2024 - 2025 State Budget
As young people, we believe that our state's budget should be a reflection of our values and priorities.
Overview
Governor Sununu signed the 2024 - 2025 State Budget into law on June 27, 2023.
Because hundreds of hardworking Granite Staters took action for a budget that invests in our generation, we were able to secure some meaningful wins for our communities.
When we break down the actions by numbers, 321 Granite Staters sent emails to lawmakers (many sending more than two or three emails), 287 folks signed the 603 Forward State Budget petition, and 30 people took the time to show up and testify for investments in affordable housing, child care, and more!
We’re so thankful to have been in this fight with so many hardworking advocates, organizations, and lawmakers.
The Good
The new State Budget reauthorized Medicaid expansion – a program that insures more than 60,000 lower-income Granite Staters who don’t qualify for traditional Medicaid. Additionally, there were historic investments in child care and children’s mental health, the full inclusion of the young leader Senator Whitley’s SB175 (known as MOMnibus), and an allocation of $50 million in funding for affordable housing development.
We’re especially excited about the passage of Housing Champions, a program established by SB145 – a priority bill introduced by Senator Rebecca Perkins Kwoka. Housing Champions is an incentive-based program, offering funding and resources to municipalities that take steps to support additional housing in their community. This groundbreaking legislation represents a big win in our efforts to tackle the housing crisis, but we have much more to do.
The Bad
While we celebrate the Housing Champions Program being established, we also recognize that the program was severely underfunded. With that, we need to see major increases in funding for the program to reach its full potential. We also acknowledge that the budget still falls short of adequately funding public education, downshifting over $2 billion in education funding onto local property taxpayers.
The Ugly
It was incredibly disheartening to see that the urgently needed Housing Champions Program faced severe funding cuts while the Millionaire’s Tax repeal (elimination of the interest and dividends tax) was prioritized by Republican lawmakers. This decision alone stripped a staggering $100 million in revenue that could have gone toward building more housing. The data is clear on this: the only people who will benefit from this tax cut are the ultra-rich, while working Granite Staters like you and me are left to pick up the tab.
In Conclusion
You can see that the hard work and advocacy of countless Granite Staters, organizations, and lawmakers paid off with a budget that puts money where it's needed. But let's not sugarcoat it – there are still major issues across NH that didn't get the funding required to help working Granite Staters make ends meet.