In 2014, NH Governor Maggie Hassan signed an unconstitutional buffer zone bill into law that allows an abortion business to take control of up to 25 feet of the public sidewalk and street and designate it as a no-free-speech zone where even silent prayer is banned.
Soon after, an almost identical Massachusetts buffer zone law was unanimously struck down as unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court.
Related: Fight for Everyone’s Right to Stand, Kneel, Pray, and Speak on the Public Sidewalk
In 2019, Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig vetoed a proposal by a city alderman that was endorsed by the entire Board of Aldermen to give downtown business owners year-round control of the sidewalks in front of their storefronts.
According to the Union Leader, after vetoing the proposal, Mayor Craig quoted from a letter written by Gilles Bissonnette, legal director for the ACLU-NH:
The city is limited in its ability to simply designate certain public spaces — sidewalks, for example — as non-public fora (plural for forum) by bestowing exclusive use to a private business.
Two weeks ago, in testimony that Mayor Craig submitted to the House Judiciary Committee in opposition to HB1625, the Sidewalk Free Speech Act, which would repeal the buffer zone law, she said:
New Hampshire’s current bi-partisan buffer zone law protects the privacy and safety of those utilizing services provided by Planned Parenthood, while also protecting resident’s First Amendment Rights, and I urge you to vote against repeal.
Mayor Craig was against giving businesses control of public sidewalks before she was for it.
