What has he or she done or said to earn your vote?
When you make up your mind who you’re voting for in the November county or state elections, please send a few sentences about what you like most about the candidate you’ve picked. We’d like to run those short bits in the Beacon so we can all see what’s persuading our friends and neighbors one way […]
Familiar issues will be back in 2015
Many bills that didn’t pass in the 2014 session of the New Hampshire Legislature will reappear as new legislation in the session starting in January 2015. I’ve reviewed some of these bills below, and I need to hear the thoughts of my constituents about these and other important issues. If you choose me to represent […]
NH House finished work on June 4
The New Hampshire House finished its work for the current biennium on June 4. The Legislature can be proud of what it accomplished, including a bipartisan budget restoring many of the draconian cuts to education and social services, making healthcare insurance possible for many working families, providing funding to fix roads and bridges, protecting women, […]
Bipartisan compromise leads to meaningful legislation
When I ran for the New Hampshire Senate, I wanted to bring common-sense business principles to Concord. To me, that means working with both parties to solve problems; being careful with taxpayers’ money; and focusing on things people really care about, such as economic growth and job creation, instead of getting caught in tired partisan […]
Hospitals settle; state on track for balanced budget
While June 4 was the last session scheduled for the year in the legislature, we will have to go back at least once to vote on the governor’s vetoes. Governor Hassan has already vetoed HB 1244, which would have prohibited the disclosure of lottery winners names. I thought not releasing lottery winners names was incredibly […]
Flood control payments face stiff opposition
Reconsideration: Having voted against a bill for two casinos – I made a promise to support only one casino – I asked for reconsideration of the vote on SB 366. Naturally, I am always torn between the supporters of no casinos and the supporters of one or more casinos. The no-casino vote brought in a […]
House passes Senate bill to hike gas tax immediately
This past week was an eventful one at the capitol in Concord. Looking back a year and a half, we predicted that the so-called balanced budget left us by the preceding legislature was based on faulty calculations. Unfortunately, this came to pass when a New Hampshire court decision invalidated the Medicaid Enhancement Tax levies from […]
A rush of action as "crossover" looms
The Senate Medicaid Expansion bill passed the House on a vote of 202 to 132. The House sends its bills to the Senate in what is called Crossover with a deadline of March 27. Accordingly, a mad rush is on to finish voting on all our bills by that date. This means two- and/or three-day sessions […]
Same charge for every member
If you get your electricity from New Hampshire Electric Cooperative, you’ve no doubt noticed the Member Service Charge portion of your bill. It’s a fixed monthly charge that is paid by all Co-op members, regardless of whether you use one kilowatt-hour (kWh) per month or 1,000. No single charge on your monthly electric bill attracts […]
Wouldn't solve problems it addressed
For House Bill 1589-FN, requiring a criminal background check for certain firearms sales or transfers, it was difficult for me and many other New Hampshire State Representatives to decide how to vote. I voted against the bill because I didn’t believe it would solve the problems it was supposedly addressing. I don’t vote for poorly researched […]