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 […]
$25 million in surplus so far this year
Few battles were fought in Concord last month, as the legislature is on vacation, but at home I have been waging war against a foreign invader, the dreaded Japanese beetle. A few good things happened in our state , however. One, a modest surplus of almost $6 million, was achieved in the month of June, […]
New Horizons gave me back my confidence
It is pretty much always a good thing to feel beautiful and healthy-looking on both the inside and the outside. Sometimes, depending on what is going on in our busy lives, it just isn’t easy or natural to feeling anything other than tired, worn out, and not so beautiful. I think we forget to take care […]
2014 showed what it's like without our celebration
There was a TV commercial in the 1970s that said, “You can’t fool Mother Nature.” She fooled us on the Fourth of July 2014. Due to the rains associated with Hurricane Arthur, this year’s parade and outdoor events on the Village Green had to be canceled. Andover is very fortunate to have a rich history […]
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 […]
On Friday morning, February 28, we woke to our smoke-filled home that started as a chimney fire which unfortunately turned into a three-alarm fire. Andover and 11 other towns responded in the bitter cold, putting their lives on the line going in and out of the house, doing everything possible to put out the fire. […]