Legislative Update: HB601 Floor Speech - January 05, 2024 Windham Independent
Legislative Update: HB601 Floor Speech
I would like to share the text of my first floor speech with you. If you would rather watch it, you can find it on the Youtube channel of the NH House of Representatives, January 03 session, 7:07:55 into the video. I am happy to let you know that HB601 was defeated by a 189-188 vote.
The fact that HB601 is not about addressing hunger in public schools is easily proven by its price tag: over 190 million to benefit around 7,700 kids. That is just under 25k/kid/biennium, or over $68/kid/school day - unless school cafeterias have Michelin stars these days, this kind of money is not needed to pay for school breakfasts or lunches.
Yes, there is a hunger problem in New Hampshire, even though one could find a definition for food insufficiency (combining people who do not have enough food with people that have enough food, just not any food they would like to have) to be designed to overstate the hunger problem. Based on that definition, my own family would be food insufficient, and trust me, we are anything but hungry.
While the state clearly has hungry families, we have no data to indicate that kids are not fed while attending public schools, which is the narrower issue that this bill is supposed to address.
An esteemed colleague suggested that Finance committee members could learn more about hunger by volunteering to End 68 Hours of Hunger - I did, and as it happens, I will be volunteering in Nashua at 6pm today if the session ends in time.
That charity is created specifically for addressing the potential gap in food availability when kids are NOT in school - nobody who I talked to there or anyone else was aware of a need to help kids while they are in school, since they are already getting fed there.
The Department of Education (DOE) has no data showing kids are not being given food by schools because they are unable to pay for school meals, so we asked them to at least compile information of any school lunch debt being written off due to the inability of students to pay, so we can at least get a proxy measurement of what would need to get done to ensure that all kids that want school meals get them.
There are two major reasons that were brought up to explain the kids that may be eligible for Free and Reduced meals but do not participate, and neither justifies passing HB601.
First, the burdensome paperwork needed to enroll. We asked DOE to simplify the paperwork, and if possible, allow Medicaid recipients to just show they are eligible for Medicaid in order to avoid filling the full form. They assured us they will do so.
Second, parents choose not to have their kids participate in the program. Whether that is due to the documented stigma associated with needing this program (which would not vanish if this bill was adopted), or for any other reasons - the state does NOT know better than the parents what is best for their children, and using HB601 to force them to choose between giving up Medicaid or having their personal data used to be added to a program they do not want to join is unconscionable.
So, what is this bill really about? Clearly, it is for adding yet another 190 million in state education funding AFTER the budget has been completed, despite the fact that we just increased state education funding by 193 million. LET ME BE CLEAR - the time to change the state education funding was during the budget process, not now.
As the Finance II clerk, I know first hand that we already considered the kids that are eligible for Free and Reduced but not enrolled when allocating funds for education, and that well documented issue was part of the reason why the education budget increased so much - asking for another 190 million AFTER the budget was completed is the very definition of being fiscally irresponsible, making HB601 impossible to justify.
Frankly (and speaking for myself), the fact that our current education formula adds 12.5k in additional yearly school funding for every child that is part of the Free and Reduced program shows how broken our education funding formula is - fixing that should be our top priority for the 2025 budget.
One more fact: during the work session on this bill, I asked NH Hunger Solutions for any information about ANY kids that are being denied school meals, and even they stated they had no such information.
If the very organization advocating for this bill has NO data to show the school hunger problem this bill is supposed to address even exists, how could we justify spending over 190 million on top of the 193 million in education funds we already added to the budget?
Please join me in supporting the ITL motion on HB601.
I would be happy to engage with any Windham resident on my legislative work - you can reach me with concerns or questions about any legislative matters at 603 267 4142 (call or text), or by email at dpm@leg.state.nh.us.
Daniel Popovici-Muller
Windham Representative
Clerk, Division II
House Finance Committee