Even though NH House passed a balanced budget on an historic voice vote, there were many policy initiatives on which the two parties disagreed. House Democrats were united in addressing and preventing the legislature from enacting:
• A six-week abortion ban.
• Several laws removing the protection of reproductive rights in the NH Constitution.
• A shift of $135 million in annual tax burden from wealthy individuals onto property taxpayers.
• Policies that increased the costs to local governments and the tax burden on property taxpayers across the state.
• An expansion of the school voucher program (EFA) to all students in primarily religious schools that would cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars.
• A law that would restrict the right of unions to bargain collectively known deceptively as “Right to Work”.
• A measure preventing the expansion of free school meals to the low-income families that need it.
• A law blocking New Hampshire from accessing federal funds to help feed needy kids in the summer.
• The enaction of rules that would only add to the contamination of our soil and drinking water with cancer-causing chemicals.
• Laws that jeopardize the safety of LGBTQ+ students by violating their privacy and forcibly outing them.
• Laws that usurp local control and target LGBTQ+ students by restricting what they can read.
• Rules designed to release EFA voucher recipients from their obligation to adhere to the program’s eligibility requirements.
Greenland Rye State Representative Dennis Malloy
While the NH Legislature made history this session by passing a balanced budget on a voice vote, there were many concerns that still need to be addressed.
I’m looking forward to returning to the NH House in 2025 to work on those concerns.