Merrimack District 29 includes Ward 4, 9 and 10 in Concord. Kris Schultz is the sole candidate in this race and is the incumbent in the district. Her response to the Monitor’s candidate survey is below.
Kris Schultz
Party affiliation: Democrat
What town/city do you live in? Concord
Political experience: I am running for my 6th term as a state rep, in my second term as a city councilor and was a supervisor of the checklist for Ward 9 inside the polls registering voters for 16 years.
Professional experience: Former Democratic consultant, currently nonprofit communications and outreach.
Community service experience: Currently involved with the Raise the Wage coalition, which is fighting for a living wage for NH workers; Faith & Labor which brings labor union leaders with clergy; and more.
Policy Positions
Should NH legalize recreational marijuana use and position? Yes
What is the No. 1 action the Legislature should take to address the housing shortage? We should give grants to cities and towns who update their zoning requirements to expand and help build more housing for middle and working class families. Not only is this good for employers, whose workforce needs housing to live and work here, it is good for workers too. This approach has broad bipartisan support, and we also need to look at all potential pathways to swiftly build more wallet-friendly rental housing, multifamily homes, smaller lot sizes and all the needed infrastructure.
How involved should NH government and law enforcement be in immigration enforcement? NH should not assist at all.
To what extent should NH restrict abortion, if at all? It should not restrict abortion at all.
What is one law currently on the books in NH that you would repeal, and why? The subminimum wage for tipped service workers needs to end. Too many federal investigations have lead to big fines because restaurant owners can’t do the math because it is convoluted. Eleven states have done it and it is so much fairer. If a subminimum wage is $3.27/hourr, and then the owner uses that rate alongside tips to equal the actual minimum wage, and THEN make sure any time spent wrapping silverware just gets the regular minimum wage … it is a nightmare.
NH consistently struggles with funding its government and services. What is one way you would raise state revenue, and what is one area you would cut expenses? Be specific. The system is unfairly rigged to help the people and entities which are already prosperous at the expense of literally the rest of us. We need to reverse the GOP downshifting to cities and schools with unfunded mandates. If we just reversed the damage done from the federal and state fund shifting to benefit the rich, we’d be doing well. But taking money away from public schools and withholding pension funding while giving corporate handouts to the uber rich is dumb, unfair and morally reprehensible.
As people across the state struggle with their local school tax bills, what role should the state play in funding education? See my previous answer, and the prosperous among us should pay their fair share while giving the rest of us a break on property taxes and rent.
Aside from those mentioned above, what do you believe is the biggest issue facing the state today? Economy! People are really struggling to afford food, housing, transportation, student loan payments, medical debt and childcare while we somehow find money for ICE cooperation and handouts to rich boarding schools. And a war in Iran. That is messed up!
Find more information at the candidate’s website: SchultzforConcord.com