Hundreds testify in Concord against Housebudget; Medicaid, child advocate, mental health and schools most cited impacts

Hundreds of Granite Staters pressed the New Hampshire Senate Finance Committee on the Housebudget proposal, urging restoration of funding cut or removed in House Bill 1 and House Bill 2.

Speakers from health care, education, disability services, law enforcement, corrections and the arts said the package would shrink access to mental health care, raise risks for people with disabilities and children, and drain local school and university funding. Nancy Rollins, a retired social worker who helped set up the Office of the Child Advocate, told senators: "I strongly recommend the Office of Child Advocate restoration in the budget."

Why it matters: The House plan would reduce many core state programs simultaneously. Witnesses said those changes would harm the people who rely on Medicaid and home- and community-based services, increase pressure on emergency rooms and jails, and shift costs onto local taxpayers. Speakers repeatedly asked the Senate to reverse the cuts or identify new revenue rather than trimming services.

Most significant details and claims

- Medicaid and related programs: Multiple speakers opposed a proposed 3% across-the-board reduction in Medicaid reimbursement rates. Chris Muns, who formerly ran one of the statearea agencies, told the committee that the Housebudget would force "front-line" workers and family caregivers into untenable positions and said the plan "is a self-inflicted crisis." Tiffany Gladue, a registered nurse, said many clients rely on Medicaid-funded care for "very survival" and warned that lower rates would reduce provider staffing and access.

- Developmental disabilities and home- and community-based care: Parents and providers testified that cuts and failure to fund the Bureau of Developmental Services priority list would force families to provide unpaid care, close programs and risk institutional placement. Joseph Freeman of the Kimmy Nichols Center said his nonprofit faces a $140,000 annual shortfall in room-and-board support and warned that programs may close without funding.

- Community mental health and crisis services: Clinicians and center executives urged restoring $19 million the House removed from community mental health centers and funding for 988 and related crisis services. Maureen Ryan of Greater Nashua Mental Health said nominal co-pay proposals and rate reductions would cause people to "fall off their meds" and increase emergency-room boarding.

- Corrections staffing and programs: Department of Corrections employees, supervisors and public-safety unions warned that the House cuts target more than 100 positions across corrections, including case managers, medical and mental-health clinicians and maintenance staff. Robert Dumond, a counselor who is a long-time DOC adviser, and Matt Davis, a DOC recruitment sergeant, said cutting case managers and reentry counselors would undermine reentry planning and public safety; Dumond said elimination of 21 reentry counselors "creates a vital difficulty for the Department of Corrections."

- Office of the Child Advocate: Several former officials and child-protection advocates, including Nancy Rollins, said eliminating the Office of the Child Advocate would remove independent oversight created after deaths of children in state custody and urged restoration of the office and its budget.

- Education and higher education: School board members and parents urged protecting public school funding and rejecting expansion of universal Education Freedom Accounts (EFAs). Speakers said the Housebudget's EFA expansion would divert local education dollars while also cutting state support for school districts and the University System of New Hampshire.

- Arts and culture: Multiple arts leaders and grantees asked the Senate to restore funding to the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts, warning the state could become the only state without a state arts agency if funding is removed.

- Prescription drug affordability and other boards: Supporters of the Prescription Drug Affordability Board urged keeping the board funded; speakers said it can generate consumer savings and lower Medicaid spend. The Housebudget proposed eliminating several boards and commissions; witnesses said that would reduce oversight and increase costs later.

Quotes from the hearing

"This office's work is not redundant and could not nor should it be conducted within the scope of Health and Human Services," Nancy Rollins said of the Office of the Child Advocate.

"The proposed cuts create some very serious violations," Robert Dumond said of reductions affecting corrections medical and mental-health staffing.

"The arts are a revenue generator for the state," Mary McLaughlin said, urging restoration of the State Council on the Arts to preserve arts education, veterans and rural programs.

What speakers asked the Senate to do

- Restore Medicaid reimbursement rates and roll back proposed co-pays or premiums. - Fund the DD (developmental disability) prioritized needs list and raise room-and-board support for residential providers. - Reinstate community mental-health funding and crisis funding (988, Mission 0-related investments). - Reverse cuts that eliminate the Office of the Child Advocate and the Commission on Aging. - Reject expansion of EFAs until a sustainable, accountable funding approach protects public schools. - Preserve the Prescription Drug Affordability Board and the State Council on the Arts.

Numbers and clarifications from testimony

- The Housebudget proposes a 3% reduction in Medicaid reimbursement rates (witnesses said the figure is the House proposal). - Robert Dumond said the elimination of 21 reentry and program counselors would be "vital difficulty" for DOC; another witness said 27 case managers currently cover eight facilities.

- Testimony cited a $73 million estimate that would be generated by restoring the governor's proposed video-lottery revenue split; the figure was offered by a witness describing revenue tradeoffs, not a committee finding.

Discussion vs. decision

Most testimony was public comment and advocacy; no formal votes on the budget were recorded during the hearing. The senators set future consideration dates and said they would continue deliberations. Several speakers asked the Senate to amend HB1/HB2 to restore specific items rather than accept the House package.

Ending

Senators paused the hearing for additional work and said they would reconvene to consider amendments; no final committee action was recorded in the transcript. The breadth of testimony and the number of witnesses who traveled to Concord underscored the political urgency of the budget choices before the Senate.

(Reporting note: direct quotes used in this article are drawn from the hearing transcript and are attributed to speakers who appeared at the microphone during the session.)