Reelect Al Howland for Strafford District 20

In 2022, after ten years serving on the Oyster River School Board and six on the Durham Town Council, I ran for and was elected to represent Stafford District 20 in the New Hampshire House.  I was assigned to the Municipal and County Government Committee and had a opportunity to work on bills that directly impacted municipalities.  Despite the challenges of a historically divided House, good bills did get through the legislative process to become laws and some bad bills were defeated. I am running for reelection to serve another term because there is much more work to be done.   This includes adding more affordable housing, fairly funding public education, and building a desperately needed new Stafford County nursing home.

Over the last two years, the state used federal funding to help all of the regional planning offices complete housing needs assessments.  Additionally, the InvestNH program provided funding that allowed municipalities to review and revise their zoning, and grants to help make new housing projects viable.  A "Housing Champions" bill is being filed for the next session, and it would provide funding to continue helping municipalities add desperately needed housing.  I strongly support this effort.  I am also working with a Republican member of the House on a bill to allow either an attached or detached accessory unit dwelling on any lot that allows a single family home. This would add rental units while also helping offset homeowners mortgages. 

As a member of the Oyster River School Board, I voted for the district to join the ConVal school funding lawsuit against the state's adequacy funding formula.  The State Supreme Court ruled on the case and found that the state is failing to meet its constitutional obligation to fairly fund public schools.  This shifts the burden to local property taxes and has resulted in extremely inequitable funding across the state.  It makes no sense to divert public tax dollars to a private school voucher system when not adequately funding public schools.  Rather than continuing to kick the can down the road, it is time for the state to fairly fund public schools.

Riverside Rest Home has served the county for nearly 50 years, but the building has many issues and needs to be replaced.  Over the last two years, plans were developed to build a new facility on county property.  Unfortunately, the project has been stuck in counterproductive partisan fighting.  Rather than working to refine the project and come to a compromised solution, one party has engaged in bad faith bargaining.  This has slowed the project to a standstill and will end up costing county tax payers more money.  I support a transparent process that provides a clearly-defined plan to build the much needed nursing home.

It has been a privilege to serve the residents of Strafford District 20 for the past two years, and I would like a chance to continue working to solve issues impacting the district.  I humbly ask for your vote in the November 5th election.

Thank you for your support,

Al Howland