Op-Ed: Carson Provides Leadership In NH Senate

Press release from the NH State Senate:

July 9, 2021

It’s hard to overstate just how hard Sen. Sharon Carson is working for the people of New Hampshire. As Chair of BOTH the Senate Judiciary Committee and Executive Departments and Administration Committee, Carson has perhaps the heaviest workload of anyone in the New Hampshire Legislature. This year, her hard work is paying dividends.

Sharon has long been a champion of public safety. While some are calling to “Defund the Police”, Sharon said we should “Back the Blue.” Because of her work, the recently approved budget includes several provisions to make the people of New Hampshire safer.

The budget invests nearly $3 million in the Granite Shield program, which continues to work on drug trafficking interdiction, aimed at preventing the supply of illegal drugs from entering the Granite State. The budget also funds the Commission on Law Enforcement Accountability, Community and Transparency (LEACT) recommendations for body cameras. These cameras have been shown to work, providing crucial evidence of police encounters and lowering the number of complaints filed where they are adopted.

Another key LEACT recommendation was updating the state’s “Laurie List” of police misconduct. Carson led negotiations for a landmark reform, providing a means for accused officers to clear their names while improving transparency for the public.

Sharon is a proven tax fighter. Because of the tax reforms championed by Republicans over the last several years, New Hampshire’s economy is among the strongest in the country. In fact, our state’s unemployment rate is now lower than when the COVID-19 pandemic began. This budget cuts taxes on New Hampshire employers, reducing the Business Profits Tax and Business Enterprise Tax, and increasing the threshold for filing the BET to $250,000. That will provide immediate relief to New Hampshire’s small businesses and help create more high paying jobs for our friends and neighbors.

We also phase out the Interest and Dividends Tax on savings and retirement income, helping our seniors. We protect Main Street businesses who received loan forgiveness under the Paycheck Protection Program from an unexpected tax bill and lower the Meals and Rooms Tax for the first time in decades to give a boost to our travel and tourism industry.

This budget provides relief to property taxpayers at every level. We send back $100 million under the Statewide Property Tax. We also share $188 million in Meals and Rooms Tax revenue with cities and towns, an increase of $50.5 million over the last budget, and for the first time protect that revenue sharing with a dedicated fund. We also increase funding for county nursing homes by $29.1 million, providing relief on the county portion of your property tax bill.

This budget expands school choice, creating Education Savings Accounts for low-income New Hampshire families who need more choices for their children’s education. School choice helps students who need options to fulfill their educational opportunities.

Sharon has always promised to watch out for New Hampshire’s most vulnerable, and the budget she supported delivered. This budget increases support for programs addressing mental health and substance misuse, including funding for a new forensic psychiatric hospital, additional transitional beds to tackle the emergency room boarding crisis, and full funding of the Developmentally Disabled Waitlist. We also set aside $3 million to help seniors and veterans recover from the social isolation caused by the pandemic.

We are proud of the work that Sharon Carson is doing in the New Hampshire Senate, and will continue to rely on her to deliver for the people of New Hampshire.

Sen. Chuck Morse (R-Salem) is Senate President. Sen. Jeb Bradley (R-Wolfeboro) is Senate Majority Leader.

This press release was produced by the NH State Senate. The views expressed here are the author's own.