New Hampshire

Bill to require NH voters to decide on local tax caps gets a hearing — and lots of criticism

Published

2 months ago

January 21, 2026

Bill to require NH voters to decide on local tax caps gets a hearing — and lots of criticism

A Republican plan that aims to limit local spending in New Hampshire by forcing cities, towns and school districts to vote every two years on whether to cap property taxes was met with plenty of criticism during its first public hearing Tuesday.

Critics of the bill, which is the latest in a series of proposals from GOP leaders that aim to rein in local spending, questioned if it was constitutional for the state to force communities to vote on a cap — or any measure, for that matter. They also raised concerns about the mechanics of implementing such a cap, as well as its effect in an economy where labor and healthcare costs are growing faster than any community’s tax base.

“You put this cap on a town, you know what’s going to happen? You are going to lay off police. You are going to lay off the fire department. You’re not going to get your streets plowed,” said Rep. Kristine Perez of Londonderry. “This is a crisis.”

Perez was among the 22 House Republicans who bolted from their caucus earlier this month to vote with Democrats to derail a separate GOP effort to impose a cap on local government spending.

Rep. Ross Berry of Weare is lead author of this new proposal, which he repeatedly told colleagues on Tuesday to see as a work in progress. But Berry said a key priority is to ensure voters get to consider a tax cap during high-turnout state general elections in November, rather than during town elections. Berry said he is also committed to making sure any mechanism for voters to override an approved tax cap would require more than a simple majority vote.

“What we have is a framework. We are still developing it,” Berry said.

Limiting local government spending and taxes has been on the agenda for Republican leaders in the New Hampshire House for some time. Before the local spending cap bill that failed during the House’s first meeting this year, there was the failed plan to cap local spending in the state budget Republicans adopted last year. Before that, there was the 2024 law they backed to allow citizens to propose per-pupil caps in school spending. Seven school districts considered adopting such caps last year, and in every case, support fell short of the required three-fifth vote of support.

The prospects of this latest bill are uncertain. No one but the proposal’s sponsor spoke on its behalf during Tuesday’s hearing, while critics lined up.

“This simply defies our system; it assumes that information is known when it is not,” said Margaret Byrnes of the New Hampshire Municipal Association.

Byrnes pointed out that the local tax rates this bill aims to cap aren’t determined until well after municipalities and school districts decide on spending.

Others offered broader critiques, including leaders of Merrimack’s school distinct.

“The state is expanding funding for Education Freedom Accounts and cutting revenues, and is still failing to meet its constitutional obligation to adequately fund education,” said Heather Robitaille, who chairs Merrimack’s School Budget Committee. “We are failing to address the fundamental issues, which is how we fund education.”

Lawmakers will consider a number of school funding bills this year, but no major change in approach is expected. While backers of the local spending and tax caps see getting local spending in hand as a critical step in stabilizing school funding during a time when overall student enrollment is dropping in New Hampshire, critics of the cap argued that spending time blaming local decisionmakers for rising property taxes misses the point.

“It is not the selectboard, and it is not the counties that are causing this problem,” said Democratic Rep. Tom Schamberg of Wilmot. “It is located right here, under the golden dome.”

Source link

New Hampshire

Possible 2028 Democratic White House contenders weigh in on Iran with New Hampshire voters

Published

9 hours ago

March 10, 2026

Press Room

Possible 2028 Democratic White House contenders weigh in on Iran with New Hampshire voters

As the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran overtakes the foreign policy debate in Washington, two Democratic governors with potential 2028 presidential aspirations — Gavin Newsom and Andy Beshear — recently traveled to New Hampshire, introducing themselves to the state’s famously engaged voters. The two weighed in on the war and both criticized and questioned President Trump’s strategy and endgame.

“If a president is going to take a country into war, and risk the lives of American troops and Americans in the region, he has to have a real justification and not one that seems to change every five to 10 hours,” Beshear told CBS News after a Democratic fundraiser in Keene.

“This President seems to use force before ever trying diplomacy, and he has a duty to sell it to the American people and to address Congress with it,” Beshear continued. “He hasn’t done any of that. In fact, it appears there isn’t even a plan for what success looks like. He’s gone from regime change to strategic objectives and now is talking about unconditional surrender, which isn’t realistic where he is.”

Beshear also said he thought that Congress should have reined in Mr. Trump’s war powers.

“He is trying to ignore Congress. He’s trying to even ignore the American people,” Beshear said.

He went on to note that the president’s State of the Union address took place “three — four days before he launched this attack,” and Mr. Trump “didn’t even have the respect to tell the American people the threat that he thought Iran posed to us.”

Last week, both the House and the Senate failed to pass resolutions to limit Mr. Trump’s war powers and stop him from taking further military action against Iran without congressional support.

Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear speaks with voters in Keene, New Hampshire, on March 7, 2026.

Anne Bryson

For Newsom, the war with Iran constitutes part of a broader criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

At an event last Tuesday in Los Angeles, Newsom had compared Israel to an “apartheid state.” Later, in New Hampshire, he sought to clarify his comment.

“I was specifically referring to a Tom Friedman [New York Times] column last week, where Tom used that word of apartheid as it relates to the direction Bibi is going, particularly on the annexation of the West Bank,” Newsom explained during a book tour event Thursday night in Portsmouth. “I’m very angry, with what he is doing and why he’s doing it, what he’s going to ultimately try to do to the Supreme Court there, what he’s trying to do to save his own political career.”

Friedman wrote that at the same time that the U.S. and Israel are prosecuting a war in Iran, within Israel, Netanyahu’s government has undertaken efforts to annex the West Bank, driving Palestinians from their homes; fire the attorney general who is leading the prosecution against Netanyahu for corruption; and block the government’s attempt to establish a commission to examine the failures that led up to the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre of Jews by Hamas.

CBS News has reached out to the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., for comment.

On Iran, Newsom said, “I’m very angry about this war, with all due respect, you know, not because I’m angry the supreme leader is dead. Quite the contrary. I’m not naive about the last 37 years of his reign. Forty-seven years since ’79 — the revolution,” Newsom said. “But I’m also mindful that you have a president who still is inarticulate and incapable of giving us the rationale of why? Why now? What’s the endgame?”

California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks with political commentator Jack Cocchiarella at an event in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on March 5, 2026.

Anne Bryson

Many attendees at Newsom’s book event said that the situation in Iran is a top-of-mind issue for them, too. Some said they’re “horrified” by what is happening.

29-year-old Alicia Marr told CBS News she decided to attend Newsom’s event because of his social media response to the war with Iran.

“There was one spot left, and I decided to pick it up, and it was due to his response to the war, that it is just unacceptable, and I would agree with that,” Marr said.

While some voters like Marr are eager to hear about where potential candidates stand on foreign policy, many at Newsom’s event said they care most about how potential candidates plan to address domestic issues.

“I’m more focused on getting the middle class back on track and fighting the oligarchy, and I’m less invested in international issues,” said Anita Alden, who also attended Newsom’s event,

“I wouldn’t call myself America first, but we have so many problems at home that are my priority,” she told CBS News.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris, who may also be weighing another White House bid, told Fox 2 Detroit last week that she “unequivocally opposes” the Trump administration’s military action in Iran and urged Congress to take action.

“If we want to stop Donald Trump with this random decision that he has arrived at, then Congress must act, and Congress must act immediately. The American people do not want our sons and daughters to go into this unauthorized war of choice,” Harris said.

Mr. Trump has lashed out against Democrats who have pushed back on his Iran strategy, calling them “losers” last week and arguing that they would criticize any decision he made on Iran.

“If I did it, it’s no good. If I didn’t do it, they would have said the opposite, that you should have done this,” the president said.

Source link

New Hampshire

Mass. man nabbed after allegedly driving over 100 mph in N.H.

Published

22 hours ago

March 9, 2026

Press Room

Mass. man nabbed after allegedly driving over 100 mph in N.H.

Local News

Police say the Attleboro man was driving 104 mph in a 55 mph zone on Route 202 near in Rindge, New Hampshire.

A Massachusetts man was arrested late Wednesday night after police say he was driving more than 100 mph on a New Hampshire roadway.

Officers with the Rindge Police Department stopped a vehicle shortly after 11 p.m. on Route 202 near Sears Drive in Rindge following a report of a car traveling at excessive speed, according to a statement from Chief Rachel Malynowski.

The vehicle, a 2020 Kia Stinger, was spotted traveling at 104 mph in a posted 55 mph zone, Malynowski said.

The driver, a 21-year-old man from Attleboro, was arrested and charged with reckless operation of a motor vehicle, according to police.

He is scheduled to be arraigned April 5. If convicted, the man faces a fine of at least $750, in addition to the court’s penalty assessment, and a 90-day license suspension, Malynowski said.