Last week was an up and down week for Gov. John Lynch. While the Senate restored key provisions to Lynch’s proposed legislation for tougher penalties for sexual predators, the House voted against Lynch’s bill to raise the state’s compulsory education age from 16 to 18 years old. On Wednesday, April 12, the full House voted 309-44 to refer the drop-out prevention bill to an interim study. Although the House Education Committee supported the bill, critics said that requiring students to stay in school until the age of 18 would not necessarily keep kids in school. Lawmakers also objected to the increased funding for vocational education programs in Nashua and Manchester that were part of the bill.

In a statement released after the vote, Lynch said that House members are “giving up” on New Hampshire students.

“Instead of real action, the House chose yet again to ‘study’ New Hampshire’s dropout problem,” Gov. Lynch said. “Well, we’ve been studying this issue to death since at least the 1980s, if not longer, with little to show for it.”

Lynch said House members “made excuses or, in some cases, simply decided to put partisan politics first” ahead of students.

The week wasn’t a total loss for Lynch, though. On Thursday, April 13, members of the Senate restored mandatory minimum sentencing provisions to HB 1692, which calls for harsher penalties for sex offenders who commit crimes against young children. The House had approved the bill in March, but removed a section that would allow prosecutors to seek a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years against a person convicted of a crime against a child under the age of 13. House members who removed the provision said the mandatory 25-year sentences did not give judges and prosecutors enough flexibility in sentencing sex offenders. The bill now heads back to the House for another vote; House members can either accept the bill as is or send it to a committee of conference, which means sitting down with the Senate and working on a compromise.

On Thursday, April 20, the Senate will vote on HB 1111, which would designate the pumpkin as the official New Hampshire state fruit. Rep. Peter Allen (D-Harrisville) introduced the bill earlier this year at the request of students at the Wells Memorial School in Harrisville. The Senate Banks and Insurance Committee has recommended the bill pass.

That day, the Senate will also vote on HB 1337, which would establish an advisory board on amusement ride safety. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Jim Splaine (D-Portsmouth), originally required amusement ride operators to undergo some kind of training. However, House members amended the bill, which now establishes a committee to assist the state Department of Safety in coming up with policies regarding regulation and enforcement of amusement ride operators.

The Senate will also vote on HB 1713 on Thursday, which would restrict the over-the-counter sale of pseudophedrine-based drugs. Pseudophedrine is used as an ingredient in the production of the drug methamphetamine. If passed, the bill would take cold medicines and other drugs containing pseudophedrine off of drug store shelves and place them behind the counter. Customers would be limited to two packages of cold medicine and would be required to show a photo ID, as well as sign a log recording the date and time of the purchase. No one under 18 would be allowed to purchase the drugs. The bill also establishes a committee to study the possibility of an electronic tracking system for sales of pseudophedrine-based drugs. New Hampshire is not the first state to consider such a measure—Missouri, Washington, Alabama, North Dakota, Indiana, Iowa and Hawaii already have laws on the books restricting over-the-counter sales of cold medicines.