InDepthNH.org (https://indepthnh.org/author/todd-selig/)
HB 1704 would turn every town hall in New Hampshire into a contract circus. Those of us who run local government day?to?day – town and city managers, select boards, councils, aldermen – are not exactly known as automatic allies of organized labor.
By Todd I. Selig
When a grandmother writes that she is “thankful that screaming does not permeate this email,” it signals genuine alarm about where state policy is headed. HB 1793, the so?called “Campus Carry” bill, would fundamentally change how UNH and its host communities manage risk and public safety. From the Durham Town Council’s vantage point, HB 1793 is not a modest tweak to firearms policy. It is a significant and unnecessary increase in risk on a compact, residential campus.
Both bills present significant practical challenges for municipalities and would limit a community’s ability to manage housing and protect neighborhood quality of life.
Chief among them: a decade of business tax cuts that have drained state revenues without delivering the promised economic boom.