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New Hampshire governor Chris Sununu on Wednesday vetoed a bill that would require college students to pass a U.S. naturalization test in order to graduate.
House Bill 319 maintains that students seeking a degree from any New Hampshire public institution, including community college, must earn a score of 70 or higher on the 2020 version of the 128-question civics test that non-U.S. citizens take to become naturalized. International and exchange students are exempt. Supporters of the bill, including its sponsor, Representative Mike Moffett, argued it would help close existing knowledge gaps regarding how the U.S. government works, The New Hampshire Bulletin reported.
Sununu said in a statement Wednesday that he vetoed the bill because it would apply only to out-of-state public college students. He pointed to House Bill 320, which he signed last year, which implemented a “similar” civics competency exam for New Hampshire high school students. Additionally, he said House Bill 319 would “represent the first time the legislature has imposed a universal graduation requirement for students at our public colleges and universities,” which could create a precedent for more “extreme requirements.”
“There is no lesson more important than understanding our individual responsibility to uphold democracy,” Sununu’s statement read. “Nevertheless, I believe the legislature’s passage of House Bill 320 already addresses the important concerns of an engaged citizenry and an understanding of the fundamentals of democracy without some of the challenges House Bill 319 may unintentionally create.”
