Latest news with #SharonCarson
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
State senators try to salvage New Hampshire's child advocate amid budget cuts
Sen. Sharon Carson, photographed during a Senate Finance work session Thursday, plans to propose an amendment to restore the Office of the Child Advocate after the House voted to eliminate it. Still, her proposal pares the agency down. (Photo by William Skipworth/New Hampshire Bulletin) New Hampshire's Office of the Child Advocate has been on the chopping block this session as state lawmakers look to trim the budget during a difficult fiscal year. However, some senators, slightly more bullish on the state's economic outlook, have proposed a way to keep the office, albeit in a slimmed-down form. When the New Hampshire House of Representatives passed its version of the budget, it eliminated the Office of the Child Advocate. Established in 2018, the office serves as a watchdog for New Hampshire's youth, overseeing the state's child welfare, juvenile justice, and youth care systems, and advocating for the best interests of children in the state. Eliminating it would save the state — which has been experiencing lagging business tax revenues — around $2.2 million over two years. However, state senators — who projected a slightly less dire financial outlook and appear more interested in keeping the child advocate — have since come up with a proposal to restore it. 'I'm trying to find a middle ground that the House will accept,' Sen. Sharon Carson, who is spearheading the proposal, said. 'Keeping it but compressing it down for now and still allowing them the funds that they need to do the job I think is important.' Carson, a Londonderry Republican and the Senate president, said she plans to propose an amendment to the budget that would restore the Office of the Child Advocate but lay off four of its employees. The amendment also gives the office the option to request more money from the Fiscal Committee in the future should the state's finances improve over the course of the next two-year budget term. The committee is expected to finalize the budget plan on Tuesday. After that, the entire Senate will vote to create the Senate's final version of the budget. From there, the Senate and House will hash out the differences between their budgets before Gov. Kelly Ayotte gets the opportunity to review and either approve or veto it. Carson believes there's enough Republican support for her proposal on the child advocate. She hopes it's 'a path that the House can accept.' Carson serves on the Children's Oversight Committee and has been pleased with the office's work. 'After working with the office for a number of years, I know how valuable it is,' Carson said. 'And I know the value of the work they do, so we had to try to figure out a way to save it.' Cassandra Sanchez, who heads the Office of the Child Advocate, said she has 'really mixed feelings' about the proposal. 'It's a really difficult time to look at reducing the office in the way in which that amendment would,' Sanchez said. 'But, of course, seeing an amendment come forth that continues funding to our office and does not eliminate the office altogether is a big win for us.' Sanchez said the four positions to be eliminated are an office coordinator (which is currently vacant), a public relations and training officer, the associate child advocate (her second-in-command), and a case aide. As the budget cut threats have loomed, she's conceded to lawmakers that if they have to cut positions, losing the public relations and training officer won't impact their caseload management and she asked that it be removed first. She's most fearful of the case aide being laid off because that position reviews all restraints and seclusions of children, and the state has been seeing rising numbers of these tactics being used, she said. In April, the state saw approximately 450 instances of children being restrained or secluded by a state worker, according to her office's most recent numbers. Sanchez's office is the only agency that reviews such instances to ensure they're necessary and in the best interest of the child. She said the office would 'be able to function quite well' with the other three positions removed 'but (the case aide) is the one critical position being cut that is truly going to have an impact on the children of New Hampshire.' The amendment also includes a provision that prohibits the office from partisan advocacy. Sanchez has been vocal in support of trans youth in the state. In April 2024, she participated in a press conference speaking out against bills targeting LGBTQ children, which ruffled feathers among Republicans. State Sen. Victoria Sullivan told New Hampshire Public Radio the advocacy is 'distracting from the actual good work that's happening with the children, with the systems.' Other lawmakers have echoed the sentiment. Sanchez said she's 'not extremely clear on what that means,' but 'could assume' it's a reference to that press conference and other LGBTQ advocacy. She wants more clarification from lawmakers, or even an interpretation from the attorney general. Regardless, she has not backed down on the issue. 'I have had conversations where I'm willing to talk about the way in which we engage with the Legislature around those issues,' she continued. 'But it would not change our viewpoint, which again, backed by psychological research, is that supporting a child and their gender identity, however they choose to explore that gender identity, supporting them in that exploration is healthy for their development. And so that is where I stand and where the office stands on those issues. And we will continue to advocate for protections of those vulnerable children and sharing factual information about the statistics and the outcomes for children when there is harmful legislation that attacks their ability to freely express themselves.' She said leading a team where employees are aware that their jobs are on the chopping block, through no control of their own, has been 'extremely difficult.' 'It's nothing I ever thought or had planned for having to manage,' Sanchez said. 'And now that it's here, I'm really taking it day-by-day. … But it is hard because the work we do already is so heavy and so difficult, and then to add that burden of the unknown on top of it, for their own lives, their own jobs, it's a lot for folks to deal with.' Still, she said, the team is 'not gonna let pessimism sink in.'
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Preliminary audit of YDC fund lacks any smoking gun
Anyone expecting that a preliminary audit of the Youth Development Center Settlement Fund would have an explosive, smoking gun finding is bound to be disappointed. Carson requested and Legislative Fiscal Committee ordered YDC fund audit Senate President Sharon Carson, R-Londonderry, requested and the Legislative Fiscal Committee approved a report reviewing the finances of the Youth Development Center Settlement Fund created in 2022 to consider damage awards to victims of alleged sexual and/or physical abuse. The 18-page report addressing seven bullet points the Legislative Fiscal Committee had called for at the urging of Senate President Sharon Carson does not cite any concern that the fund, created in 2022, has been improperly managed. Christine Young, director of audits under Legislative Budget Assistant Michael Kane, said four members of her team conducted interviews over the last four weeks of employees involved in the program with the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the YDC Claims Administration (YDCCA) staff group. They've also been reviewing all policies and reports. A final report from Young's group is due in early June. Carson said she requested the review because she didn't know enough about how the fund was dispensing awards, especially since June 2024 when a new law allowed fund administrator John Broderick and his legal team to pay out awards over time rather than in lump sums. The law allows awards to be paid in up to 10-year terms, but the report found that only five of 80 approved awards would be paid over 10 years, while 50 of the 80 awards will be paid out in four years or less. Awards already agreed to are going to cost the state budget at least $20 million in the two-year period that begins July 1, according to the report. The House-approved state budget has earmarked only $10 million for the fund in each of the next two years. Broderick has requested $150 million, which would equal the $75 million the fund is allowed to spend in any given year. Payments to lawyers Carson and other fiscal members raised questions about how lawyers representing the victims are paid. The report found the average attorney fee paid to date has been 30.8% of the award, below the 33% cap allowed by state law. Young's report confirms that 18 firms representing more than 75% of the victims have agreed to receive their fees over a three-year period. But the report found 50 claims had attorney fees totaling $11.2 million that had been paid in lump sums while their clients were all getting paid in installments. The report does reveal that Broderick has chosen not to act upon requests from Attorney General John Formella's staff for more fact finding on his cases. Preliminary financial report on YDC settlement fund released A House-Senate budget oversight committee approved an immediate audit into the finances of the state-created claims fund that approves damage awards to victims of sexual and physical abuse at the Youth Development Center in Manchester (pictured). The AG hired the Verrill Dana law firm of Portland, Maine, to review claims by the administrator to assess completeness and areas of agreement or disagreement. From 2022 to 2024, the AG had to provide its position whether it agreed 'fully or partially' with the administrator's claim decision. Since June 2024, that view from the AG has been optional though the practice 'remains substantially in place,' the report said. Young said the Verrill Dana firm has 'in certain cases' requested Broderick refer the case to a fact facilitator, but Broderick has not done so. 'YDCCA staff reported requests have not been granted by the administrator to conduct an additional independent investigation because statute requires timely processing of claims, and the resolution proceeding uses trauma-informed professionals to address verification and credibility questions in addition to controls throughout the claims process,' the report said. 'Contracts for these professionals include fact facilitation in the scope of work should it ever be needed.' Other details in the report included: * Inmate victims: Nearly one in five who have brought claims are currently prison inmates. Only 17 of those inmates are in out-of-state jails while the other 181 (91.4%) reside in New Hampshire prisons. * Administrative costs: Formella's staff spent 61.6% for the fund with the YDCCA has accounted for 38.4%. * Size of awards: The average award has been $543,000. Among the 296 completed claims, 54 of them were more than $1 million and 242 were less than that benchmark. klandrigan@
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Senate budget writers reject 3 hot-button cuts in House budget
State Senate budget writers reversed $151 million in cuts made by the House as they began assembling their own two-year spending plan on Friday. The House cuts had been made to Medicaid providers, services for people with developmental disabilities and for those suffering with a mental health crisis. The moves seized on the top three issues senators had heard about during a marathon 10-hour public hearing on Tuesday, for which people packed Representatives Hall and nearly 300 had signed up to speak. 'I want the people of New Hampshire to know we have heard what you said, and you have identified what we need to address in this budget,' said Senate President Sharon Carson, R-Londonderry, a first-time member of the Senate Finance Committee. During an interview, Chairman James Gray, R-Rochester, likened the move to business author Stephen Covey's 'three big rocks' theory of management, which advises to take up and fulfill top priorities first to ensure that there is enough room and time to address them. 'We just moved three very big 'rocks' in this budget,' Gray said. 'We've got plenty of other work to do, but we felt it was important to send this important message at the outset.' The $15.3 billion House budget had proposed cutting Medicaid provider rates by 3% across the board. Health care advocacy groups loudly protested that move since the current budget provided for, in some cases, double-digit rate hikes for certain medical specialties. Reversing that cut will cost $17.5 million in the next budget year and $35 million in the second. The House cut $31 million over two years for services to people with developmental disabilities, which raised the prospect of the return of a waitlist of adults needing help. 'I was in the House in 2007 when we ended the DD (developentally disabled) waitlist and it was a joyous occasion,' recalled Senate Deputy Democratic Leader Cindy Rosenwald of Nashua. 'This was a long time coming from the closure of the Laconia State School.' Rep. Jess Edwards, R-Auburn, said even with that cut, state law would allow Health and Human Services Commissioner Lori Weaver to ask the Legislative Fiscal Committee for more money over the next two years to avoid a waitlist. 'This is a foundation of what we need to do as a state and I am very glad we have restored it,' said Senate Majority Leader Regina Birdsell, R-Hampstead, whose hometown hosts the new state-of-the-art treatment center for juvenile mental health on the grounds of the former Hampstead Hospital. The restorations also marked a big victory for Gov. Kelly Ayotte. Sen. David Watters, D-Dover, praised Carson, Gray and Ayotte for working with Senate Democrats to take the controversial cuts off the table. 'This is the hallmark of this committee that we listen to people, and we are ready to do what needs to be done,' Watters said. Sen. Howard Pearl, R-Loudon, said the decisions were not difficult for this seven-member Finance Committee. 'There are many tough decisions to be made, but this is one of the easy ones,' Pearl said. More possible changes By reversing the cuts, the committee has earmarked 68% of the Senate's $221.8 million in higher revenue estimates than those used by the House. Over the coming week or so, the Senate panel must decide what to do about these other significant programs: • Office of the Child Advocate: The program, with 10 staff members, was eliminated. • State Council for the Arts: Eliminated, which would make New Hampshire the only state without an arts agency. • Group 2 Retirement Benefits: The House budget funded this $27.5 million item, a priority of Ayotte's that would boost the future pensions of several thousand first responders who had them cut due to a retirement reform law in 2011. Gray said Friday if his committee can't find the money he may lump the item in with the Youth Development Center victims fund as an IOU of sorts to be provided when future dollars are available. • University System of New Hampshire: The House would cut state aid by $50 million over two years, the deepest cut in 15 years. • Community colleges: The House endorsed a flat budget, about $4 million less than what Ayotte requested. • Liquor enforcement: The House eliminates the State Liquor Commission's quasi-police force that investigates and enforces alcohol and tobacco laws. • State Council on Aging: Abolished in House budget. • Renewable Energy Fund: Ayotte and the House call for sweeping the $10 million balance for these grants to local projects into the state treasury to balance the budget. • Local aid: The House budget capped payouts from the 8.5% Meals and Rooms Tax, which will deny cities and towns $11 million more than they would receive based on expected revenues. • Corrections: The agency would lose 150 positions including nearly 100 layoffs, none to come from the prison guard workforce. The commissioner said the cut would worsen morale, make the prisons unsafe and leave the state vulnerable to multiple lawsuits. • Alcohol Fund: The House suspends a law that 5% of liquor profits go to support treatment programs; $10 million per year would come from Opioid Abatement Trust Fund coming from settlements with major drug companies. • Housing Appeals Board, Human Rights Commission, and Board of Land and Tax Appeals: All eliminated by the House, to be replaced by two additional superior court judges to handle their cases. • Court budget: Administrators say the House's 8% cut would mean closing two circuit courts, suspending jury trials for two months each year and eliminating more than 100 positions. Speakers at Tuesday's hearing also took issue with House moves to raise dozens of fees by more than $90 million a year including the first across-the-board hike in motor vehicle fees in more than 15 years to raise $45 million annually. . What's Next: Senate budget writers meet Tuesday and continue work on as many as 100 proposed amendments to the spending plan. Prospects: Friday's action indicates the Finance Committee should complete its recommended budget on time late this month. The Senate has until June 5 to pass its budget. klandrigan@
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Senate budget writers reject three, hot-button cuts in House budget
State Senate budget writers reversed $151 million in cuts made by the House as they began assembling their own two-year spending plan on Friday. The House cuts had had been made to Medicaid providers, services for individuals with developmental disabilities and for those suffering with a mental health crisis. The moves seized on the top three issues senators had heard about during a marathon, 10-hour public hearing on Tuesday, at which people packed Representatives Hall and nearly 300 had signed up to speak. 'I want the people of New Hampshire to know we have heard what you said, and you have identified what we need to address in this budget,' said Senate President Sharon Carson, R-Londonderry, a first-time member of the Senate Finance Committee. During an interview, Chairman James Gray, R-Rochester, likened the move to business author Stephen Covey's 'three big rocks' theory of management which advises to take up and fulfill top priorities first to ensure that there is enough room and time to address them. 'We just moved three very big rocks in this budget,' Gray said. 'We've got plenty of other work to do, but we felt it was important to send this important message at the outset.' The $15.3 billion House budget had proposed cutting Medicaid provider rates by 3% across the board. Health care advocacy groups loudly protested that move since the current budget provided for, in some cases, double-digit rate hikes for certain medical specialties. Restoring that cut will cost $17.5 million in the next budget year and $35 million in the second. The House cut $31 million over two years for services to the developmentally disabled, which raised the prospect of the return of a waitlist of adults needing help . 'I was in the House in 2007 when we ended the DD waitlist and it was a joyous occasion,' recalled Senate Deputy Democratic Leader Cindy Rosenwald of Nashua. 'This was a long time coming from the closure of the Laconia State School,' a home for the disabled. Rep. Jess Edwards, R-Auburn, said even with that cut, state law would allow Health and Human Services Commissioner Lori Weaver to ask the Legislative Fiscal Committee for more money over the next two years to avoid a waitlist. 'This is a foundation of what we need to do as a state and I am very glad we have restored it,' said Senate Majority Leader Regina Birdsell, R-Hampstead, whose hometown hosts the new state-of-the-art treatment center for juvenile mental health on the grounds of the former Hampstead Hospital. The restorations also marked a big victory for Gov. Kelly Ayotte. Sen. David Watters, D-Dover, praised Carson, Gray and Ayotte for working with Senate Democrats to take these controversial cuts off the table. 'This is the hallmark of this committee that we listen to people, and we are ready to do what needs to be done,' Watters said. Sen. Howard Pearl, R-Loudon, said the decisions were not difficult for this seven-member Finance Committee. 'There are many tough decisions to be made but this is one of the easy ones,' Pearl said. More possible changes By restoring the cuts, the committee has earmarked 68% of the Senate's $221.8 million in higher revenue estimates than those used by the House. Over the coming week or so, the Senate panel must decide what to do about these other significant programs: • Office of the Child Advocate: The program, with 10 staff members, was eliminated. • State Council for the Arts: Eliminated, which would leave New Hampshire the only state without an arts agency; • Group 2 Retirement Benefits: The House budget funded this $27.5 million item, a priority of Ayotte's that would boost the future pensions of several thousand first responders who had them cut due to a retirement reform law in 2011. Gray said Friday if his committee can't find the money he may lump the item in with the Youth Development Center victims fund as an IOU of sorts to be provided when future dollars are available. • University System of New Hampshire: The House would cut state aid by $50 million over two years, the deepest cut in 15 years. • Community Colleges: The House endorsed a flat budget, about $4 million less than what Ayotte requested. • Liquor Enforcement: The House eliminates the State Liquor Commission's quasi-police force that investigates and enforces alcohol and tobacco laws. • State Council on Aging: Abolished in House budget. • Renewable Energy Fund: Ayotte and the House call for sweeping the $10 million balance for these grants to local projects into the state treasury to balance the budget. • Local aid: The House budget capped payouts from the 8.5% Room and Meals Tax, which will deny cities and town s $11 million more they would receive based on expected revenues. • Corrections: The agency would lose 150 positions including nearly 100 layoffs, none to come from prison guard workforce. The commissioner said the cut would worsen morale, make the prisons unsafe and the state vulnerable to multiple lawsuits. • Alcohol Fund: The House suspends a law that 5% of liquor profits go to support treatment programs.$10 million per year would come from Opioid Abatement Trust Fund coming from settlements with major drug companies. • Housing Appeals Board, Human Rights Commission, and Board of Land and Tax Appeals: All eliminated by the House, to be replaced by two additional superior court judges to handle their cases. • Court budget: Administrators say the House's 8% cut would mean closing two circuit courts, suspending jury trials for two months each year and eliminating more than 100 positions. Speakers at Tuesday's hearing also took issue with House moves to raise dozens of fees by more than $90 million a year including the first, across-the-board raise in motor vehicle rates in more than 15 years to raise $45 million annually. . What's Next: Senate budget writers meet Tuesday and continue work on as many as 100 proposed amendments to the spending plan. Prospects: Friday's action indicates the Finance Committee should complete its recommended budget on time late this month. The Senate has until June 5 to pass its budget. klandrigan@
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Senate panel votes to weaken recusal law
The state Senate appears poised to endorse a watering down of the year-old law regarding the recusal of legislators who have potential conflicts of interest. But the law's prime author is objecting, asking that any change be studied further. Without debate or discussion during an executive session on Wednesday, the Senate Executive Departments and Administration Committee voted 5-0 to add the change to an unrelated bill regarding the suspension of certain state employees (HB 248). The Senate's top three ranking members — Senate President Sharon Carson, R-Londonderry, Majority Leader Regina Birdsell, R-Hampstead, and Democratic Leader Rebecca Perkins Kwoka, D-Portsmouth — co-authored the change, though none of them testified for it during a brief hearing. The only lawmaker who did testify, Rep. Gregory Hill, R-Northfield, authored the recusal law last year after spending 3½ years working on the topic as head of the House Legislative Administration Committee. 'I believe this weakens our work and the law we passed last year,' Hill said. The pending amendment would make three changes: • Financial interest: The recusal clause would only apply if the lawmaker or household member 'is an employee of, or receives compensation from, an individual or organization.' • Public at large: No recusal would be needed if a benefit given to a legislator is the same as one given to the 'public at large' or a large group of individuals who are similarly situated. • Lobbyist carve out: This makes clear that having lobbied on behalf of an organization doesn't put lawmakers subject to recusal unless they meet a 'test set' of circumstances. The recusal law advises lawmakers not to take part in matters where either the legislator or a household member 'could stand to gain or lose anything of material value as a result of the official activity.' As a result, several legislators have asked the Legislative Ethics Committee over the past several months for advice on whether they could take part in specific bills. 'I think the way to fix these things is ethics (committee) inquiries and not to try and fix this through legislation especially when it is so new,' Hill said. During a recent interview, Sen. Donovan Fenton, D-Keene, said senators from both parties had expressed concerns that the new law is too restrictive. Fenton had to leave a committee room and could not participate in discussion of a bill (HB 649) to eliminate annual auto and truck safety inspections because his family owns a string of auto dealerships. The last time the Senate met, Carson said she and Birdsell weren't participating in a bill to raise the property tax exemption for the permanently disabled because they had served in the military. Many inquiries Last year, Democratic state Senate candidate Rebecca McWilliams of Concord asked the ethics panel to rule on what legislation her Senate primary opponent, Tara Reardon, D-Concord, would have to recuse herself from. Reardon's husband is former Concord Mayor Jim Bouley, a lobbyist with 18 clients this year ranging from charity casino owners and tourist attractions to auto dealers, veterinarians and a children's alliance. The ethics panel declined to issue an opinion at the time, but since February it has published several advisory opinions. Sen. Victoria Sullivan, R-Manchester, was advised she likely did not have to recuse herself over legislation she sponsored (SB 295) to expand Education Freedom Accounts because the last of her three private-school educated children who benefited from the grants will graduate next month and not be covered under the new law. Hill said it is "misguided" to try to pass the change as a non-germane amendment that would not face the same public review as a new bill. He asked the Senate to send the change back to committee until early in the 2026 session. 'I think it needs time to simmer,' Hill said. +++ What's Next: The full Senate votes on this proposed change the next time it meets. Prospects: Uncertain. It depends on whether House Republican leaders, who have remained silent thus far, agree with Senate leaders that the current recusal law needs to be changed. klandrigan@
