10 January 2011
Greenland Grapevine January 2011
Priorities
This is a budget year for the state, which is due by the end of June. Our Finance and Ways & Means committees have already begun their work, hearing from all of the departments and assessing their needs. According to the Legislative Budget Assistant Office—the official record keeper of state finances—we are now facing a nearly $1 billion deficit. This would require approximately $750 in additional taxes on every individual in New Hampshire. Balancing out our next biennium’s budget is our first priority and will require every department to become more efficient. Other priorities include fixing our education funding and reforming our retirement system. We will address these difficult issues and work towards finding meaningful change that is fair to all.
Local Issues
Many residents have inquired about adding a crosswalk on Post Road near the library. I have been in contact with the DOT and recently received the following. They reviewed the site in front of the library that is below the crest of the hill. It has a limited sight distance and the road begins to widen the closer one moves toward the church, putting a pedestrian in harms way longer. Additionally, there becomes more distractions with the other yield sign and the split in the road. Putting another cross walk in that is so close to the other one is not feasible. Our best bet is to convince our children to use the walk up by the school that has good visibility, is well marked and known by drivers. It is also in the school speed limit zone which has traffic going slower.
Sponsored legislation
I will be supporting and potentially co-sponsoring a Constitutional amendment to fix the education funding problem we have. I believe that our parents and our elected school board are in the best position to make decisions regarding the education of our children. The issue of funding (donor/ receiver towns) has gone on for 12 years (Claremont I and II) with no resolution and a constitutional amendment will help put this issue behind us. Should we be able to get it through the house, senate and governor, it will be likely be on the ballot in 2012. I’ll share some history on the education funding in a later article.
I have sponsored a bill that has been championed by Nashua Chamber of Commerce to help the state and cities attract business to NH. Net Loss Carry forward deals with the amounts and the years a business can write off losses. We have been at a disadvantage to our neighboring states and this bill, by allowing larger amounts of losses to be deducted, will put us in a better position to attract business- and thus jobs- to our state.
Last year I expressed concern about replacing the sheriff after all the issues we had when the he resigned over a year ago, I have introduced a bill to clarify the language of when the county delegation must elect a replacement, should this happen again. If you remember, we were compelled to elect a new sheriff, but we had someone in place who was functioning fine. I am asking to change the language that we will elect a replacement if the vacancy is over a year, but under a year, the delegation will have the flexibility to determine if they need to fill it.
Election Results
Once again, I am honored to represent Greenland in Concord. The turnover in the state house is usually around 1/3 every two years, the November elections changed the makeup of the house by nearly 50 percent this time. While many of the newly elected are returning members from previous years, the majority are new to the state house altogether. We have been busy getting them up to speed and ready to start the new session this winter. We elected a new Speaker of the house, who in turn appointed me to Deputy Speaker. This position works with the speaker in many of the assignments and the set appointments of committees and seating. More importantly, the deputy speaker reads and assigns every bill to the respective committee. Initially there were over 800 Legislative Service Requests (LSR’s). Many were duplicate efforts – same idea presented by different reps. Through communicating with all the representatives and getting them to sponsor legislation, we and the Legislative Services group eliminated much of the duplicity and we’re looking at just under 700 LSR’s that will potentially be house bills. This is a cost saving to the state and taxpayers as it is estimated that it costs around $1,000 to have a bill go through the process.
My core focus in Concord remains the best interests of our residents and our town. I appreciate your comments and please contact me with any issues. My email address has changed to: pam.tucker@leg.state.nh.us. Thank you.