The State of the State is an opportunity to showcase and highlight many of the wonderful aspects of New Hampshire, as well as focus substantively on where we are going and how we are going to get there. Not only is the General Court (House and Senate) in attendance, but the NH Supreme Court, Agency Commissioners & Directors as well as an assortment of noteworthy residents and supporters normally pack Representatives Hall. The Dartmouth Aires, a choral group from Dartmouth College –sang the national anthem as well as entertained those assembled with an amazing performance. This year, Governor Lynch made special reference to the 58 NH residents who died defending their state and nation over the past ten years in Iraq and Afghanistan. He also introduced a person from the NH Food Bank that provided over 7 million pounds of food to needy neighbors last year. He also introduced two Department of Transportation employees who accomplished the yeoman task of repairing the Kancamagus Highway after Hurricane Irene. This was, I later learned from DOT, a herculean task accomplished in 15 days by a few state workers which resulted in the Kanc being re-opened and ready for tourists at the height of the season.
Substantively, Governor Lynch didn’t miss the mark and reiterated how the statehouse is a place for people to make a difference, and urged us “to adopt the cardinal rule of medicine: First do no harm. We can build on our success, but overall New Hampshire has a strategy that is working. Let’s not mess it up…” Not messing things up was a key theme this year! Although NH has the fourth lowest unemployment rate in the Nation, “our first priority remains putting people back to work” – and keeping a strategy that works. Having an educated, accomplished workforce is vital to growth and economic development; therefore, he took the legislature to task for reducing revenues from the tobacco tax that cost us 13 million dollars. He pointed out how the 10-cent cut in the tobacco tax has wiped out much of the gains in the business tax revenues and urged us to recognize our error, contending that they could have been used to offset the 48% cut to the University System. The governor made the case how not only has this hurt NH students and families but has negatively impacted business trying to grow in NH and sent the wrong signal to the companies they are trying to attract.
Not pulling any punches, the governor articulated how the “current budget dramatically reduced uncompensated care payments to hospitals. As a result, hospitals have been challenging current and past Medicaid Enhancement Tax payments.” He was clear that the House & Senate must consider how “to repair this fractured relationship with our major health care providers.” While I don’t always agree with the Governor regarding tax policy, it was refreshing to hear that “there are tax reductions that can spur job growth here in New Hampshire.” Stressing how the research and development tax credit was established “to attract companies to create the products of the future”, he proposes we double the research & development tax credit this year. I especially liked his bluntness regarding how “this is a tax credit that works to help create jobs; the same cannot be said for the cut in the tobacco tax.”
Lastly, Governor Lynch didn’t shy away from addressing the destructive extremist antics that have become common place in the legislature. I especially appreciated it when he said “we hear from some a lot of anti-government talk – but that doesn’t make sense. Government after all, is all of us, the people of New Hampshire and it exists to serve all of us... Our focus shouldn’t be on attacking government. It should be on improving government.” He then proceeded to praise state employees, teachers, firefighters and police officers and how they are not the enemy! He expressed concern over the “rash of proposed legislation” relative to guns and public safety and clearly stated “these bills are wrong for public safety and they are wrong for New Hampshire.”
Governor Lynch ended his final State of the State maintaining there is
