SPEAKER_00: 0:00

You have pretty nice chairs down there from what I can see in the state senate.

SPEAKER_01: 0:03

We do. We do have nice chairs. Fancy chairs. When I started serving in the New Hampshire Senate, it was COVID. And so my first many meetings were on Zoom. And when we finally got into the chamber, you know, it still strikes me this way. It's a very it's a hallowed place, you know, and I have a lot of respect for these institutions and and sort of the traditions around them. But when we're in there debating, which the Senate does have really active floor debates, back and forth, questions and answers, you know, kind of policy points made, you know, the size of the room and and sort of the historic nature of it, they really they bring sort of the importance of what you're doing to bear, I think, in a really meaningful way.

SPEAKER_00: 0:42

You're not allowed to say each other's names. Is that true? That's true.

SPEAKER_01: 0:46

We have to say my colleague from district 15, for example. And so we actually have on our dais a little list of everybody's district and their name so that we can, yeah, we can respect the institution. And if you get asked a question, you're supposed to stand during the entirety of both the asking and the answering before you sit down. Oh, interesting. Yes. But we also have super professional um hand gestures like this.

SPEAKER_00: 1:10

That looks like question. Okay. You know what? This needs to make it on social media because it's like boop, that means you're asking a question. Do you have any other hand signals? Besides the question mark. Um, there's speak. Oh it's the is it the chicken dance?

SPEAKER_01: 1:25

Yeah, if you want to speak. And then we have, you know, we can also ask what's called a parliamentary inquiry. We have certain motions that are non-debatable. We follow Robert's rules of order, and I won't bore you all, but um my god, you know, I've served with the RPK.

SPEAKER_00: 1:39

I want to have listeners. I want people to stick around. And when we say things like parliamentary inquiry, it's like wah wah wah wah wah. Yeah. Thank you for listening to New Hampshire Has Issues. I am your host, Liz Canada, and I am from the future. A future in which the budget process is just about done and the full House and Senate are going to vote on Thursday, and not a ton has changed from what Leader RPK and I talk about in this episode. What I like a lot about this episode actually is that yes, of course, we talk about the New Hampshire Senate and how it's different than the New Hampshire House. And yes, we talk about bills and what's going on and the debates, but we also see Leader RPK in her life. While we recorded this episode, we hit a ton of technological snafuos after trying to find a time to record for literally for weeks. Headphones didn't work, the microphone didn't work for a while. At one point, brace yourself. She had to restart her computer. We had all sorts of tech issues throughout. And all at the same time, she's cooking dinner for her family. You'll hear the dog in the background. That's real life. That's what lawmakers are doing every day while they're making a hundred dollars a year to try to make New Hampshire better. And Senator RPK, as she talks about in this episode, that's what she cares most about is making the making the state better. Thank you for listening. If you would like to support the show, you can click the link on the show notes. Thank you for doing that. And if you have ideas for upcoming episodes, send me an email. New Hampshire has Issues at gmail.com. After this week, I'm gonna take a week or two off because uh it's been a little bit busy. And then we will be back in July with more episodes. I have a lot of great guests coming on. All right, for now I will pass it back over to me and Senator Rebecca Perkins-Quoka. Welcome to New Hampshire Has Issues, the podcast that dares to ask, how super can a super minority be in New Hampshire?

SPEAKER_01: 3:51

Love that.

SPEAKER_00: 3:51

Now it's your turn. Gotta give a tagline. Welcome to New Hampshire Has Issues.

SPEAKER_01: 3:55

Welcome to New Hampshire Has Issues, the podcast that dares to ask, how super can a super minority be? You just stole mine.

SPEAKER_00: 4:02

Wait a minute.

SPEAKER_01: 4:03

You just do. Sorry.

SPEAKER_00: 4:08

Nailed it.

SPEAKER_01: 4:08

Welcome to New Hampshire Has Issues, the podcast that dares to try to turn politics of a super minority into something you won't turn off.

SPEAKER_00: 4:17

That is excellent. So I am your host, Liz Canada, and joining me today is the Democratic leader of the New Hampshire Senate and Mom Extraordinaire, who is literally cooking dinner as we are recording this, Rebecca Perkins Quoca. Welcome, Rebecca. Welcome, RPK, to the podcast. New Hampshire has issues with the code.

SPEAKER_01: 4:38

Thank you so much for having me, Liz. And yes, I just put some salmon and broccoli in the oven. So I'm gonna have to grab that at some point.

SPEAKER_00: 4:45

It's gonna happen. And the kids are gonna come running in any moment, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_01: 4:49

They're at gymnastics. So my wife is bringing them home for some good home cooked meal.

SPEAKER_00: 4:53

Okay, gymnastics is a legit sport. Are they tumbling around the house because they've learned it at gymnastics? Is that what happens at your home? Yes.

SPEAKER_01: 5:02

My my oldest is practicing her cartwheel. Um she's kind of mastered a somersault at this point, you know, also learning to read and just kind of capture social nuance, which is adorable. And uh my three-year-old is, you know, learning the balance beam, and my one-year-old can say, yeah.

unknown: 5:18

It's very cute.

SPEAKER_00: 5:19

That's fantastic. Those are all extremely important skills. So I'm hoping in our episode today, we get to talk about the New Hampshire Senate. And, you know, the New Hampshire House is, don't tell any of them, kind of a weird place. The New Hampshire Senate is also weird, but differently, I think.

SPEAKER_01: 5:38

I mean, I think both bodies like to think they're they're where all the action happens, you know. Um but I do think as a state senator, you know, we have we have a big workload, we have a lot to do, and we're a smaller body, so you can kind of you can count votes, you can figure out how to work with. There's some dynamics there that make it the right spot for me.

SPEAKER_00: 5:56

Okay, so RPK, leader RPK. I like to start every episode with a simple question. When Alexa Simpson was on, she explained why there are 400 New Hampshire state representatives. Now, in New Hampshire, there are 24 state senators. And so my simple question to you is with only 24 state senators, does that mean that the Senate is better than the New Hampshire House? Or worse. Which one is it? Is it better or worse? What do you think?

SPEAKER_01: 6:25

A little friendly competition, never hurt anyone.

SPEAKER_00: 6:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_01: 6:28

Personally, you know, I think it makes the Senate a big job. So we have 24 senators to represent the same number of people that each of our, you know, 400 reps represent, which is 1.4 million people in New Hampshire. So each of us represents about 60,000 people. In my case, that's the district, um district 21. It's essentially composed of the cities and towns around Great Bay. So I live in Portsmouth. It includes Durham, Newmarket, Newfields, all the news, Newington, Newcastle, Madbury, and Lee. And, you know, I think there's a lot of differences between serving in the House and Senate. But, you know, we essentially also just make$100 a year. We serve on two committees. Um, you know, the job, just in terms of formal scheduling, takes about two and a half days out of the five-day work week. So it's a big job, you know, but super interesting.

SPEAKER_00: 7:17

Even though there are far fewer of you, you're still also only making$100 a year.

SPEAKER_01: 7:24

We are making$100 a year. And I forget this. You know, I go to conferences and things with legislators from other states. I forget this. I do. And uh, you know, they have like their whole staff there and they're working on all these policy initiatives, and they have a press secretary and all this stuff. And I'm like, it's just me. You know, just just little me. I'm here.

SPEAKER_00: 7:44

Yeah, it's it's very different than other states in a significant way that we pay our legislators virtually nothing, and it's just a whole different world for you all.

SPEAKER_01: 7:53

Yeah, there's romantic aspects to it, which is you know, we are industry folks, like we work, you know, or we farm corn, or we my case, you know, I'm a lawyer. We're actual people, you know. I bring my kids to daycare every day and to school and at the same time. You make them salmon. Don't let me burn it. And you know, but on the flip side, like we're dealing with all that and trying to make policy basically in our spare time.

SPEAKER_00: 8:18

Not an easy job. Very, very big job that y'all have. So tell me what are some of the key differences overall. I know that you have served in the Senate for a few years now, a few sessions. Like, what does it mean to be a state senator? You know, when I talked to Alexis, we talked a lot about the process, and the process is essentially the same over for you all, but what does it mean to be a state senator? What do you actually do?

SPEAKER_01: 8:41

Yeah. Um, you know, it starts with filing pieces of legislation. So knowing what the issues are in your district and and creating a bill, you know, that can purport to fix them. As senators, you know, we file a lot of bills. Um, I think the house is normally at about one per person. You know, in my first four years in the Senate, I filed 60 pieces of legislation. Over two-thirds of those got out of the Senate on a bipartisan basis. And they include things like setting up for the first time the housing champions program, which has been an award of infrastructure dollars to our cities and towns in exchange for taking housing friendly actions. And so, you know, I think in some cases, as a legislator, you come in with an agenda and a problem to solve. I think in other cases, those problems kind of they occur or land in your lap, you know, during your time. And um, when I ran for Senate, you know, I was a mom of a newborn that was nine months old. Uh, you know, I was pregnant with my second daughter in my first year in the Senate, and that was when we passed the 24-week abortion ban. And so there are issues that um you run for office to solve, and there are issues that kind of find you as a legislator. You know, we serve on two committees in the Senate, so I spend a lot of my time serving as one of five people, you know, around a U-shaped table at public hearings, listening to input on different pieces of legislation, considering different opinions, reading the emails that go along with those, talking to people on the phone that go, you know, want to talk to me about those, having in-district meetings, you know, doing a lot of Zooms. And in my case, you know, it's sort of always been part of it that I get to do fun stuff like this too. Uh, you know, speak at different events. I'm like I'm speaking at a democracy rally on Saturday, and you know, just kind of appear on these things. And so it's a fun and interesting role and kind of gets you in touch with a lot of the most interesting people in the state, in my opinion. My wife and I have always really enjoyed it, but it's busy, you know. You could spend all your time being a senator, but I still work, and as you mentioned, I have these three little girls.

SPEAKER_00: 10:36

You are extremely busy, like the legislature itself is extremely busy, and then momming is very busy and and working, and you also work uh I do in your regular life as well.

SPEAKER_01: 10:48

Yeah, I do. I'm general counsel of a small renewables company that's focused on solar. We work in eight markets across the country, and we take fields that are like, say, 35 acres in size, and we try to turn them into a solar fire. A lot of times those are like old dumps or you know, gravel pits or things that are kind of ready for new use. Those are the best places to cite our projects, but we've built all sorts of places, it's super interesting.

SPEAKER_00: 11:14

Do you ever watch television? Do you ever do things that are not work and law making? Like what do you have like four minutes a day just to you? Does that ever happen? You know, it depends what day it is.

SPEAKER_01: 11:28

I'm not gonna say that happens every day.

SPEAKER_00: 11:31

But are you caught up on severance?

SPEAKER_01: 11:33

At the same time, I've seen severance. I'm watching nine perfect strangers right now with my wife. But we also have, you know, we have like a great group of friends here at Portsmouth. So actually, like we spend a lot of time with our friends, and uh, I don't watch a ton of TV, but I watch I watch TV when I need to.

SPEAKER_00: 11:51

Severance is the most important one. And if you're all caught up, then I'm not super worried about you.

SPEAKER_01: 11:56

I'm convinced Caitlin is actually part of the show because I'm super convinced we watched the entire series together and she can't remember any of it, which is so unlike her. So I'm like, they somehow like put a severance thing in her brain.

SPEAKER_00: 12:08

That's because she's the Audi. Like now you're you have her in here talking to her. That's the problem. I did hear something beep. Do you need to check the salmon? All right, you go look. I'll wait here.

SPEAKER_01: 12:19

We're good.

SPEAKER_00: 12:19

We're good. Okay. We are here to solve issues, including dinner here on the pod. It's all good. I asked you a little bit about what it is to be a senator. Did I hear you correctly that you said that you filed 60 pieces of legislation, like you yourself, or were are those ones that the House also filed and you signed on to? Or those are like those are my specific bills that I filed. No, I actually have filed 68 pieces of legislation. Woo! Did you file the most? Do you get a prize? I did.

SPEAKER_01: 12:48

I have not filed the most. David Waters filed 33 pieces of legislation this year.

SPEAKER_00: 12:53

Oh, and you filed 60 something over the course of your time in the process. I see. I thought you meant 68 this year, and I was like, what?

SPEAKER_01: 13:01

That's too many.

SPEAKER_00: 13:03

And no prizes for the person who files the most each year.

SPEAKER_01: 13:07

No, I mean, as with most things in life, the person who eats the most pie gets more pie, right? So if you're if you file a lot of bills and you're good at getting your bills through, then people ask you to file more bills. So I guess that's fair.

SPEAKER_00: 13:20

So you said how many constituents just about does each senator have? 60,000. Sixty thousand. If you're my state senator, which you are not, but if you were, how easy is it for me to get to know you as a state senator? Like what does it mean to actually connect with the Senate?

SPEAKER_01: 13:39

That's a great question. I mean, first of all, we're just members of the community, right? So you can find me in Hannaford on a Sunday in my, you know, running pants because this week we were out at Carrie Cottage and, you know, the kids all wanted to go in the water, so we need to stop by and pick up some milk on the way home. You know, we're around. Like we, our life is very um based in Portsmouth. Like we throw the kids in the stroller on the weekend and, you know, head into downtown for kind of adventure days or or whatever kind of comes up. But you know, it's it's busy, and I would say I get a lot of text messages, I get a lot of emails, I have, you know, sort of like a legislative email, my personal email, my campaign email, my Facebook inbox, my senator Facebook inbox, my Twitter DMs, my Instagram comments. Like it's, you know, there's just a lot to kind of be a public figure now. And so trying to keep up with all that is difficult, you know, and and you just kind of can't get to it. I've always tried to be a person who responds to everybody, at least from my district. Right. But it's not always gonna be timely, you know. I mean, I'm catching up on budget emails for months. Like I might get to them in September. It it is very much, even at this level, like this little New Hampshire State Senate level, you know, something where you really have to kind of be a little ruthless about your time and your priorities and and know that like these things need to be dealt with now, and they they're just gonna take your time and those other things that are less urgent are gonna get done later.

SPEAKER_00: 15:03

There's so much for you to do. And part of your job is being the leader of your caucus. Um, I got to talk to Alexis, she was a leader. We talked about how that's I I describe it to the boys as being the captain of the team where you know your teammates have chosen who's gonna represent you on the field. Yeah. And so your caucus, essentially, in my strange little metaphor, has chosen you to represent them. What does that mean to be the leader of a caucus? On top of everything else, on top of taking care of the kids, working, filing bills, showing up at the state house, spending time watching severance, what does it mean to actually also be your leader?

SPEAKER_01: 15:42

Yes, essentially, you know, I'm in charge of the operational and strategic presence of the Senate Democrats in the state. That sounds very fancy.

SPEAKER_00: 15:52

Those words you just said sound very fancy.

SPEAKER_01: 15:57

You know, when you put it simply, our job is to um have enough Democrats in the chamber to make a difference in people's lives. And right now, there's eight of us. We're a little teeny, super minority. So unfortunately, November 2024 didn't exactly go as a lot of Democrats hoped it would. And regardless of your politics, you know, that left us in a place where there was some rebuilding to be done. So um becoming leader at that time, I took over with no staff either at the state house, which is part of the operation, you know, the legislative official side, or in our Senate caucus, which is the sort of campaign side where we elect more Democrats. And there's a difference between those. The official side is sort of taxpayer funded, it's the staff that um help with the legislation, it's getting things done, being on the Senate floor, you know, kind of what you do in committee, passing your bills, the Senate caucuses, recruiting candidates to run for office, raising money to support those candidates, you know, making sure you're working with all the right people to get them elected. You have the right message, which some people may have heard. There's conversation about democratic messaging going on.

SPEAKER_00: 17:02

Um, I haven't heard that at all. What what's going on? Just kidding.

SPEAKER_01: 17:07

So ultimately, you know, the book stops with me in terms of doing all that right for the Democrats that are in the Senate in New Hampshire.

SPEAKER_00: 17:14

So super minority. Super sounds great, that part of the word. What can you get done in the state house being eight of you in a chamber of 24? Like what can actually happen for your side of the aisle? How much can you get done? How much are you getting done in the state house this year?

SPEAKER_01: 17:34

So, as you mentioned, we're outnumbered two to one. So I, you know, I suppose there might be some folks who kind of pack it up and figure there's not a lot that we can get done in that position. But um, I think a couple things have led to us being able to get things done this year. One is that, you know, we do know how to work in a bipartisan fashion. So I know there's a lot of different opinions about sort of how Democrats do their job right now, but at the end of the day, you know, the reason I did this and the reason so many senators did this was to make people's lives better. So what we can do to make people's lives better is always going to be priority number one. And so if we file a bill that, you know, our Republican colleagues can get on board with because it's not a particularly partisan issue, then we've made someone's lives better. You know, if we file a bill that has a sticking point because we need to talk it through in terms of how it gets done or there's something in there that in terms of the methodology of accomplishing it or the funding for it or something like that, you know, needs to be discussed, a lot of times we can work that stuff out. Um, and I know that seems impossible in today's incredibly partisan uh environment, but you know, what I try to remind people about serving in the state legislature is that about 75% of what we do is day-to-day business, right? There's a lot of bills that need to get done. They'll fix something. The Department of Health and Human Services will need something fixed, you know, the Department of Transportation will need something fixed. So we do those kinds of things. We uh move a contract award from this account to that account. We, you know, set up an administrative piece so that students that are enrolled in career and technical education can get from this place to that place and the schedules will all work out and the scholarship monies will send the right way. That stuff doesn't make it into the media, you know, and you can't see that part of the job really well from outside the statehouse. And so while we're on the front lines of hyperpartisanship, we're also on the front lines of bipartisanship, you know, and and those relationships, you know, the fact that you can step onto the floor with somebody and have a heated debate and disagree with them and then step off of the floor and say, Hey, great discussion out there, you know, how's your wife doing? I know, you know, she was getting that knee replacement surgery. Like those are the pieces of I think this whole process that are really important to the institutions and important to maintain. And there's a lot of emotion involved in this job that um you need to bring to it and you also need to be able to separate from it. Those are both true. And so I also think an interesting piece of being in the super minority, you know, so like number one's bipartisanship. Number two has been, you know, being, I think a little bit of a strategic minority. So um the Republicans have 16 people. It's a lot of people to get to agree on everything. So there's been a little bit of interesting opportunity where, you know, our caucus of eight combined with four or five Republicans can block or remove something, you know, that uh there may not be consensus on over on the other side of the aisle. So there's been a role for us to play in terms of seeing where it makes sense, you know, where it aligns with sort of the work we want to do to improve people's lives to work together with the people who will get that done. So I I found it to be pretty interesting. I think there's a lot we need to do to rebuild. There's a lot we need to be thinking about, you know. But at the end of the day, I certainly think we've played a part in the conversation that's gone on up at the legislature this year.

SPEAKER_00: 20:52

So we're recording this on June 10th. The Senate just voted on the budget a few days ago, essentially. And by the time this episode goes live, a lot is gonna have changed. So maybe at a high level, what's happening with the state budget? What are you happy about? What are you not happy about in the state budget?

SPEAKER_01: 21:10

Oh, well, how much time do we have? Um, so years.

SPEAKER_00: 21:14

I have years of my life to talk about the state budget of New Hampshire.

SPEAKER_01: 21:19

So, um, what is true and what essentially can't change from here on in is that this budget does not have spending on some of the most important issues that we heard grant staters need. So this budget is a$50 million cut to housing, which essentially means zero dollars for housing in the budget, which is grant stators' number one issue, hold at 36% of grant staters in May. This budget has some child care money, but there's some legal strings attached to it. So whether that really will be money that providers can use in the end remains to be seen. It has hundreds of millions of dollars of cuts to Medicaid and other healthcare-related services, including imposing an income-based premium on a lot of our poorest families in the state. So this could result in bills up to$283 a month in comparison to other states like Maine or um Rhode Island that have similar programs, but their premiums are closer to$20 a month or$40 a month.$300 a month's a lot of money for people.

SPEAKER_00: 22:20

You said Medicaid income-based premiums. Premium sounds like a positive word. What does that actually mean?

SPEAKER_01: 22:29

What it means is we're imposing costs on our poorest granite staters in order for them to pay for their own health care. Why are we doing that? Well, we're doing that because we've made tax cuts to the tune of$1.2 billion over the past six to seven years. And so now there's a revenue shortfall. And the Republicans, who have been in control for about a decade, are trying to figure out where to get to a balanced budget, you know? So essentially we have a certain number of services the state needs that our residents have proven to need. In fact, they have not only the services that we've traditionally provided, but they're asking for more. You know, they're asking for help with housing, they're asking for help with childcare, they're asking for help with healthcare because all of these costs have continued to just increase, increase, increase. And I'll give you an example, which is that, you know, in the past 20 years, housing prices, well, this was actually as of five years ago. In the 20 years before that, housing prices had increased 1,300% and wages had increased just under 20%. So these aren't like don't buy a latte decisions, right? These are incredible gaps that families just can't make up on their own. They're structural problems that need to be addressed at the state level. What everyone says on housing, which is an issue I've been working on for 16 years, is that we need all the solutions on the table. We need the state to be leading, we need some zoning reform, we need funding in the budget. And so I had mentioned earlier that I have this program called Housing Champions, which um essentially awards our cities and towns with dollars for projects they need in exchange for taking housing friendly action. So, for example, Exeter could decide they want to do a zoning amendment. They could take do the zoning amendment locally in a way that works for them. And then they could get this housing champion designation at the state level, which would make them eligible for grants, which could then in turn lower your property tax bill. So we're trying to lead from the state level on this, but we saw that program completely defunded in this budget. So that's just one example of the way that this budget seems extremely out of touch with what grant est staters are asking for. And the reason our hands are tied, it's a self-inflicted wound. I mean, by cutting business taxes, by cutting the interest and dividends tax, which you need to have between four and$13.4 million in savings to be affected by, by getting rid of that.

SPEAKER_00: 24:44

Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. Because that's a really important point that I don't think I've gotten other folks to talk about. Every guest that has come on has been absolutely wonderful. And this issue is a huge one, which is the revenue that has been sort of alluded to in previous episodes. How much money would somebody have needed to have in savings for that tax to impact them? Say that for me again.

SPEAKER_01: 25:07

Between four and$13.4 million in savings. Because the interest and dividends tax applies to the interest and dividends that come to you off of your holdings or savings, right? Your investments, your stocks, your bonds. Dividends are literally spin-offs of your stocks and bonds.

SPEAKER_00: 25:25

So if you have a portfolio big enough to receive if you are using something that is a portfolio to start with, if if you have something called a portfolio, if you don't, this won't impact you, probably. This would not impact you.

SPEAKER_01: 25:37

This would not impact you. That's right. So you need to be you need to be reporting to the IRS that you are earning north of$50,000 off your investments.

SPEAKER_00: 25:46

Not I make$50,000 in my job, but I have a portfolio of something that is bringing in an additional amount of money way beyond that.

SPEAKER_01: 25:57

Correct. Okay. So we chose as a state to no longer tax those earnings. And when I say we, I mean the Republican leadership over the past decade has chosen to completely exempt those earnings from tax. And that has left a$300 million hole in the budget this year alone. So some of the income-based premium, or what is essentially an income tax on some of our poorest folks, is being imposed to make up the revenue shortfall from these tax cuts. And so what we see in the budget in Concord is a lot of parallels to what we're seeing in the budget in Washington. You know, there's tax cuts for the wealthy and cuts in services to pay for them. And so it's essentially, you know, this kind of reverse Robberhood scenario where we're literally tightening our belts around our working families. You know, we're tightening our belts around our poorest families. The families that can afford this, they're not tightening their belts. You know, we're doing it on the backs of our local property taxpayers, those that need help with housing, those that get up every day, put incredibly expensive groceries on their table, you know, try to get their little sneakers and shoes on, get to work, have lunch packed, you know, show up in front of your computer or your workbench or wherever you need to be, your job site on time, you know, ready to do your job with all this financial stress on your mind. And meanwhile, like you're just trying to, you're just trying to do what you're supposed to be doing in this world, right? Which is take care of your kids, spend time with them, raise them to be wonderful people, be a good person yourself. It's hard to get off the treadmill these days, I think, to even have the headspace to think about all that stuff because we're just getting more and more and more squeezed by all of these policies.

SPEAKER_00: 27:29

If you are listening to this podcast and you heard the words interest and dividends, and you're like, ugh, Liz has tricked me into listening to something. Boop, this is really important. So that was that was a tax on people who were making millions of dollars and bringing in from there many savings. So it cut that for them. That benefits them. And what you just said to me earlier about Medicaid, it is going to cost folks who have some of the lowest incomes in our state. It's going to cost them money every month to be able to have health care. Did I get that right?

SPEAKER_01: 28:02

To have the same health care they have now, yes.

SPEAKER_00: 28:04

Do not love. Do not love that in any case.

SPEAKER_01: 28:07

So is that the moral choice that we want to make as a society? You know, that we that we're not gonna take care of these people. And by the way, these are folks who like, you know, they may have an injury and um, you know, be out of work for a year, so they don't have employer-based healthcare, so they're trying to get back to it. And in the meantime, now they gotta come up with income and sort of meet these work requirements just to keep their health care. You know, this it's just if we're focused on people being able to be self-sufficient, to live their lives, take care of their kids, you know, do what they're supposed to do in this world, what we found is that every once in a while these kinds of policies help them. That's why they're here.

SPEAKER_00: 28:46

And they're wildly popular.

SPEAKER_01: 28:48

Helping people just live their lives in these little periods, you know, where they fall in a hard time gets them back to their life, you know, and that's what we all, that's what we're here for. Like that's what we are trying to do is to just let each person thrive.

SPEAKER_00: 29:02

And that's what they want. Shout out to the Nick Taylor episode where he talks about housing, he talks about the program that you just you spoke about. Housing Champions program. Yes. Yeah, he talked about that and how important that is. And so you're saying as of when we're recording this, there is nothing in that program in the budget.

SPEAKER_01: 29:18

No, there's nothing in this budget for that program. It's been completely oversubscribed. The cities and towns are asking for it, it's been successful. We've seen two rounds of awards, and there's nothing in this budget for it. Well, okay. You might hear my puppy in the budget. I do hear your puppy.

SPEAKER_00: 29:31

Yes, I again we're recording this on June 10th. And actually, what's really interesting as we talk about money that the state does or does not have and being in a budget deficit or a shortfall is that this morning the governor signed a law that expands the school voucher program to everybody in the state. What is that gonna do? As thinking about housing and children. Child care and all these other issues?

SPEAKER_01: 30:01

The expansion of the school voucher program that was just signed into law this morning is expected to cost about$30 million more over this biennium. So that$30 million, there was a choice made not to invest that in the things that our granted staters asked for. There was a choice made to invest that$30 million in expanding the school voucher system, which primarily affects children that are already not in public school. It primarily funds essentially out of state corporations because there's really not much oversight or audit of how these expenses are used. And so they flow out of state. Amazon.com is essentially the biggest receipt of these taxpayer dollars. And it only helps 5% of our students. You know, 95% of students are enrolled in our neighborhood schools who are already clamoring for funding. And so in this tight budget year, in this time when our businesses need workforce, in a time when we know that workforce is attracted by strong neighborhood schools and strong housing, um, you know, we chose to ignore all those priorities and instead to spend that$30 million on expanding the school voucher program. And so when we were on the floor last week, the Democrats essentially debated this budget for three and a half hours, and we brought 12 amendments and we presented the Republicans with a series of choices. Choose to take the money out of the school voucher program and put it into housing, housing champions, the affordable housing trust fund. Choose to take the money out of school vouchers and put it into child care. Choose to take it out of school vouchers and get rid of this premium that's essentially an income tax on our poorest people. You know, choose to take it out of vouchers and fully fund our public university system, which is driving our workforce for the 21st century and retaining our young people here in the state. You know, these are basic priorities that all of our granite staters have asked for. And the Republicans said no over and over and over again. They said no a dozen times on the floor on Thursday to making a choice between taking that money out of universal school vouchers and spending it where granite staters asked them to. It's not that we don't have the money, it's that they're not willing to do these things. And for that reason, I just don't think this budget reflects granite staters' priorities.

SPEAKER_00: 32:07

And the voucher program, that is a separate bill entirely. Like that is already passed. The budget hasn't even been signed or finalized. Like that is that's done. That's already passed and signed into law as of when we're recording it this morning. And so that's effective immediately.

SPEAKER_01: 32:25

I think the banner on that was promises kept, promises made, or or something like that. Um, you know, but something that's become clear about the financial management of this whole situation is um, you know, as we sort of approached budget season, everybody kept saying, Oh, there's tough choices. And how we were going to fund all these priorities was really unclear. Um, you know, and how we were gonna drive economic growth in our state was really unclear. I was at a panel where the majority leader in the House answered the question of like, you know, where is the New Hampshire economy going by saying, well, we pass social districts, which are, I guess, areas where you can drink in the street, um, again, undermining public safety potentially. But, you know, I to me that's not a plan. You know, the plan is invest in our workforce, invest in our neighborhood schools, invest in our small businesses, invest in our families that are this workforce. These are economic drivers, these are proven data-driven practices that we are just choosing to ignore. And so as we go through this budget, what's clear to me is there's no plan, but there's certainly an agenda. You know, there's an agenda to expand school vouchers, there's an agenda to incite fear around immigration, there's an agenda to make sure that um, you know, we're talking about our few trans students in the state as much as we can. And it's all a distraction because fundamentally, this is not what people are asking for, and there's simple choices to be made here. Um and and the Republicans are just choosing that to make them. I think that some of these little munchians might be home. Hello. It is from Senate.

SPEAKER_00: 34:06

Oh, hi, friend.

SPEAKER_01: 34:07

Can you say hi, Liz?

unknown: 34:09

Hi.

SPEAKER_00: 34:10

Hi, there she is. All right, we're gonna say bye-bye, Liz. So she doesn't know. Bye, Bye Liz. Bye, Poca Household, Perkins Poca Household. Thanks for being on the podcast. Bye, family.

SPEAKER_01: 34:24

Almost all of us, say bye-bye.

SPEAKER_00: 34:32

Can you hear me now? Is it happening? Is it all happening?

SPEAKER_01: 34:39

How is it so hard to just have a pair of headphones? I'm here, I'm here, I'm here. Let's record.

SPEAKER_00: 34:48

Serenity. Serenity. Now, this is the real life of the Democratic leader of the New Hampshire. Feeding your kids, finding the headphones, recording with Liz Canada on New Hampshire has issues. Right after I put the salmon in it. You're doing great. You can do it all. Can can the New Hampshire has issues, which dares ask, can we have it all? Yes, this podcast proves, yes, yes, you can.

SPEAKER_01: 35:16

Unless you want a minority leader that can find Bluetooth ad phone.

SPEAKER_00: 35:24

This is extremely funny. And it's like somehow a metaphor for the technology in our state and infrastructure. I don't know what it is. I can't piece it all together quite yet. It's not quite there in my mind.

SPEAKER_01: 35:39

So I will say this if we think this is hard, try passing a piece of legislation.

SPEAKER_00: 35:45

Oh it's perfect.