-Local Zoning. We must fight for the right to preserve our local zoning decisions. If we want to build work force housing, or “Additional Dwelling Units” or not, that should be our local decision. Pressure is coming from both Concord and DC to override our decision-making. This is my biggest worry.  Pressure is being put on towns to allow ADUs. Legislation is being crafted to allow ADUs without Zoning Board input. So, if your neighbor decides to put a two-bedroom dwelling in their front or back yard there’s nothing that can be done. It’s nice to have a zoning board, conservation committee, and historical committee and elect good guys to town office, Hollis could be run over with legislation from above. Thankfully, stuff like this did not pass this legislative session but it was proposed.  Our current reps voted against their party and voted no to the final version, which narrowly failed.

Eric Pauer of the Brookline Planning Board sent a letter to the HRTC Facebook page asking Reps not to vote for HB1400, which passed. It started out as an anti-squatter bill but morphed into the consolation prize for the ADU/”Home-nibus” crowd. It put at a maximum of 1.5 parking spots for a one-bedroom unit, provided incentives for office/industry to houses plus kicked some zoning powers to the select board. And the 1.5 parking number is a compromise from 1. McGhee, Ming YES, Calabro NO. And with the backing of developers and real estate people, bills like this will be back. There’s builder’s quote out there somewhere for a $250K Two-Bedroom ADU.

At the federal level, there is an overall war on the suburbs, you now need an “equity” plan for HUD assistance, another example is Sens Shaheen & Portman have written Building Code legislation from the DC level and the NH Builders just don’t want it.  Of course, they claim to save you money, with 20-year payback or so. Per Matt Mayberry of NH Builders, fully adopting the Shaheen code would add $13K to the cost of a new house. Still, the Building Code bill is not the end of the rainbow for the green energy crowd, there is a new term “Net Zero” meaning your home will use no net energy, using solar roofs, insulation, and little windows, which would add 93K to a new home cost. The Shaheen bill allows cities/towns & a state to adopt the “Net Zero” building code. They want smaller lot sizes and denser housing everywhere, even telling you it will shorten commutes. We shouldn’t be expected to transform from Hollis to a big city in 10 years.    And that’s not addressing the war of fossil fuel appliances, gas stoves, dryers, oil heat, etc… There are strong forces outside of Hollis looking to mode our community to their liking and I will fight for our right to make these decisions locally.

Education. I want parents in control of their child’s education giving them as many options as possible.  Our platform calls for school choice, no tenure, and merit pay. Education is going through a disruption. Parents want alternatives to the traditional Teacher’s Union monopolies and are dissatisfied with educational outcomes. Internationally we are 28^th or 30^th in Math depending on the source and that’s a national security threat.  The Dems have turned our Public Schools into Social Justice battlefields, Some years ago HB had an anti-gun walkout, gender transitions are being normalized, boys on girls teams and most graduates come out liberal. That is not a balanced education. NH Republicans tried to pass a simple bill called the “Parents Bill of Rights” which would have required teachers to disclose to parents if their kid was another gender at school, but through legislative tricks due to attendance Dems were the majority for one day, they killed it. All 3 Hollis reps voted the wrong way. I am for school-choice empowering EFA accounts. Many of the NH Democrats fight against Education Freedom Accounts send or have sent their kids to private schools. Finally, I support an SB2 town-level vote. In Concord I will support all Education Freedom efforts supporting Education Freedom Accounts and will support all pro-parent control legislation.

-Low Taxes. Low taxes begin with low spending.  In NH we do a pretty good job of keeping spending down but there is always pressure.  It’s more like wack-a-mole, where various issues/departments/needs can explode.  The recent ConVal court ruling says our education adequacy number is too low and a judge rules the state contribution needs to rise at least 80%. “Environmental Services” increased from $250M to $400M, we have a “Human Rights Council” and other little things that doesn’t spend a lot of money now but could explode if the wrong party gains control. I’d side with the current effort of our party to challenge the current education adequacy formula and it’s just using the courts to send towns like ours other town’s education bill. If nothing changes that “NH school tax” on your tax bill will increase by 80%. A spending concern is that 44% of NH State dollars is federal money, all with a string attached.  On the other side, more is never enough and there is always some new Utopian Dream being sold and marketed.  And we are bad people for being against it. But I’m going to Concord to vote NO! There is no budget fairy. You can’t spendthrift your way to low taxes.