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HB 1132 Restricts school flags to US, state, POW/MIA, military, and town flags only. Fines up to $1,000 for violations.

Education Now Law

Restricts school flags to US, state, POW/MIA, military, and town flags only. Fines up to $1,000 for violations.

Impact Score — How Does This Bill Affect You?

4

Overall Impact Score

Concerning

Scale: 1 (harmful) to 10 (beneficial)

5
💰

Your Wallet

No direct financial impact on taxpayers or school budgets

3
🏘️

Your Community

Limits schools' ability to display symbols of inclusion for all student groups

3
⚖️

Your Freedom

Only government-approved flags may be displayed; all others are banned with fines

Status

Signed into law. Passed Senate March 11, 2026.

Voted Yes

182 R

Voted No

0 R + 156 D

R Yes D Yes R No D No

Sponsor

Rep. Lisa Freeman (R-Tilton)

The Short Version

This is a Pride flag ban dressed up as patriotism — and it's now law. Sponsored by Rep. Lisa Freeman (R-Tilton), schools can't display any flag outside the approved list — no Pride flags, no cultural heritage flags, nothing. Violations escalate from warnings to Board of Education fines of $1,000. The message to LGBTQ+ students: you're not welcome here. Takes effect September 2026. They passed this while killing funding for crumbling school buildings.

Who's Behind This Bill?

Who Benefits

  • ▲ Politicians signaling cultural positions

Who Pays the Price

  • ▼ LGBTQ+ students (loss of visible inclusion)
  • ▼ School communities (restricted expression)
  • ▼ Districts (compliance costs and fines up to $1,000)

Roll Call Detail (1 vote)

Every recorded floor vote on this bill, with each legislator's individual vote. Click a name to see that rep's full record.

Who actually supports this bill?

Across the 1 recorded vote on this bill — counting each legislator's net direction and treating kill motions as opposing the bill — Republicans supported it ( 181 for , 7 against ) , and Democrats opposed it ( 1 for , 149 against ) .

"Supporting" means voting for passage OR voting against a kill motion. "Opposing" is the inverse. Concurs and amendment-only votes don't count.

Ought to Pass with Amendment 2026-03-11
Passed

YES = Pass the bill with the attached amendment. NO = Reject the bill (as amended).

181R + 1D
Voted to Pass (182)
7R + 149D
Voted Against (156)
33
Absent
21
Not voting
Show all 392 individual votes

Voted Yea (182)

Republicans (181)
Democrats (1)

Voted Nay (156)

Republicans (7)
Democrats (149)
Absent (33)

Catherine Sofikitis (D) , Charlie St. Clair (D) , Cindy Bennett (R) , Dale Girard (D) , Dale Swanson (D) , David Love (R) , David Lundgren (R) , Denise DeDe-Poulin (R) , Dick Thackston (R) , Gaby Grossman (D) , Geoff Smith (D) , Jaci Grote (D) , James Gruber (D) , Jay Markell (R) , Jeanine Notter (R) , Jennifer Rhodes (R) , John Janigian (R) , Jonathan Smith (R) , Jose Cambrils (R) , Marc Plamondon (D) , Mark Warden (R) , Mary Ford (R) , Matthew Hicks (D) , Molly Howard (D) , Myles England (D) , Patricia Cornell (D) , Peggy Balboni (D) , Peter Lovett (D) , Peter Varney (R) , Ron Dunn (R) , Thomas Buco (D) , Tim Mannion (R) , Tom Dolan (R)

Full Analysis

Let's not pretend this bill is about flags. Rep. Lisa Freeman (R-Tilton) didn't introduce this because she was losing sleep over someone flying a Ukrainian solidarity flag in a school cafeteria. This is about Pride flags, and everyone involved knows it.

HB 1132 restricts all public school flag displays to an approved list: US flag, NH state flag, POW/MIA flag, military branch flags, and town/city flags. Everything else is banned. Violations start with a warning and escalate to fines of up to $1,000 from the Board of Education.

The message this sends to LGBTQ+ students — who already face higher rates of bullying, mental health challenges, and suicidal ideation than their peers — is unmistakable: the state legislature went out of its way to make sure your school cannot display a symbol of your existence and belonging. In a state where LGBTQ+ youth are already vulnerable, this is government-sanctioned exclusion.

This bill is now law. It takes effect September 2026. The same legislature that couldn't find the will to fund school building repairs (HB 366) or increase per-pupil adequacy funding found plenty of energy to police which rectangles of fabric can hang in a school hallway.

Read the Actual Bill → See All Bills

Bill statuses as of May 2026. Check LegiScan or NH General Court for the latest.