Latest news with #NewHampshireHouse
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
If we want to grow, we need to invest
"The New Hampshire House's proposed budget does not just hurt programs and the people they serve. It hurts our state's ability to compete in the 21st century." (Photo by Dana Wormald/New Hampshire Bulletin) After a winter full of guardrail-breaking politics, I arrived at the State House Tuesday on a rainy spring day, ready to protest and testify before the New Hampshire Senate about a budget I believe will shrink our state's future. Then came hours of thoughtful, passionate testimony from caregivers, health care workers, state and local officials, nonprofit leaders, and fellow parents. I had to leave before the Finance Committee got to my name on page 14 of the sign-up sheet, but I took solace in how many who came before me said versions of what was on my mind. Below, though, is the framing I didn't hear Tuesday that I still can't shake. As we think about a future that works for everyone in New Hampshire, I hope it reaches a persuadable audience. The New Hampshire House's proposed budget does not just hurt programs and the people they serve. It hurts our state's ability to compete in the 21st century. It doesn't fund a future. It retreats from it. We talk a lot in New Hampshire about economic growth and keeping young people here. About attracting workers and building strong communities. But budgets are where rhetoric meets reality. The budget passed by the House — now under review in the Senate — does not make New Hampshire more competitive. It makes it harder to stay, harder to raise a family, and harder to grow. Being pro-growth means being anti-poverty. It means investing in the people who make our New Hampshire work — in their housing, their child care, their health care, their education, their job training. But at a time when the U.S. economy just contracted by 0.3% — driven in part by trade imbalances and decreased government investment — this budget pulls back from the very people and services we should be supporting most. When state leaders offer only cuts, local property taxes jump just to keep the lights on. And with housing, child care, and everyday costs soaring, middle-income families are barely hanging on. Many of our teachers, nurses, and first responders can't even afford to live where they work. Across New Hampshire, we're short over 23,000 housing units. But the House budget eliminates the Housing Appeals Board, making it harder to build, even as 1 in 4 homes on the market now costs over $1 million. More than 16,000 Granite Staters are out of the workforce because they can't find child care. But in the proposed budget, there's no meaningful investment in providers or parents. The budget also eliminates the Family Planning Program. This strips access to affordable reproductive health care, contraception, and cancer screenings, especially for low-income and rural folks. We're still 15,000 workers short since the pandemic, but the House budget cuts job training and Medicaid provider rates, pushing caregivers and health care workers further out of reach. The $50 million cut to the UNH system is particularly shortsighted. Amid these workforce shortages, we're gutting one of our most vital talent pipelines for tradespeople, nurses, engineers, teachers, social workers, and in-state students who tend to stay and work locally. Many UNH campuses also serve rural and low-income communities already stretched thin. If we want young people to stay, work, and raise families here, we need to fund the things that make that possible — homes they can afford, schools they trust, child care they can find, and jobs they can build on. Gutting those things tells young people like me that this is not the state we grew up in. Are we still that state? Where if you work hard, play by the rules, and respect the fact that your neighbor's path isn't your own, you can still get ahead? These cuts don't tell that story. We're closing the Office of the Child Advocate as over 1,300 survivors of abuse at the Youth Development Center pursue justice. We're ending the Commission on Aging as 27% of our population will be 65 or older by 2030. Pulling $10 million from the Renewable Energy Fund while the Seacoast and Upper Valley face repeated flooding. Expanding education freedom accounts — siphoning public dollars into private schools with no accountability as public schools remain underfunded and understaffed. Eliminating the Council on the Arts amid constant assaults on cultural freedom and innovation — in the 'Live Free or Die' state. None of these actions solve problems. They shift burdens, weaken services, and undermine long-term growth. My wife and I are doing well. We have a safe home, reliable child care, and stable careers that help us pay for it all. But life in 2025 is exorbitantly expensive and a state that relies on high earners like us — while cutting the support that helps others rise — is not building a future. It's running out the clock, scaring off talent and investment, and pricing out the working people who keep us strong. There is still time to get this right. The Senate can reject this budget, close loopholes that let out-of-state investors avoid paying their fair share, bolster housing support, reinvest in public education and workforce training, and protect the public services families count on. And citizens across this state can keep demanding a smarter, more honest approach to growth. Real competition requires real investment. And making good on 'Live Free or Die' means funding the freedom to stay and thrive.
The Hill
07-05-2025
- Business
- The Hill
New Hampshire becomes first state to adopt strategic crypto reserve
New Hampshire became the first state in the country to establish a crypto reserve on Monday, giving the digital assets a win after several other states rejected similar legislation. 'New Hampshire is once again First in the Nation!' New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte wrote on X Tuesday. 'Just signed a new law allowing our state to invest in cryptocurrency and precious metals.' The law, titled HB 302, enables the state treasurer to invest up to 5 percent of New Hampshire's state funds into precious metals and digital assets. The metals and assets must have a market cap of over $500 billion, and bitcoin will be the asset used to fill the stockpile. New Hampshire House Republicans celebrated the bill's passage, writing on X, 'The Live Free or Die state is leading the way in forging the future of commerce and digital assets.' Several other states have pursued similar legislation, though some have faced hurdles in recent weeks. In Arizona, Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) vetoed a state bill that would have allowed the state to use seized crypto funds for a crypto reserve. Earlier this week, Florida pulled two crypto reserve bills from its legislative, session, while Oklahoma, South Dakota, Montana, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and Wyoming also rejected similar legislation. The push for crypto reserves mirrors that on the federal level, where President Trump signed an executive order in March creating a government reserve of bitcoin and a stockpile for other digital assets. Trump's order differs slightly from New Hampshire in that it requires the U.S. government to use the bitcoin already seized by federal law enforcement while disrupting financial crimes to establish the reserve. Still, his order empowered the Treasury and Commerce Departments to 'develop budget-neutral strategies for acquiring additional bitcoin.' The Trump administration maintains these strategies will not create extra costs for taxpayers. Trump's artificial intelligence (AI) and crypto czar, David Sacks, said earlier the year the U.S. government is estimated to own about 200,000 bitcoins — worth more than $17 billion — but a full audit needs to be completed to confirm the number. Like Trump, some state leaders are increasingly warming up to crypto as the industry tries to distance itself from past scandals and cement its status as a legitimate financial pathway.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Butler, Hilton advance to Somersworth, Rollinsford election for NH House seat
Democrat Billie Butler and Republican Ken Hilton won special primary elections Tuesday, advancing to an election against each other for a New Hampshire House District 12 seat representing Somersworth and Rollinsford. Hilton defeated Nick Boyle by a wide margin in the Republican primary, 151-19. Hilton received 112 votes in Somersworth and 39 in Rollinsford. Boyle received 12 votes in Somersworth and seven in Rollinsford. Butler was unopposed in the Democratic primary, receiving 187 votes (117 in Somersworth and 70 in Rollinsford). The Butler vs. Hilton special election for the District 12 seat will be held Tuesday, June 24. The winner will replace Democrat Dawn Evans, who left the seat because she moved out of the district, according to the Somersworth city clerk's office. The winner's term will expire at the end of 2026. More local news: David Moore named Somersworth city manager, will leave Stratham Somersworth and Rollinsford voters on June 24, 2025 will decide who to send to the New Hampshire House to fill a vacant District 12 seat. District 12 has four seats representing Somersworth and Rollinsford. The three occupied seats are held by Democrats Myles England, Wayne Pearson and John Joseph Stone. Republicans hold the majority in the House, with 220 seats to 177 for Democrats and one independent. There are two vacant seats, including District 12. This article originally appeared on Fosters Daily Democrat: Butler, Hilton win Somersworth, Rollinsford NH House primary
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
House budget, trailer bills survive; school budget cap killed
After a long, suspense-filled and sometimes emotional day of debate, the New Hampshire House adopted a two-year, $16.3 billion state budget that made significant cuts to higher education, human services, corrections and the courts. The cuts were prompted by much more pessimistic revenue forecasts than the ones Gov. Kelly Ayotte had offered in her budget proposal. The final plan spends $5.7 billion from state taxes and fees (36%), $5.2 billion from federal grants (32%) with the rest from dedicated funds, lottery and such things as investments on state balances. The House proposal now goes to the state Senate for consideration. Thursday's six-hour-plus debate came with some hiccups for the rock-ribbed Republican majority. Rank-and-file House members bucked their leadership to strip from the proposed budget a cap on local school spending, a $14 million cut to tourism advertising and the idea of replacing the state Board of Land and Tax Appeals with a superior court judge. At one point the House even tabled the budget trailer bill, 198-167, after conservatives with the Republican Liberty Alliance rebelled because the House had stripped a provision for new state employees to have pensions that come from an IRA-like investment account (defined contribution) rather than the existing fixed pension amount (defined benefit). After the tabling, House Speaker Sherman Packard, R-Londonderry, called for a 30-minute private caucus of House Republicans after which they reversed themselves, 193-170, and returned to deal with 30 amendments to the trailer bill. The final trailer bill vote was 185-175. Key test votes early on Thursday prompted a sigh of relief for House Majority Leader Jason Osborne, R-Auburn, whose forces hosted three different private caucuses with GOP members, trying to get enough of them to embrace a plan. Osborne was determined not to repeat 2017 when a House GOP majority failed to pass a budget. In that year a lame-duck speaker defaulted to have the budget entirely written by the state Senate. 'This is only the first step of negotiating outside of this body. If I want our positions to have a place at that negotiating table, we must first vote for this,' Osborne said at one point Thursday. Rep. Karen Ebel, D-New London, argued the Republican-drafted budget hacks away at what's special about New Hampshire, noting a $50 million cut to the University System of New Hampshire, $31 million in cuts meant to avoid a waitlist for adults with developmental disabilities and nearly $40 million in reductions to mental health programs. 'I look at this budget and see (that) too much of what is working is being cut,' Ebel said. In those key tests, the House narrowly passed the budget (HB 1), 192-183, and passed the trailer bill (HB 2), which makes all changes in state law necessary to implement the budget, by a little more comfortable margin, 200-175. Fifteen House Republicans opposed the spending plan. Individual wish lists Moments later there was a window into how Osborne had put this delicate majority together, partly through private negotiation with individual members with their own wish lists. With little debate, the House tacked on two amendments conservative Republicans wanted. Rep. Lisa Mazur, R-Goffstown, got her provision to make New Hampshire the only state in the country not to require children be immunized against chicken pox. The language of that proposal also would transfer the power to write rules on immunization to the Legislature from the Department of Health and Human Services. Rep. James Spillane, R-Deerfield, got his bill tucked in to legalize the possession of brass knuckles and blackjacks along with making all guns manufactured in New Hampshire for in-state use exempt from the National Firearm Act (HB 383). Early on, House Republicans stuck together, beating back, 206-166, a 'better budget' amendment from House Democrats that sought to restore most of the major cuts. House Democrats would have paid for some of their add-backs by raising the tax charity casino operators would pay in profits from slot machine gambling and by doing away with the proposed expansion of Education Freedom Accounts for families with wealthier incomes. 'We realize voting for this amendment requires some bravery on the part of some members,' said Rep. Jerry Stringham, D-Woodstock. 'Being a coward is only cute in 'The Wizard of Oz.'' Rep. Dan McGuire, R-Epsom, mocked concerns over the cut to USNH, saying it represents only 2.5% of the system's entire $1 billion budget. 'That's my personal favorite cut … the University System in my mind got off very, very easily,' McGuire said. The GOP unity started to waver when Rep. Ralph Boehm, R-Litchfield, led the first overthrow, getting the House to eliminate the proposed school spending cap, a favorite of both Osborne and McGuire. 'School districts have the ability now to adopt a tax cap but now we are forcing communities to do it,' Boehm said. 'We keep screaming about local control, yet we are taking away more of it.' Osborne protested, 'The number one issue people tell us about is property taxes. We can protect them with this legislation.' The House disagreed, voting 206-165 to eliminate the school cap with 38 Republicans joining all Democrats. After that, two more restorations followed: The tourism money was restored, 198-164, and the Bureau of Tax and Land Appeals got back its two-year, $2.4 million budget (183-180). Others fall short A few other rescue attempts narrowly failed. A bid to restore the budget of the New Hampshire Council on the Arts failed by eight votes. Then a move to require the state to give notice to anyone on Medicaid that they could sign up for a child's free or reduced school lunch lost by a single vote, 183-182. Rep. Stephen Pearson, R-Derry, a lieutenant in the Manchester Fire Department, moved to strip the pension change, charging it would break the promise to all first responders that they would get a fixed pension after a career of putting their lives on the line. McGuire said the current pension system was unsustainable and giving new workers the freedom to invest their own contributions could deliver an even healthier retirement nest egg. The House again bucked the GOP leadership, striking the pension change, 183-177. That's when Rep. Michael Granger, R-Milton, convinced colleagues on an unrecorded division vote to table the bill. After the interruption, and Packard's GOP caucus, the House regrouped and wrapped up the day's work just after 7 p.m. by dispensing in rapid-fire succession with the remaining 10 amendments to the bill. klandrigan@
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Women make up half of NH's population. You wouldn't know it by looking at the Legislature.
The New Hampshire House convenes on Thursday, March 20, 2025. (Photo by Claire Sullivan/New Hampshire Bulletin) Women hold top spots in New Hampshire politics, including the governorship and three-quarters of the congressional delegation. In the Legislature, though, they remain significantly underrepresented. While women make up 50.1% of the state's population, per the latest census, they make up only 35.8% of the legislative chambers combined, according to data from Rutgers University's Center for American Women in Politics. Historically and today, the largest gender gaps are in the 400-person House. Women are also typically underrepresented in the 24-person Senate, but they have reached gender parity briefly this century and, for two years, outnumbered men in the chamber by one seat. Women lawmakers across the political spectrum offered a variety of opinions on why women remain underrepresented in the Legislature — and whether that underrepresentation has policy consequences for the state. While New Hampshire's citizen Legislature is a point of pride for many, some said the $100-a-year pay had a disproportionate impact on women, who studies show still bear the brunt of child care and domestic duties. Women who were raising children while in office said strong support systems were essential for allowing them to do their work as elected officials. Researchers said women see better representation in legislatures that are more professionalized, meaning elected office is a full-time job with better pay and resources like strong staff support and an office. They also pointed to other factors affecting women's participation, like party recruitment efforts. Some lawmakers described the personal impact of being a woman in a space dominated by men. They felt they had to work harder than their male colleagues to be taken seriously, and faced gendered stereotyping or assumptions. Meanwhile, others felt their gender posed no or little challenge to their political life. New Hampshire is in the middle of the pack among states when it comes to women's representation in legislatures. Nevada is the only legislature where women outnumber men, making up 60.3% of the chambers. In Arizona, women and men have equal representation, and in the other 48 states, there are more men than women. In Congress, 28% of lawmakers are women. The share of women in the Legislature, with some spikes, has remained relatively stagnant over the decades. 'One of the things that those of us who study this like to say is that, you know, there's nothing inevitable about women's representation. It's not as though time itself changes anything,' said Anna Mahoney, the executive director of Dartmouth College's Rockefeller Center for Public Policy and the Social Sciences. 'What changes women's participation in government is action, either on behalf of political parties, or grassroots organizations, (or) women candidates themselves.' There's a question Becky Whitley heard more than any other in her brief run for the state's 2nd Congressional District last year — a question she wonders if a male candidate would hear. 'The number one question that I was asked, even by my own family members, was, you know: 'What about your son?'' Whitley said. 'And so I just question whether — and I don't know, I can't speak from experience — do men get the same questions, right?' Whitley represented the capital area as a Democrat in the state Senate from 2020 to 2024. In her political experience, she felt women faced different pressures and expectations than men. That was felt across the aisle, too. Sen. Denise Ricciardi, a Bedford Republican and a deputy majority leader in the Senate, said she's used to challenging those expectations. 'If you've seen me, I have big hair, and I wear high heels. I think that people underestimate me because I don't want to change my style to be taken more seriously, right?' Ricciardi said. 'So you have to work harder. … I have to prove myself, but I don't mind. In fact, it feels like a victory when you do prove yourself, and people see the real you.' Ricciardi isn't a fan of party politics; she said she's motivated instead by 'doing what's right for people.' She said she feels women in a male-dominated space 'have to work harder to be taken more seriously.' While she said she hasn't really experienced this perception from voters, 'I definitely think with colleagues, I think there's just this thought that … we're not as smart or we can't do it … the way they want to do it,' she said. Whitley said 'women have a very fine line to walk.' 'I felt this acutely in terms of … our standards for behavior, in terms of how strong we can be, in terms of our decorum, in terms of what we look like, what we can say,' Whitley said. 'I felt very acutely that the line for what was appropriate for women in, you know, the public sphere was … quite different than it is for men. And so … I have always felt like, you know, I have to work a little bit harder. I have to be a little bit clearer. I have to … really walk that line. And I certainly think that men in my same position don't feel that way.' Other women lawmakers felt differently. Asked whether there are still obstacles for women in politics today, Sen. Regina Birdsell, a Hampstead Republican who serves as majority leader, said, 'When I first got in, I say yes, but things are really starting to open up.' She said she has often observed women beat out men in legislative races, and that she has seen more younger women getting involved than when she first ran in 2010. 'If a woman is really interested in running, and they do it right, I think they have a much better chance of prevailing,' Birdsell said. 'So I think … if you know how to do it, and you do it right, I think the door is wide open for you.' Rep. Judy Aron, a South Acworth Republican who chairs the House Environment and Agriculture Committee, said she felt 'we're way past that' in terms of women facing obstacles in politics. 'I don't know that there's any particular right number of percentage. I mean, why should it be 50/50?' Aron said. 'I think it's a matter of … who our voters think are qualified to do these jobs, or be in these elected positions.' But others felt fewer women in the Legislature meant less attention on issues that impact women. Mahoney, the Dartmouth researcher, said 'a lot of the research shows that when you have more women in your legislature, the topics that you're talking about and the legislative agenda itself shifts.' Ricciardi pointed to the 'Momnibus' bills, legislation aimed at maternal health spearheaded by women. Male colleagues aren't as focused 'on maternal issues, child care issues, family issues as much, and those are really important things that we need in our state,' she said. Women have unique lived experiences to bring to the table, said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat who was the first woman in American history to be elected both as a governor and a U.S. senator. 'You know, I used to say this a lot when I became the first woman to be elected as New Hampshire's governor: women make up half of our population, and we have different life experiences than men do,' Shaheen said in a statement to the Bulletin. 'Not better or worse — but different, and it's important to have those experiences and views represented, regardless of which side of the aisle those women fall on.' Women shape elected bodies beyond just legislation, Mahoney said. Their presence in legislatures can affect everything from the architecture of the buildings where they work — adding women's restrooms by the chambers' floors where they weren't before or rooms for nursing — to the culture of the chambers. 'When we look to see what kind of impact women have once they're in the institution,' she said, 'one of the things that I like to look at is not just necessarily the bills that they are supporting or that they're voting for, but how they're changing the institution itself.' The challenges facing women are multipronged, and so are the solutions to getting more in office, researchers said. 'We need societal and cultural change,' Mahoney said, 'but we also need the nuts and bolts of party infrastructure and legitimate support in order to increase the number of women running for office.' Those recruitment efforts may be difficult for candidates of any gender at a time 'when government is not necessarily seen as a place where good things can get done efficiently,' and trust in American institutions is low, she said. In terms of challenges on the campaign trail, research into voters' perceptions of women candidates is 'sort of mixed,' Mahoney said. In the general election, 'you don't see as much bias, because people are really relying on party cues, and so they're going to vote for their party regardless of who the candidate is,' she said. 'It's really in those primary contests where women face specific challenges of fundraising, whether they are perceived to be really legitimate candidates that can win, and those sorts of things.' Women candidates can benefit in elections where topics considered 'women's issues' — like reproductive rights — are important, Mahoney said. The set-up of a legislature can pose its own challenges. Emily Baer, an assistant professor of political science at the University of New Hampshire, pointed to the fact that in more professionalized legislatures, with better pay and more staff support, 'women tend to be better represented.' The 'flip side' of having a citizen Legislature in New Hampshire, she said, 'is it's much harder for women to serve in a state that is not providing them with the resources to pursue that as a career, while also balancing other things in their personal and professional lives.' This may have an acute effect on women in particular because of factors like being underrepresented in professions that are considered political pipelines, as well as access to child care and other resources, she said. 'A lot of studies still show that women, even when they are working full-time professional careers, still do a lot more at home in terms of household responsibilities and child care responsibilities,' Baer said, 'and serving in the state Legislature — particularly if it's not something that can be a career for them, and they're balancing it alongside their own professional career and then higher levels of responsibility at home — that's something that affects women politicians much more than it would affect male politicians.' Additionally, the citizen Legislature has a 'bias towards older, retired individuals,' Baer said, 'because they might have more time and slightly better financial position to allow them to serve in those legislatures. And so when we talk about parity in women's representation, you want parity that actually reflects the diversity of that group as well.' Research has found that women often wait to run for office until their children have gone to school or left home, which 'frequently delays women's entrance into politics,' Mahoney said. For many, family support is key. Whitley, the former capital-area state senator, said her supportive spouse and community, as well as her mother nearby, made her public service possible. 'But not everyone has that, and so if one of those things weren't true, I wouldn't have been able to serve,' Whitley said. And, even then, serving longer than the four years she was in office 'just wasn't sustainable for my family,' she said. Sen. Rebecca Perkins Kwoka, the Senate minority leader and a Portsmouth Democrat, said her legislative work 'requires a lot of supportive people in my life, and also a really good mastery of Google calendar.' She's found it helpful to talk with other moms doing similar work, and she hopes to return the help, even if it's just talking about the actual logistics of the job, like juggling legislative demands with getting the kids to school. 'Just being able to kind of demystify that, I think, for people makes it a little more accessible,' she said. Birdsell, the Senate majority leader, said a program she was in aimed at getting Republican women in the state to run for office helped her greatly. They learned about media, the basics of the Legislature, went to Washington, D.C., and met stakeholders involved in the political process. That program is now defunct, but she said she would love to see its return. And while state legislatures can be stepping stones to higher office, a number of women who propelled themselves to the highest political planes in New Hampshire — Congress and the governorship — did so without first serving in the State House, Baer noted, suggesting other avenues for women candidates. Perkins Kwoka thinks women serving can act as a positive feedback loop. 'The more women we have serving, the more women, I think, will be able to see themselves in the role,' she said.
