The American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works to protect the civil liberties guaranteed to all Granite Staters by the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights.
New Hampshire's 2023 legislative session is officially underway. Each year, the ACLU of New Hampshire reviews over 1,200 bills introduced in the New Hampshire Legislature for civil liberties implications, identifying those bills that we are going to advocate for or against and developing strategies accordingly. View our 2023 pre-session report to read more about our legislative priorities this year.
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Legislative Priorities
Invest in Communities and People. All New Hampshire residents should ensure basic needs and provide life affirming services, including a living wage; safe, decent, and sanitary housing; adequate nutrition; comprehensive health care and mental health services; and a high-quality education.
Prioritize Public Safety. Implement harm reduction strategies in response to community issues, including substance use disorders, homelessness, and mental illness, and rein in other abusive police strategies.
Ensure Police are Accountable. Hold police accountable when they abuse their power, including rolling back police immunity protections, requiring standardized data collection, and strengthening open government laws.
End Policing for Profit. Focus police on the fair administration of justice, not collecting revenue or meeting quotas, including eliminating civil asset forfeiture, prohibiting expenditures beyond what is explicitly allocated to the department via the budgeting process.
Eliminate Inhumane and Counterproductive Punishment. Eliminate the inhumane, unnecessary, and expensive incarceration of people in jails and prisons, including by ending parole, repealing mandatory minimum laws, ending cruel and unusual conditions of confinement, and prioritizing non-carceral approaches to public safety, including restorative and transformative justice.
End Two-Tiered Justice. Ensure that guilt and punishment are determined by facts rather than the wealth of the defendant.