Lawmakers should adopt a common-sense budget that helps people thrive

Everyone in New Hampshire deserves the opportunity to thrive. But some budget proposals under consideration at the State House could put that goal out of reach for too many people.

For more than 60 years, the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation has funded thousands of nonprofits, provided scholarships to thousands of students, and worked alongside state agencies, business, nonprofit and policy leaders and generous people to help make New Hampshire better for everyone.

We are deeply concerned about provisions in the New Hampshire House’s proposed budget that would undermine that shared work in everything from health care to environmental protection and the arts, and shift significant burden onto our already strained nonprofit sector. Civic, nonprofit and business leaders have all voiced concern about the impact on people, communities and the economy.

The House’s budget could do particular harm to the most vulnerable among us: Changes to Medicaid, cuts to essential human services and the destabilization of our educational system.

We urge the state Senate to craft, and Governor Ayotte to endorse, an improved, common-sense budget that will help everyone in New Hampshire thrive by:

• Protecting Medicaid and ensuring access to essential healthcare
  New Hampshire did a great thing by expanding Medicaid through a bipartisan effort in 2014. That expansion has been critical in addressing the opioid crisis, substance use disorders and mental health issues. Almost 200,000 people in New Hampshire rely on Medicaid — from babies to working families to people with disabilities to grandparents.The House budget proposes paying providers even less for the care they provide to Medicaid patients and reducing funding for community-based mental health services. It adds work requirements and cost-sharing changes that would create significant administrative burden and expense and likely result in thousands losing health coverage. These changes would mean that many people would not get care until it became an emergency, creating higher costs and additional strain on the health care systems everyone relies on. Everyone in New Hampshire needs access to health care. We urge lawmakers to protect these essential services.
• Securing opioid abatement funds and the Alcohol Fund for their intended purposes
  The state’s Alcohol Abuse, Prevention & Treatment Fund and opioid abatement funds are intended to fund substance use disorder prevention, treatment and recovery — services that support healthy families, communities and our economy. A House proposal to shift millions away from these funds and their intended purposes, including the cancelling of previously approved contracts, would severely imperil essential services and the highly effective nonprofit organizations that provide them. We urge lawmakers to maintain our state’s tradition of bipartisan support for these dedicated funds.
• Adequately funding the Department of Health and Human Services
  The House’s proposed $46 million in “back-of-the-budget” cuts to the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services are ill-advised. (These cuts are non-specific, but direct DHHS to find ways to cut positions or programs). Such cuts would mean loss of services that we all rely on — like long-term care and behavioral health supports — and large reductions in federal matching dollars coming to New Hampshire. Need will not disappear, the burden will simply be shifted to nonprofit organizations and municipalities that cannot begin to fill the gaps. We urge lawmakers to restore this funding.
• Supporting early learning and public education
  Affordable quality education, from pre-K through post-secondary, is critical to ensuring young people succeed in careers and communities. These educational systems are our civic backbone and build the workforce that drives our economy. The House budget proposal further expands a voucher system that siphons money away from public schools that nearly 90% of New Hampshire children rely on, and makes unreasonable cuts to higher education. These proposals threaten the stability and integrity of education and the prosperity of our people. We urge lawmakers to support early learning and public schools, colleges and universities.

We believe New Hampshire can chart a better path forward. As New Hampshire’s statewide community foundation, we stand ready to support and partner with nonprofits, civic and business leaders, generous people and state government to help shape a future that advances fairness, dignity, and economic prosperity for all the people of New Hampshire.