Barbara Hull Richardson

Candidate for: N.H. House - Cheshire 5 - Incumbent

Age: 86
Political Affiliation: Democrat
Address: Richmond
Education: B.A., Bryn Mawr College; M.S.W., Smith College School for Social Work
Family: Widowed; 4 Children: Barbara, Chris, Larry, Lovel.
Occupation: Retired social worker
Organizations: Cheshire Housing Trust, N.H. Casey Family Services, Keene Day Care Center, Legislative Caucus for Young Children, Youth Suicide Prevention Advisory Assembly, Hospice volunteer, CASA (court-appointed special advocate) volunteer
PreviousOccupations: N.H. state representative since 1992

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Why are you running for the N.H. House?

I am running for the N.H. Legislature because I believe I can help bring about the changes necessary to make our state more responsive to the needs of our citizens and my constituents.

What are the three top issues facing state government and how would you deal with them?

The three top issues facing our state government are: fair funding of public education, providing affordable access to quality health care for all citizens and providing affordable housing.

Public education funding:

Our reliance on the property tax to fund education is grossly unfair for low-income individuals and families. New Hampshire is the fifth or sixth wealthiest state in the country, based on the median income. It is time for our highest income citizens to pay their fair share of taxes. An income tax should be dedicated to education funding and should be levied on income with exemptions for each adult and child so that the income tax would only be paid on income above the exemption amount. Households with incomes above $100,000 represent at least 12 percent of New Hampshire families. They have about half of all the income in the state, but they pay less than one third of the property tax. If a low rate income tax were substituted for the statewide property tax, the remaining 88 percent of households whose earnings are less than $100,000 would, as a whole, enjoy a tax cut.

More than 10 percent of any income tax would be paid by out-of-state commuters who work in New Hampshire but currently pay an income tax to their home state.

Anyone using the long form for paying federal taxes could deduct the amount of the state tax from their federal taxes.

Health care:

Until the federal government provides single-payer universal health care such as most other developed countries provide, New Hampshire must utilize all available avenues for seeing that its citizens have affordable, quality health care, including mental health services. Several other states, including Maine and Vermont, provide these services for most of their residents. We can learn from them and others as well as maximizing federal funds to achieve this goal.

Legislation has been passed in the 2007-08 biennium in working toward health care for all N.H. residents (see response to question 6).

Affordable housing:

We must encourage the development of affordable housing by providing initiatives for developers and by supporting enabling legislation toward this goal. People are leaving our state because of the high cost of homes and rental properties caused to a large extent by our high property taxes.

What, specifically, should the state do or not do regarding the funding of education?

I believe that an income tax dedicated to education, as described above, is the fairest way to fund education

How could legislators help residents deal with higher energy costs?

The legislators met in session in September to allocate an additional $10 million to the federal allotment for weatherization and heating costs for families in need. If further assistance is needed, the legislators are prepared to provide this when the next session begins in January

How should the state cope with its projected budget deficit?

An income tax dedicated to education funding would free up money to reduce and/or eliminate the projected budget deficit.

Should the state government help people get affordable health care? Why or why not? And, if it should, what kind of help should be provided?

During the last session a number of health care initiatives were passed into law: HB 2 allocates general funds over the biennium toward tobacco use prevention programs for prevention and cessation programs, diet and exercise programs, early detection and screening for breast, cervical, colorectal cancer, and support for prostate cancer patients, support services for cancer survivors and collection of behavioral risk and cancer rates data. HB 583 requires the Department of Health and Human Services to develop a Medicaid waiver to support the extension of Medicaid allowable HIV/AIDS services. HB 723 increases timely access to home care services for seniors rather than their needing to go into nursing homes. HB 790 expanded the availability of commercial health insurance through age 25. This permits unmarried, NH residents to be covered under their parents’ health insurance policies until age 26. Other bills require insurance coverage for children’s early intervention therapy services; strengthen prevention efforts for lead paint poisoning in multi-unit housing; and enhance Healthy Kids, the children’s health insurance program. These and other measures have already been taken as New Hampshire works toward health care coverage for all our citizens.