Carolyn Halstead
Historical Details
Position on Issues
Against| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2014
Was NH right to ban hand-held cell phone use while driving?
"I oppose this law for a number of reasons: 1. We already have distracted driver aws on the books -(cell phone use - if it distracts you, is already covered) 2. I have seen too many cops driving while on their computer or on their cell phone texting, they are just as susceptible to being distracted as any other inividual, so if they aren't destracted, then why is it that others that are not cops don't fall into the same category. They are not above the law just because they think they have more training. This being said I do think that it is a good guideline to promote hands-free use - but not by law."
Against| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2014
Should NH add an income tax on earned income?
"I am opposed to any new or increased taxes-we should just control our spending. I think that that there may be voluntary ways that people can support particular projects. For example: UNH license plates to help suppurt UNH"
Against| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2014
Should NH add a broad-based sales tax?
"I am opposed to any new or increased taxes-we should just control our spending. I think that that there may be voluntary ways that people can support particular projects. For example: UNH license plates to help suppurt UNH"
Undecided| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2014
Should NH authorize one or more casinos?
"This is a complex issue with many ramifications, and I am still studying it."
Other| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2014
Should NH continue to base statewide assessments on Common Core standards?
"Guidelines from the state should be welcomed - but no school should be brow beat to do something that is not right for their local community. I would tend to agree with local school boards doing the adopting but it would not let me make comments as well."
Other| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2014
Should NH decriminalize small amounts of marijuana?
"Here's the problem. On the one hand, the individual adult should have the right to make their own decisions on such matters, but when taxpayer money supports the drug rehabilitation when they make bad decisions, that is wrong. The State should allow individuals to make choices for themselves, good or bad. They State should NOT be paying for the choices, good or bad."
For| Read My Position
Voting Record, 2015
Voted in favor of 2015 House Bill 572. When residential land is taken through eminent domain for a gas pipeline, HB 572 allows the resident to require the pipeline company to purchase all of the land, not just a part.
Other| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2014
Should NH broaden campaign finance disclosure laws?
"This feels like a gulty until proven innocent situation.( I am talking only about state elections - not federal, as I have no control over those.) If we already have a voluntary spending cap on what can be spent, then individuals in particular but even small businesses (LLC, etc) should be protected from the everybody knowing who they support, unless the individual wants to advertise this. If one does not sign the voluntary cap, then maybe some extra scrutiny should be done for non-individual entities."
For| Read My Position
Voting Record, 2015
Voted to allow qualifying patients and caregivers to grow medicinal marijuana at home (HB 593)
Other| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2014
Should NH provide more funding for charter schools?
"I believe that schools are a local/town issue. The state may suggest guidelines but ultimately they should not be telling our residents how to eduate their kids.I think VLACS is the only state charter school and that makes sense but otherwise even the state government should be out of education- untying the hands of all educators."
Against| Read My Position
Voting Record, 2018
Voted against continuing expanded Medicaid eligibility, using the traditional Medicaid system of managed care instead of private insurance (SB 313)
Other| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2014
Was NH right to expand Medicaid eligibility, using private insurance wherever possible?
"I don't quite understand how you expand medicaid through private insurance. We need to get the government out of our health."
Against| Read My Position
Voting Record, 2017
Voted against raising the minimum wage to $9.50 in 2018 and $12 in 2019, with annual cost of living adjustments starting in 2020 (HB 115)
For| Read My Position
Voting Record, 2015
Voted to consider prohibiting sending any state funds to any health care provider that performs abortions, regardless of whether public funds are utilized for that specific service. The Department of Health and Human Services said the bill would prevent the Department from entering into ANY contract with organizations such as Planned Parenthood. (HB 677)
Against| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2014
Do employees in NH need more legal protections in the workplace?
"I think we have a lot of laws on the books that make it so we don't know. Ingeneral I believe we already have laws in place to protect employees, why create more? Employees are a group. Individuals are what the constitution protets."
For| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2014
Should NH add restrictions on welfare recipients?
Regarding drug tests for welfare recipients: "This is taxpayer money, the people paying are the ones to say. Unfortunately at the federal level, the people are so far removed that they forget they are paying the bill.Truthfully, Welfare should be a local issue,"
Other| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2014
Should NH allow the Northern Pass to proceed with some (not all) of the lines buried?
"This is something best done by the towns that it effects. There are towns that want it, there are towns that don't. To me this is no different that some towns wanting a Walmart and others not. When there is a need, it will happen."
For| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2014
Should NH continue to use property taxes instead of a new broad-based tax, such as an income tax?
"I am opposed to any new or increased taxes-we should just control our spending. I think that that there may be voluntary ways that people can support particular projects. For example: UNH license plates to help suppurt UNH"
Other| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2014
Should New Hampshire continue to participate in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which requires utilities to purchase allowances for every ton of carbon they emit?
"I don't know much about this; however, my gut reaction is to create an energy strategy that works on the state level or even local level. The farther removed, the less it meets the needs of NH. Also, they should be guidelines that businesses should aspire to, not mandates. Again, don't tie the hands of individuals who would like to be responsible to the environment and to people's interests."
Against| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2014
Should NH require car insurance for some or all drivers?
"I oppose legislation that would mandate insurance in order to register a vehicle."
Other| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2014
Should NH require labels on some or all genetically modified foods?
"I think that we have a lot of laws on the books about labels. They all seem directly related to "protecting individuals" as if no one can do their own thinking and come to decisions. I think it is great when the labels are very straightforward instead of misleading but why does it have to be a law. Why can't it just be that those that find it useful to label more specifically do so and those that don't see the need, don't. There are many types of buyers out there and many suppliers, Let the individual choose which types of companies to buy from."
For| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2014
Should NH pass right-to-work legislation?
"No person should be forced to join a union. When the union is in their best interest it should be an option that they can form or join one, but no one should HAVE to join one to work in their field."
Other| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2014
State role in economic growth
"Job stimulation is best left to the private sector. Government does not create Jobs. Meaningful jobs come only from the Private sector. Let's unty their hands from Government interference."
Against| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2014
Should NH pass stricter gun control laws?
"I oppose any limits on assault weapons."
For| Read My Position
Voting Record, 2018
Voted for the "education freedom savings account program" (SB 193)
For| Read My Position
Voting Record, 2018
Voted to require all voters domiciled in New Hampshire to follow residency laws, such as the requirement to register any car in New Hampshire (HB 1264)
Other| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2014
Should NH restrict further wind power development?
"I believe that towns should be regulating this not the state. If individuals would like to experiment with different energies - including wind power, unty their hands so that can see what works and what doesn't. Let the towns decide. The state should only be publishing best practices and safety guidelines, if anythhng at all."
Voting Record
HB 592 (2017)
Repeals the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). The House amended the bill to instead end energy efficiency grants, and send all the proceeds from RGGI to commercial and residential ratepayer rebates.
HB 656 (2017)
Legalizes and taxes marijuana for adults over age twenty-one. The bill outlines various regulations, from the ability of municipalities to control the location of marijuana establishments, to labels disclosing the THC in each serving of a marijuana product. The bill also legalizes hemp. The House amended the bill to instead legalize possession and homegrowing of marijuana without allowing sales.
CACR 22 (2018)
Constitutional amendment establishing various rights for crime victims.
SB 593 (2018)
Changes the penalty for any offense eligible for the death penalty to life imprisonment without parole.
HB 1319 (2018)
Prohibits discrimination based on gender identity.
HB 587 (2017)
Prohibits conversion therapy for anyone under age eighteen. Conversion therapy attempts to change a person's sexual orientation.
HB 628 (2017)
Establishes a social insurance program that would be operated by New Hampshire Employment Security to provide for paid family and medical leave insurance. Employers would pay 0.5% of wages per employee as premium payments. The House amended the bill to increase the employee contribution to 0.67%, to allow employees to opt out, and to limit benefits to six weeks of paid leave.
SB 313 (2018)
Continues New Hampshire's expanded Medicaid program. This bill makes several significant changes to the program. First, it moves participants off private insurance and into managed care, similar to traditional Medicaid enrollees. Second, it adds a work requirement for participants. Third, it removes funding from voluntary contributions by health care providers, which the federal government said is illegal.
SB 193 (2017)
Establishes the "education freedom savings account program." This allows a parent to contract with a scholarship organization so that state education funding is transferred to the student's scholarship account rather than to the municipality in which the student resides. The House amended the bill to limit the scholarships to certain students, particularly low income students, students in underperforming schools, and special education students. The amended version also requires any student receiving a scholarship to complete an annual assessment to ensure academic progress.
HB 1264 (2018)
Redefines "resident" and "inhabitant" to remove the phrase "for the indefinite future." This bill would potentially require all voters domiciled in New Hampshire to follow residency laws, such as the requirement to register any car in New Hampshire.
HB 1680 (2018)
Prohibits abortion after viability, unless the mother's life is in danger, "in cases of Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome, or to remove a fetus with severe anomalies incompatible with life."
SB 500 (2018)
Removes the prohibition of carrying a loaded rifle or shotgun in or on a stationary motor vehicle, OHRV, snowmobile, or aircraft. This bill also changes some legal references to firearms, and allows licensed bow hunters to carry firearms. Lastly, this bill removes the ability to deny or revoke a hunting license if a person "is not a suitable person to carry firearms." The Senate amended the bill to also allow carrying a loaded firearm on a moving vehicle if the person is protecting livestock or crops. The Senate amendment also allows hunting with an air rifle.
HB 115 (2017)
Raises the minimum wage to $9.50 in 2018 and $12 in 2019, with annual cost of living adjustments starting in 2020. The bill also establishes a training wage that is one dollar less than the minimum wage for the first three months of employment for someone sixteen or seventeen years-old.
SB 131 (2017)
Appropriates $1,155,000 to hire five state troopers assigned to drug enforcement on the state border. This bill also appropriates $3,340,000 for state and local law enforcement and the state lab for overtime related to drug enforcement.
SB 242 (2017)
Authorizes one smaller and one larger casino with video lottery and table gaming. The smaller casino would pay an initial ten-year license fee of $40 million, and the larger casino would pay an initial ten-year license fee of $80 million. The casinos would pay a tax of 35% on gross slot machine revenue and 18% on gross table game revenue. The Legislature would choose how to distribute this revenue, provided that some of the revenue goes to towns hosting or neighboring the casino, and some of the revenue goes to treat problem gambling.
SB 10 (2017)
Creates a program to repay licensed milk producers from losses during the 2016 drought. The bill appropriates $2 million to the Milk Producers Emergency Relief Fund.
HB 478 (2017)
Prohibits discrimination based on gender identity.
HB 144 (2017)
Changes the annual county budget procedures for Rockingham County to match those used in Hillsborough County. Since the House failed to pass the 2018-2019 budget bill HB 1, the Senate amended this bill into a new budget bill.
SB 66 (2017)
Includes fetuses as potential victims under murder statutes. The Senate amended the bill to include only fetuses twenty weeks and older, not just "viable" fetuses.
SB 191 (2017)
Increases state funding for full-day kindergarten programs, with adjustments based on the number of English language learners and free and reduced lunch students in each district. The House amended the bill to simply provide full funding for full-day kindergarten programs, and half funding for half-day kindergarten programs. The House also added keno legalization to the bill to create the revenue for kindergarten funding.
HB 103 (2017)
Requires school districts to provide advance notice to parents and legal guardians of course material involving discussion of human sexuality or human sexual education.
SB 3 (2017)
Changes the definition of domicile for voting purposes to make it more restrictive. This bill explicitly excludes anyone who comes to the state "for temporary purposes," such as volunteering or working on political campaigns. Out-of-state college students are still allowed to claim a domicile in New Hampshire. However, if someone moves to a new New Hampshire address within 30 days of voting, he or she must present proof of intent to stay in New Hampshire. This proof could include a lease, driver's license, a child's enrollment at a public school, etc.
SB 8 (2017)
Allows a school district to assign a child to a non-sectarian private school if there is no public school for the child's grade in the child's resident district. The bill was amended to also require the non-sectarian private school to administer an annual assessment.
HB 157 (2017)
Adds chronic pain to the qualifying medical conditions for medical marijuana.
SB 11 (2017)
Right-to-Work bill that prohibits collective bargaining agreements that require employees to join or contribute to a labor union.
HB 640 (2017)
Decriminalizes possession of 3/4 ounce or less of marijuana, with additional penalties for violators under age twenty-one.
SB 12 (2017)
Increases the length of time for which a license to carry a concealed firearm is valid, and repeals the requirement to obtain a license to carry a concealed firearm.
SB 336 (2016)
Removes the phrase "suitable person" from the law governing concealed carry permits, and instead requires law enforcement to issue a permit so long as the person is not prohibited from owning a firearm by state or federal law.
HB 1694 (2016)
Legalizes and taxes marijuana for adults over age twenty-one.
SB 498 (2016)
Reduces the penalty for possessing 1/4 ounce or less of marijuana from a class A to an unspecified misdemeanor.
HB 1616 (2016)
Allows a person obtaining a driver's license to choose whether the license complies with the federal Real ID Act of 2005.
HB 1623 (2016)
Prohibits abortion based on genetic abnormality.
SB 576 (2016)
This bill includes many regulations aimed at combating heroin and prescription drug abuse. For example, this bill increases the penalties for abusing fentanyl and provides funding for an upgrade to the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program.
HB 1696 (2016)
Continues expanded Medicaid eligibility, with some revisions. This bill adds work requirements to eligibility for expanded Medicaid. Additional funding is provided by the insurance premium tax, paid by insurance companies.
HB 1480 (2016)
Raises the minimum wage to $8.25 in 2017, $9 in 2018, and $9.50 in 2019.
HB 593 (2015)
Permits qualifying patients and registered caregivers to grow medicinal marijuana at home.
HB 1338 (2016)
Allows parents and guardians to opt their students out of the statewide assessment test, and prohibits schools and the state from penalizing students who do not take statewide assessments.
HB 1374 (2016)
Requires moneys paid into the Renewable Energy Fund to be rebated to ratepayers, rather than spent on other renewable energy projects.
SB 4 (2015)
Tightens the definition of domicile for the purpose of voting. In particular, the final version of this bill requires a voter to live in New Hampshire at least 10 days before voting.
SB 101 (2015)
Prohibits the Department of Education and the state Board of Education from implementing the Common Core standards in any school or school district in this state.
SB 116 (2015)
Increases the length of time for which a license to carry a concealed firearm is valid, and repeals the requirement to obtain a license to carry a concealed firearm.
SB 169 (2015)
Forbids the use of EBT cards or cash from EBT cards for alcohol, tobacco, gambling, lottery tickets, tattoos, firearms, or adult entertainment.
SB 113 (2015)
Authorizes two casinos in New Hampshire. One destination casino would pay a $80 million license fee; a smaller casino would pay $40 million to the state. SB 113 also earmarks $25 million in casino profits for distribution to all New Hampshire municipalities.
HB 1 (2015)
2016-2017 state budget bill (part 1). The budget cuts business taxes, restores the Rainy Day Fund, and increases funding for some social services. The budget does not reauthorize Medicaid expansion or include a pay raise negotiated with state employees.
HB 684 (2015)
Raises the minimum wage to $9.10 in 2016, $11.40 in 2017, and $14.25 in 2018. Starting in 2019, the minimum wage is adjusted according to cost of living.
SB 30 (2015)
Extends the use of municipal economic development and revitalization districts to certain unincorporated places.
SB 106 (2015)
Prohibits the sale, use, or possession of synthetic drugs, such as "spice."
HB 136 (2015)
Prohibits tanning facilities from tanning anyone under age 18. At the time of this bill's submission, the law allowed tanning under age 18 with a parent or guardian's consent.
SB 40 (2015)
Includes fetuses as potential victims under murder statutes. The original Senate version of the bill applied to "viable fetuses," meaning the fetus is old enough to survive outside the womb. The House revised the bill to apply to all fetuses eight weeks and older. The House and Senate did not agree on a final version of the bill.
HB 658 (2015)
Right-to-Work bill that prohibits collective bargaining agreements that require employees to join or contribute to a labor union.
HB 618 (2015)
Decriminalizes possession of 1/2 ounce or less of marijuana, with additional penalties for violators under age twenty-one.
HB 563 (2015)
Adjusts the additional grants for chartered public school pupils based on the Consumer Price Index, and increases the per pupil state funding for charter school students by $1,000.
HB 403 (2015)
Repeals the law establishing a protest-free buffer zone around reproductive health clinics.
SB 179 (2015)
Requires that a voter has lived in the state and county for at least 30 days.
