Taxes & Economy

Preservation of the "New Hampshire Advantage" is critical to our continued success on a regional, national and international stage. The avoidance of broad based taxes allows citizens the opportunity to have a direct choice in taxation through local control in addition to attracting businesses and tax revenue to New Hampshire. This is a challenging time and more than ever, we need to assure that we" do no harm" with regard to our revenue policy and our state and local economies.

While we are undergoing great national economic challenges, a State Legislature committed to addressing our state and local communities' "needs" first rather than our "wants" can hold the line on our state budget.  A "needs" before "wants" approach embraces the virtue of frugality and allows us to distinguish between investment and spending.  Addressing today's needs first and planning for tomorrow's growth is key to keeping New Hampshire's taxes low and our economy recoverying. As our state recovers from economic crisis it is critical to return those capable of working from the much needed support of government assistant to the work force to help expand our state economy. State, county, and local government programs should be present to help those who truly need a hand up without creating a perpetual handout at the expense of others.

Education

While many people criticize New Hampshire's educational system, the 15th edition of the American Legislative Council's Report Card on American Education  ranks New Hampshire 4th in the nation behind Minnesota, Vermont and Massachusetts.

Perhaps the most controversial issue in the state is educational funding, not only at the local K through 12 level but at our technical colleges and university system.  The key to economic growth for New Hampshire is an educated citizenry across ALL levels of education.  Today and tomorrow's future economic growth depends upon the skilled trade employee, the well-trained technical college graduate, as well as, the university graduate to expand existing enterprises and promote the development and growth of cutting-edge green, as well as, traditional and long standing, businesses.

While funding for struggling communities is needed in the short term, economic development through targeted aid, such as Community and Economic Development Block Grants and rapidly deployed Job Training programs in communities that have experienced rapid job loss , is key in creating long term and sustainable educational funding .  A focus on economic development and community investment will effectively increase the tax revenue base, as well as, family income in targeted communities.   Other efforts, such as voluntary consolidation of school administrative units  in neighboring communities can also contribute to reducing administrative overhead, freeing up resources for classroom education. SAUs that elect to consolidate with adjacent communities can increase state school building aid from 35 to 55 percent!

With quality education comes a commitment from parents and families to participate in the educational process. Paul Barton of the Educational Testing Services composed a study titled "America's Smallest School: The Family" in which he estimated that about 90% of the differences in proficiency of various state schools could be explained by five factors; 1) number of hours watching TV, 2) number of days absent from school, 3) number of pages read (not assigned but actually read) for homework, 4) quantity and quality of reading material in the home and 5) the presence of two parents in the household. And since between their birth and 19th year, American children spend 9% of their time in school and 91% of their time elsewhere, home life plays a critical role in their scholastic achievement and future success as adults.

Affordable Health Care and Insurance

There is little doubt that if you are one of the 130,000 New Hampshire residents without health insurance you live with a constant concern that you are a heartbeat away from financial ruin or you lack the financial resources to access quality, or perhaps any, health care what-so-ever.  If you are a small business owner trying to grow your business and create jobs you find that you cannot compete with larger companies, or other states, for well-trained and educated employees because of the cost of health insurance hinders your ability to grow your business. Even if you are large multi-national company, you find that the price of  your goods and services cannot compete with foreign companies who do not have a line item on their balance sheet for unpredictable increases in health insurance premiums. And even if you have health insurance through your current employer as part of your compensation you are probably cost sharing the premium which amounts to regressive compensation, since lower paid employees pay a higher percentage of their wages for their premium share than higher paid employees.  And even those with private insurance often forgoe preventative care because all they can afford is catastrophic coverage, leading to higher treatment costs when treatable healthcare issues become critical healthcare crises. Lastly, our senior citizens, while covered by Medicare, are often forced from their homes  into more expensive nursing home care due to cuts in important  and cost effective programs such as the Visiting Nurse and Hospice Association.  All of these situations, and countless others, are examples of a health care system that is "penny wise and pound foolish".

While the Legislature under Governor Lynch's leadership expanded the Children's Health Insurance Program to cover 10, 000 children many of New Hampshire adults cannot afford or are unable to access the individual private health insurance marketplace.  In my first term, I supported the Governor's expansion of SCHIP access to small business to help NH small businesses remain competative and capableof providing health insurance as a continuing benefit to valuable employees and their families. Other states have attempted to implement state level health insurance programs with limited to no success in sustaining those programs. While Concord can try to hold insurance companies accountable for premiums that well exceed the rate of inflation, restrictions on coverage for pre-existing conditions, and fair claims practices, the magnitude of the problem calls for a national solution.

The United States could finally join other Western nations in securing the health and well-being of its citizens by making health insurance available to all and in the process make our businesses more competitive on a global scale. It is  the responsibility of our State Legislature to promote a system of health insurance reform that benefits New Hampshire residents and business through our Congressional representatives. 
 
Energy & Environment

The natural heritage and beauty of New Hampshire is perhaps our greatest resource and serves not only as a source of pride and quality of life but as an economic cornerstone.  Protecting our wetlands, forest habitat, rivers, lakes and streams, as well as our ground water resources, which account for the majority of our drinking water in the state, is paramount.  These precious resources should be protected for all to use and enjoy not just for a few to profit. Rigorous enforcement of existing regulations, funding of the Land and Community Heritage Investment Program should be restored once we pass through our economic crisis and cooperation with our neighboring states on regional issues, such as air quality, must continue to ensure we protect our environment for current and future generations.  New Hampshire is well on its way to leading the nation in preserving our environment and the New Hampshire way of life through sound energy and environmental policies.


Civil Liberties

"Live Free or Die" is a motto that resonates with not only New Hampshire residents but is admired and respected by others beyond our borders.  Under the leadership of Governor John Lynch we can be proud that New Hampshire protected a woman's right to choose by repealing a law that infringed upon the rights of 52% of our population, prohibited New Hampshire's involvement in the Federal Real ID program, and granted the dignity and respect that all people deserve with the establishment of  civil unions and the full status of marriage equality for same sex couples.  New Hampshire can be proud that we lead the nation in protecting our citizens' civil liberties, rather than seeking ways to infringe and diminish our hard earned freedoms.

Public Safety

In recent years some of us have unfortunately found the New Hampshire way of life threatened by an increase in crime in some areas of the state.  New Hampshire consistently ranks as the safest state in the nation relative to voilent crime. Governor Lynch made a commitment to ensure public safety and provided for those who keep us safe by increasing the number of State Troopers, establishing a death benefit for first responders killed in the line of duty, and creating an Internet Crimes Prosecutor to pursue criminals who prey on our weakest and most innocent citizens; children and the elderly.  We need to continue to assure that resources are made available to take care of those who take care of us.