Martha Fuller Clark

Issues

  • Make Education a Priority

    The state Supreme Court in the Londonderry School District SAU 12, et al. v. State of New Hampshire case ruled that the state must pay the first and last dollar, meaning 100%, of the cost of an adequate education for every child in all New Hampshire schools, even those schools that don’t need state assistance.

    While we do have a state responsibility to guarantee that all our children have an opportunity for a quality education, I do not believe that it is good policy to send the same base amount of education aid to every school district before we help the schools that really need it the most. Children in property rich communities have more opportunities than children in property poor communities and without the constitutional amendment such disparities will continue. That is why I have co-sponsored CACR 34, a Constitutional Amendment which would give the Legislature the ability to target aid to the communities, schools and students that need it the most. The proposed amendment says that the state Legislature “shall have the authority and responsibility to reasonably define the content of an adequate public education” and distribute state money for public education “in the manner that it reasonably determines to alleviate local disparities.”

    The amendment would allow us to direct more aid to communities with greater needs. It would reverse the court’s decision that prevents us from creating an education plan that equalizes educational opportunities for all children regardless of where they live. The amendment would also make it possible to eliminate any future threat of creating donor communities to fund education.

    Without the amendment, we will not be making the best use of state education dollars. We will continue to divide our state between property wealthy communities and less property rich towns and cities. Without a constitutional amendment, the state will have no opportunity to consider the individual property owner’s ability to pay within each community.

    For all the above reasons, I stand with Governor Lynch in believing that we must pass CACR 34 if we are to meet the state’s educational obligation to our children without the ever-increasing burden of a statewide property tax.

     

    "The best investment we can make is in quality education for our students." - Sen. Martha Fuller Clark

  • Energy Initatives

    New Hampshire’s economy, environment, and quality of life will be significantly damaged from climate changes unless we begin immediately to reduce the rates of greenhouse gas emissions. That’s the conclusion of the Northeast Climate Impacts Assessment Report prepared last summer by a team of independent scientists and climate experts.

     

    That is why I agreed to co-sponsor HB 1434, the regional greenhouse gas initiative (RGGI) that will create a CO2 emissions cap and trading program in New Hampshire. By reducing emissions through conservation and energy efficiencies, we can then sell in a cap and trade auction the emissions’ savings. The first carbon dioxide auction is scheduled for September. The program has the potential of saving millions of dollars in higher energy costs for rate payers by 2018 and is part of a northeastern and mid-Atlantic 10-state initiative to reduce carbon emissions and achieve greater conservation.

     

    HB 1434 recently passed the House and will be considered in April by the Senate Energy, Environment, and Economic Development Committee.  As chair of this committee, I have pledged to work with our business community, energy producers, environmental scientists and our citizenry to make sure that RGGI will be a balanced, practical, and cost-efficient solution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in our state.

  • Make NH Healthy and Safe

    I co-sponsored legislation to repeal SB 110, successfully ending discriminatory small business health insurance practices based on age, geography and health. I also co-sponsored legislation with Senator Maggie Hassan of Exeter (District 23) to protect our communities against the spread of triple-E disease.  I will continue to defend and protect the health and safety of New Hampshire women by fighting for their right to access the full range of reproductive health care options.  I also believe that we must redouble our efforts to expand affordable, accessible health care to everyone in our state, particularly our children.



Paid for by Martha Fuller Clark for State Senate -- Martha Fuller Clark, Chair