On the Issues

My top priority in the legislature needs to be affordability, because it is the biggest need in the state right now. Affordability for everything from housing, childcare, education, & energy. Approaches to all these challenges are outlined below.

To bring down property taxes we need to understand that local property taxes are rising because the state is sending less money to local towns. We need to fix this trend because our local towns are not the issue. We are just raising money to meet our educational and town obligations. To fix this we need to increase state revenues from other funding models and move the tax burden to the state level and away from the local towns who have less flexibility. 

We have lots of different methods to explore. Such as expanding business taxes, tax exporting models (so second homes and vacationers can support our economy) and restoring capital gains taxes to redistribute the cost of quality. I would even be open to models like the 3-3 Tax Savings plan which introduces an income tax at 3% but sets a true $3 true state property tax with many large deductions to protect low and middle income families. While I fully understand the reluctance to welcome an income tax, the overall tax burden would decrease for most of NH.

According to the NH Association of Realtors, the median sales price hit an all time high last month of $580,000. And in Rockingham County - where the towns I represent sit - a new record, with a median sales price of $717,500, the highest ever recorded for any New Hampshire county.  Buyers for affordable first-time and middle income homes are continuing to compete for limited supply. We need to do more to support NH residents with creative solutions to housing and lots of them. Reducing red tape on everything from parking requirements for apartment buildings, incorporating workforce housing requirements, exploring converting office spaces into housing, expanded use of ADU availability, and many more. Many of the problems we are facing are not a one size fits all solution so we need to provide tools to fill in gaps in different places. 

To start, the best thing we can do to bring down our energy costs is use less. That starts by expanding funding for programs like NH Saves, a state wide energy efficiency program. We can support NH home owners to expand the insulation in our homes, and replace hot water heaters with more efficient heat pump heaters. In parallel, we can explore further diversification of the grid. With projects like community solar or programs which create generous loan terms for neighborhood solar arrays, or even offshore wind. This creates insulation in the pricing because we have different methods to fulfill our energy demands, it is also a mitigation to climate change. 

The state is not doing enough to support its public schools, the state is abandoning its students and trying to create a voucher program which solves nothing, despite being told multiple times it is not doing enough for public education. 

The education funding model relies far too heavily on property taxes, and local municipalities to cover the cost of quality education. This dependency on local property taxes means we have an uneven quality of education throughout the state. And towns that are being forces to cut corners in education so people can afford to stay there. We need to look at other funding options like expanding business taxes, tax exporting models (so second homes and vacationers can support our economy) and restore capital gains taxes to redistribute the cost of quality education. 

In addition to housing, Childcare is one of the biggest expenses that families face. According to Childcare Aware: Child Care in America 2024 Price & Supply Report the median cost for childcare in NH for an infant at center based care is $16,040 a year! That’s 11% of the median income for a married couple, nevermind a single parent where it represents 36% of their median income. That is well above the 7% cap recommended as a federal benchmark of affordable childcare. In addition to that, the people who work in childcare are more than twice as likely to be in poverty as other workers' families. I am a working parent and I rely on childcare to be able to attend my job, and if you all are so willing my congressional duties in the future. I know first hand the actual cost of childcare. And I see how wonderful and supportive the staff are to my children. Childcare can not be a wholly free market business - so that the people who care for children can earn a living wage and people who send their children there are not spending more than the 7% affordability benchmark. We can do more to close this gap by combining this with the education funding model updates that are desperately needed. 

I am a data analyst by day and certified in Applied AI and Data Science and I don’t think we should move forward with Data Centers; unless a data center is willing to incorporate large scale energy infrastructure projects which cover 125% of their demand in conjunction with their proposal. There are significant energy and cooling requirements which would be a drain on our local community infrastructures, and we are already dealing with high costs of energy. It does not make sense to add to that burden without careful consideration and review. Moreover, we need a pause on AI development from a safety and security perspective after the HuggingFace attacks and all the associated warnings about AI development. We need to carefully consider AI’s impacts before moving forward.