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The two antievolution bills in New Hampshire's House of Representatives were editorially denounced by the Concord Monitor (February 20, 2012), which wrote, "The House should spare the state further embarrassment and kill both bills." Both bills were dismissed by the House Education Committee on February 16, 2012, but nevertheless proceed to a floor vote in the House on February 22, 2012. According to a primer on legislative process posted on the state legislature's website, "It is rare for the full Senate or House to overturn a Committee's decision."
With regard to House Bill 1148, which would have charged the state board of education to "[r]equire evolution to be taught in the public schools of this state as a theory, including the theorists' political and ideological viewpoints and their position on the concept of atheism," the Monitor commented, "But we fear that [the bill's sponsor Jerry] Bergevin is not referring to Darwin with his use of the words 'the theorist' in his bill but to today's science teachers. If so, it is a McCarthy-esque proposition that's odious on multiple levels."
With regard to House Bill 1457, which would have charged the state board of education to "[r]equire science teachers to instruct pupils that proper scientific inquire [sic] results from not committing to any one theory or hypothesis," the Monitor commented that its description of science, insofar as it was accurate, "is the opposite of efforts to espouse positions like the creationist theories of life's origin promoted by ... a representative from the Discovery Institute who came to New Hampshire from the state of Washington to testify in favor of the bills."