judgment until a public hearing is actually held. Senator Susie, if someone makes an involuntary engagement, does this information need to be reported to NICS? As Senator Carson said, it hasn't been reported to us yet. So I haven't looked into it in detail. But I think we need to look at the issue of gun safety. It's a major issue across the country. As you mentioned, I'm here in New Hampshire with Bradley Haas. Well, a concern we all share. And we need to take a closer look at it. Okay.senator
NH Senate begins discussion of trans athletes in youth sports | Close
Sen. Sharon Carson said on Close-Up that she supports interscholastic sports organized based on an athlete's natal sex, saying it would create a “fair and level” playing field for everyone. Ta.
Sen. Sharon Carson said on Close-Up that she supports interscholastic sports organized based on an athlete's natal sex, saying it would create a “fair and level” playing field for everyone. Ta.