Getting the job done for NH families

By Sens. Jeb Bradley and Sharon Carson

It’s hard not to get cynical about our national politics these days. But here in New Hampshire, Senate Republicans have led the way to get things done for New Hampshire working families. We are proud of what we’ve done this year to keep New Hampshire the best place to live, work, and raise a family.

Our top priority is always to keep New Hampshire families safe. For several years, we have worked to fix New Hampshire’s broken bail system. This year, we have finally gotten meaningful bail reform over the finish line. While no one will be denied bail simply because they cannot afford it, we have set up a system that requires violent and repeat offenders go in front of a judge or magistrate before being released.

We’ve taken proactive steps to address our nation’s border crisis by making sure the Northern Border Alliance has the tools and resources to stop illegal immigration into New Hampshire and the resulting drug smuggling and human trafficking that comes with it.

Lack of affordable housing continues to be a major hurdle, both for New Hampshire families and our state’s economy. Last year, we dedicated $35 million to the Affordable Housing Fund, an additional $10 million to InvestNH, $5 million for Housing Champions, and $10 million in state aid for homelessness programs. This year we worked to lower bureaucratic hurdles that stifle housing development and allocated $2.5 million to increase rates for shelter programs. We also protected the rights of property owners by prohibiting squatters’ rights.

During the last legislative session, the Senate led the way in passing more than $500 million in property tax relief for cities and towns. We built on that record this session, sending nearly $2.7 billion in state aid to cities and towns, including $683 million in new state aid. That includes the $169 million increase to local school districts under our Student-Centered Education Funding Formula, $90 million for water and wastewater infrastructure and treatment programs, $40 million for municipal roads and bridges, and $260 million in local Rooms and Meals revenues over the biennium, double the amount going back to towns from just four years ago.

We stood up for vulnerable New Hampshire children, putting new protections in place for kids placed in the state’s care, increasing penalties for child pornography and violations of privacy involving minors, and banned life-altering and irreversible gender reassignment surgery for children.

We kept our promise to fight for New Hampshire families, passing a Parents Bill of Rights that would guarantee every parent has a right to know what’s going on with their children in New Hampshire schools. We voted to protect girls by allowing schools to distinguish bathrooms, locker rooms and sports teams based on biological sex. We passed legislation to provide a clear complaint and appeals process for parents who believe school materials are inappropriate. We also expanded eligibility for New Hampshire’s wildly successful Education Freedom Account program, which is already helping 4,200 working families choose the best educational path for their children.

We will always protect the New Hampshire Advantage. We blocked big spending bills that would force us into an income tax, sales tax, increased property taxes, or the return of donor towns. We will never tax our way to prosperity. Instead, we passed a balanced budget that has produced a revenue surplus of $146.5 million through the end of June.

This fiscal discipline and common-sense policy making has helped make New Hampshire not only the freest state in the nation, but the safest, the healthiest, the best for economic opportunity, and the best for child well-being in the nation.

There are always new challenges ahead. Senate Republicans stand ready to face them with the same dedication and commitment that we’ve shown over the past four years. We will never take for granted the trust that Granite Staters have placed in us to get things done for New Hampshire working families.

Senate President Jeb Bradley (R-Wolfeboro) represents District 3. Senate Majority Leader Sharon Carson (R-Londonderry) represents District 14.

NH finally protects the unborn in the last months of pregnancy

By Sens. Regina Birdsell and Sharon Carson

At long last, New Hampshire has joined the ranks of 43 states that limit the practice of late-term abortion. For too long, we were among a small group of states that provided no protection for unborn children until the moment of birth.

The recently-passed budget bill includes the Fetal Life Protection Act, which limits abortions to the first 24 weeks (6 months) of pregnancy unless the life, health, or well-being of the mother is endangered. This is in line with most other states, which place limits on abortion late in pregnancy. Most states limit abortions at 18 to 22 weeks. At 24 weeks, the child is considered viable. Testing for major birth defects occurs much earlier in the pregnancy.

The public has consistently and overwhelmingly supported limits on late-term abortion. 79% of voters oppose third trimester abortions (7 months through 9 months). Even 66% of self-described pro-choice voters oppose third trimester abortions. There is plenty of disagreement over abortion early in pregnancy, but most pro-life and pro-choice voters agree that we have a compelling interest to protect innocent lives as they approach the day of birth. Only 6% of people believe that abortion should be allowed up to the time of birth. This is abortion extremism, but it has fueled opposition to New Hampshire’s reasonable new law.

Supporters of late-term abortions complain that we require an ultrasound for doctors to determine fetal age before performing an abortion. But as Lovering Health Center in Greenland recently told New Hampshire Public Radio, “ultrasounds are already routine for most abortions.” And they are covered as prenatal care under New Hampshire insurance policies and ACA plans. In fact, 27 states have some sort of imaging requirement in place, so that doctors can be sure whether the fetus has passed its sixth month and is protected. Doctors acting to save the life or health of the pregnant mother would not be breaking the law.

Supporters of late-term abortions say that by punishing doctors who perform late-term abortions, we will discourage them from practicing in New Hampshire at all. Yet 35 states have criminal penalties for doctors who perform illegal abortions.

Those who support abortion until birth object to any and all protections for the unborn. They objected to setting a viability standard to protect the baby, arguing that it was too vague. Now they object to 24 weeks, arguing it is too rigid. They opposed parental notification requirements to ensure that children would not be seeking abortions without their parents’ knowledge. They even voted against New Hampshire’s ban on partial birth abortion. Now we’re hearing that this late-term abortion law is extreme, even though it’s already in place in 43 other states.

We are proud that New Hampshire has finally become the 44th state to finally protect infants in the 7th, 8th, and 9th month of pregnancy. This is long overdue. Voters have consistently and overwhelmingly supported limits on abortions in the third trimester. They oppose an extreme pro-abortion agenda without any limits up to the moment of birth.

Sen. Regina Birdsell (R-Windham) represents District 19. Sen. Sharon Carson (R-Londonderry) represents District 14.

The Biden Administration is making it harder for NH seniors to go to college

By. Sens. Sharon Carson and Ruth Ward

Ronald Reagan used to say, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’”

The Biden Administration is proving the Gipper right again by bungling a program that was supposed to streamline the college financial aid process for students and their families. Instead, the federal Department of Education has so botched the redesign of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) that graduating seniors across New Hampshire and the nation have been left in limbo with no idea how much aid is available for their college plans.

FAFSA was meant to be a one-stop application for college students to apply for all forms of need-based financial aid, giving their families a complete picture of their eligibility for the various scholarships and grants that are available. Knowing the amount of aid they had, and what the family would be expected to contribute, would allow families to make informed decisions when deciding where to go to college.

In 2020, Congress passed the FAFSA Simplification Act, which reduced the number of questions from 100 to about 40, while expanding the eligibility criteria. That gave the Biden Administration three years to get the new form online, with a deadline at the end of 2023. But making FAFSA work wasn’t a priority for the Biden bureaucracy.

The system didn’t work when they tried on December 30 to turn it on. It’s still giving families problems. The form won’t accept some submissions. It requires Social Security numbers from both the student’s parents and won’t accept an application if one parent doesn’t have a Social Security number. An estimated 30% of submitted applications produce inaccurate results. Former Obama Department of Education official Ted Mitchell calls the FAFSA situation “a rolling catastrophe.”

President Biden and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona simply haven’t been giving the unfolding FAFSA fiasco their full attention. They have been preoccupied with their unconstitutional quest to pay off student loans for their political supporters. Trying to work around the Supreme Court apparently takes a lot of attention.

By forcing students into a single federal financial aid application, the Biden Administration has created what engineers call a single point of failure. And this colossal failure has led to massive backlogs. With no reliable information on their financial aid package, students across the country have no idea what college options they can afford.

The FAFSA Simplification Act was meant to expand use of the system to more students considering higher education, Instead, completed FAFSA applications are down more than 26% in New Hampshire and down 36% nationally. The problem is not limiting to this year’s graduating seniors. Returning college students who relied on financial aid are left wondering if that same help will be available for the fall semester. They are understandably reluctant to return to campus without knowing the potential cost.

While the Biden Administration scrambles to clean up its own mess, others are stepping up to help students left in the lurch. Universities have pushed back their admissions deadlines. The New Hampshire House and Senate have each passed legislation removing the FAFSA application from the state’s graduation requirements, meaning no graduating senior will be denied the diploma they’ve earned because they weren’t able to complete some federal paperwork.

But there’s only so much we can do until the Biden Administration gets the FAFSA application online and working. The Biden Administration official behind the rollout abruptly resigned last week as Congress was beginning an investigation into the debacle. We need answers on what went wrong. But New Hampshire college students need answers on how much financial aid they can count on as they make decisions about their future this spring.

Sen. Sharon Carson (R-Londonderry) represents District 14 and is Senate Majority Leader. Sen. Ruth Ward (R-Stoddard) represents District 8 and is Chair of the Senate Education Committee.

Taking A Stand Against Crime

By Sen. Sharon Carson

The illegal immigration surge has negatively impacted our state’s communities and has put our safety at risk. The people who are flooding into our country are not individuals who are searching for better opportunities in the United States. These people are criminals that are looking to hurt Granite Staters. Protecting our borders, blocking sanctuary cities, and strengthening our bail laws will continue making New Hampshire the safest state in the nation.

Here in New Hampshire, we have witnessed the results of our unmanned borders. Joe Biden has allowed our borders to be wide open and has made every state a border state. The Northern Border Alliance Task Force data shows there were over 7,000 illegal interactions across the Swanton Sector (the New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire borders) in 2023 which increased by 5,000 interactions from the previous year. This outlines that there are serious problems on both borders. Our neighboring state, Maine, has also dealt with illegal immigrants at their borders. On February 28th, 2024, three illegal immigrants were trying to enter the United States via the Canada-Maine border. We need sufficient funding and resources to keep our borders safe if the federal government refuses to do so. This is why New Hampshire allocated $1.4 million to the Northern Border Alliance to help combat this problem and keep our communities safe.

Other states in the region are struggling with illegal immigration every day. Look no further than New York City where Mayor Eric Adams has called for a halt in accepting any additional migrants. New York City, a self-proclaimed sanctuary city, has had enough of illegal immigrants. On February 1st, 2024, an illegal immigrant attacked New York City police officers and was released mere hours after being arrested. New York tied the hands of their law enforcement by only allowing catch and release style detainment due to New York’s practically nonexistent bail requirements. New York is seeing the consequences of their sanctuary city policies in real time and are reaping what they have sown.

This practice will not be tolerated in New Hampshire. There is no room for illegal criminals to set up shop in our state to do harm, or worse, to our citizens. Our police force needs to be able to work with ICE agents and remove these criminals from our state. We support our law enforcement and trust them to protect our communities. Funding our police and ensuring that they have the tools they need prevents the national crime wave from threatening Granite Staters. Republicans’ top priority is keeping New Hampshire the safest state in the nation and stopping the overflow of illegal migrants. However, other states have been given a front row seat to this immigration disaster.

On February 23rd, 2024, an illegal immigrant murdered Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student from the University of Georgia. Athens, Georgia is a self-proclaimed sanctuary city. On February 28th, 2024, an illegal immigrant murdered a 2-year-old boy in Langley Park, Maryland. The illegal immigrant who committed the murder was released from prison twice already and ordered to leave the country. Other southern border states, such as Texas, have been targeted and overrun with illegal immigrants daily. Even in New Hampshire, an illegal mass murderer from Brazil was arrested last August in Rye.

The illegal mayhem gripping our country right now is out of control, and it needs to stop. These examples all show that sanctuary city policies and lax bail requirements do not protect communities. New Hampshire Republicans are the only ones fighting for our communities because we know there is a problem and we do not want illegal chaos to be unleashed on our state. We are fighting to ban sanctuary cities and not allow them to be hubs for illegal criminals. We are also working on reforming our bail system so that illegal criminals are not expedited back out onto our streets like they are in New York. Actions have consequences and if there are illegal immigrants coming to the Granite State, there will be serious penalties.

Additional funding and resources helps put an end to the mass surge in illegal immigration. We cannot sit idly by as our state could unknowingly houses illegal criminals due to lax border laws. Republican Senators in Concord understand the dire need to protect our state. We are fighting to protect our borders, block sanctuary cities in New Hampshire, and improve our bail system to keep illegal immigrants out of our communities. We are doing everything we can to sound the alarm if our colleagues across the aisle refuse to do so. This is a real problem and Republicans will always fight to keep New Hampshire safe.

Senate Majority Leader Sharon Carson (R-Londonderry) represents Senate District 14

Senate GOP Will Defend And Extend the NH Advantage

By Sen. Jeb Bradley and Sen Sharon Carson

Rising prices nationwide have made life challenging for Granite State families. That’s why in 2023, we passed a budget that protects New Hampshire families, small businesses, and our state’s economy from new and higher taxes while prioritizing spending on our state’s most vulnerable populations and increasing education funding.

The 2024 legislative session will focus on keeping New Hampshire affordable and protecting Granite Stater’s wallets, while also keeping our state the safest in the nation, empowering our parents, and providing more opportunities for affordable housing.

Republican policies have lowered business tax rates, strengthened our economy, and produced budget surpluses. This year, we will protect business tax cuts, and block policies that would hurt workers and drive-up costs for our small businesses. We will always fight to preserve the New Hampshire Advantage by opposing an income tax, a sales tax, a capital gains tax and the return of divisive donor towns.

We will also continue our efforts to lower property taxes. In the 2021-2022 session we provided $500 million to cities and towns, public schools and counties. In the 2023 budget we increased education funding by $169 million, dedicated $260 million of the Rooms and Meals Tax Revenue to cities and towns, and over $50 million to local water projects, roads, and bridges.

Given this sound fiscal management, it’s no accident that New Hampshire has the lowest poverty rate in the nation, 3rd lowest unemployment rate, the 8th highest median family income, and is ranked #1 for economic freedom!

In New Hampshire, we also see the results of open border policies as drugs flow across the southern and northern border to every community in the state. We have thankfully avoided much of the crime wave gripping the nation because New Hampshire has not defunded the police which is why we are the safest state in the nation. We will continue to focus on public safety by introducing bills to keep drugs and crime off the streets, instituting bail reform to ensure violent repeat offenders are seen by a judge before being released, and strengthening penalties for DWIs.

According to the Northern Border Alliance Task Force, 7,000 illegal interactions occurred across the northern borders of New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire this year which increased by nearly 5,000 interactions from last year. That is why we allocated $1.4 million to the Northern Border Alliance. It’s imperative to guard our northern border so we can prevent drug smuggling and human trafficking into our state.

We will be fighting for a Parental Bill of Rights to ensure parents know what children are doing in school, including keeping parents informed and involved in decisions regarding their children’s health care and mental health treatment. We will protect educational opportunities for children, Education Savings Accounts, and school choice.

An activist judge recently mandated spending an additional $535 million for education funding, ignoring our just-approved Student-Centered Education Funding Formula which increased state aid by $169 million in this budget and by 31% per pupil over the next decade. This ruling would force communities to send excess Statewide Education Property Tax to the state, creating donor towns. Increasing spending by this much would require a broad-based sales tax, income tax, return of donor towns, or all of the above. The legislature is elected to set education funding in New Hampshire; not a single judge. Senate Republicans will fight this overreach.

Finding affordable housing is not only a challenge for New Hampshire families, but an obstacle to our state’s economic well-being. Building more affordable workforce housing is critical as well as supporting programs to combat homelessness. Republicans plan to address this issue by doubling dedicated funding for the Affordable Housing Fund and making it easier for people to find housing in our state.

There is more to do in Concord to help Granite Staters succeed. Republicans will continue to fight for you so that we have the most affordable, safest, and freest state in the nation. We will continue to protect our wallets, safeguard our communities, and empower our parents. This conservative, commonsense plan will further opportunities for all Granite Staters across our great state.

Senate President Jeb Bradley (R-Wolfeboro) represents Senate District 3.
Senate Majority Leader Sharon Carson (R-Londonderry) represents Senate District 14