Newly inaugurated Gov. Kelly Ayotte ran on a promise to stifle New Hampshire’s fentanyl and opioid crises by raising the mandatory minimum sentences. She may just get her wish.

Two bills sponsored by Republican Sen. Bill Gannon, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, would increase the punishments on some drug convictions and even create a mandatory minimum on certain fentanyl-related crimes.

Senate Bill 14 would establish a minimum sentence for possession of fentanyl. Anyone convicted with more than five grams would get a minimum sentence of three-and-a-half years. For anything over 28 grams, the sentence would be seven years.

Senate Bill 15 would create a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison for a conviction of manufacturing, dispensing or selling fentanyl that results in someone’s death.

Manchester Mayor Jay Ruais advocated for tougher sentences, calling fentanyl a “scourge” in his city. Opioid overdoses and deaths are falling, he said, but there’s more work to do.

“SB 14 sends a strong message that New Hampshire is serious about deadly drugs like fentanyl, and if you are found in possession of this killer drug you will face significant jail time,” Ruais said.

Addiction recovery specialists and advocates argued that prevention and treatment are more effective methods of combating the drug.

Sen. Regina Birdsell, a Hampstead Republican, also proposed increasing the punishment for another type of crime: reckless driving. For driving over 100 miles per hour, Senate Bill 41 would raise the minimum fine from $500 to $750 for the first violation, from $750 to $1,000 for the second violation, and would remove any cap on the fine. It also would revoke the driver’s license for a minimum of 90 days on the first offense instead of 60 days.

Matt Amatucci, a state police captain, said it won’t eradicate reckless driving but hopes it’ll act as a deterrent. Over the past decade, he said, more people are speeding, especially with more cases in excess of 100 miles per hour.

“We would support any deterrent that we can get to help decrease driving behavior and get it back into the more safe, normal range,” Amatucci said.

Charlotte Matherly is the statehouse reporter for the Concord Monitor and Monadnock Ledger-Transcript in partnership with Report for America. Follow her on X at @charmatherly, subscribe to her Capital Beat newsletter and send her an email at  cmatherly@cmonitor.com.