Surrounded by legislators and law enforcement, Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte signed a new bail reform bill into law Tuesday, a top priority in her 2024 campaign and for her new administration.
“I’m going to sit down and sign this bill, and I got to tell you, I’m thrilled,” Ayotte told the crowd. “As I campaigned for governor, I kept hearing stories where someone was out on bail, they shouldn’t have been out on bail, and then someone else was harmed. And that just hit me.”
The new law is deigned to undo what Ayotte has called the “failed experiment” of more lax bail policies put in place in the wake of the death of George Floyd and the backlash against law enforcement that followed.
Once the law takes effect in 180 days, it will be easier for judges to keep people accused of serious offenses behind bars, and harder for them to be released on personal recognizance. It also gives judges more discretion regarding pre-trial detention. And a defendant who has already violated a bail agreement will be presumed to be a higher risk and, therefore, easier to hold without bail.
Gov. Kelly Ayotte at signing ceremony for bail reform bill, March 25, 2025.
(Courtesy)
Asked about the 2018 bail law that she supported and is now being overruled, Senate President Sharon Carson told NHJournal that Republicans at the time were “misled.”
“We were very concerned about whether or not the law was going to apply to violent crimes. We were assured that it wasn’t, multiple times. But within months, we saw that it was being applied to violent criminals. And at that point, we tried to fix it, but we couldn’t, because the coalition that had formed on the other side refused to recognize that there was a problem.”
That coalition included Democrats, progressive organizations like the ACLU, and some libertarian-leaning Republicans. While Senate Democrats unanimously backed the bill Ayotte signed, House Democrats overwhelmingly opposed it.
Carson said she hopes the next legislative move on the public safety front will be to pass mandatory minimum sentences for fentanyl crimes.
“That is a very important part of our agenda. Public safety is an issue that the Senate has really focused on,” Carson said. “Mandatory minimums, and of course a ban on sanctuary cities.”
A Boston-based reporter asked Ayotte about the stark contrast she’s drawing on law-and-order issues between the Granite State and the Bay State. Noting the “high-profile” arrests of violent illegal immigrants in Massachusetts, Ayotte said New Hampshire took a more pragmatic, pro-law-and-order approach.
“We saw a problem with our bail law. We fixed it. My hope is also that we will also ban sanctuary cities and policies in this state, because we’ve seen their impact in Massachusetts, and that has not been a good one for public safety. I feel that there’s broad support for that here in New Hampshire.”
“We’ve seen some of the high-profile cases in Massachusetts that were even just reported on yesterday,” Ayotte added. “We can’t let dangerous people — rapists, people who have assaulted other people — out on our streets.”
Ayotte was joined by legislative leaders on the bail reform bill like Sen. Daryl Abbas (R-Salem) and Rep. Ross Berry (R-Weare). Manchester Mayor Jay Ruais, who ran hard on the bail issue and has been an outspoken advocate for reform, was also on hand. He has emerged as the public face for the issue, hammering home the fact that about a quarter of the people arrested by Manchester police are out on bail.
“It’s a great day for Manchester, a great day for the state, and a bad day for criminals,” Ruais told NHJournal after the signing.
Concerns have been raised about the potential costs of keeping more people in jail and for longer periods of time. Ayotte said bail reform was the right choice from a cost-benefit analysis.
“If we keep a rapist off the street, if we prevent someone from being victimized again, what’s the cost of that? That’s the purpose of our criminal justice system,” Ayotte said.
“I’m confident that the counties will be able to address this, because we’re really going back to a standard that was in place, that worked for the state, and they’re used to operating under that standard.”
Rockingham County Sheriff Chuck Massahos was on hand to watch the bill signing, and he agreed the legislation is needed.
“You have a lot of dangerous criminals who are out of our roads, who are out on the streets, and what happens is, as soon as we arrest them, they’re gone,” Massahos told NHJournal.
“Bail reform is way overdue, and thank God that the state of New Hampshire, with the hard work of the Senate and the legislature, got this passed and the governor signed it.”
