Debra Altschiller

Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026

Do you support the “Education Freedom Account” program, which gives students access to the per-pupil share of state school funding to spend on private school or home school expenses?

"This program is $12.3 million over budget and is projected to be $26.7 million over budget across the biennium. It has been administered from its inception over the past five years through a no-bid contract. The voucher program has diverted state tax dollars to religious schools that have changed their financial aid models to now include state vouchers as part of consideration for aid. Vouchers are used for horseback riding, sports camps, private soccer coaching, acrobatics & circus training, rock climbing gym memberships, lego kits and multitudes of other things that have been added to ever growing 'approved vendor list' created and maintained by a third party vendor. Despite being sold to the public as a vehicle for low income families to attend private schools when they believed their local public school wasn't a 'good fit' for their child and did meet the criteria for a manifest hardship that would facilitate a transfer to another school, the program is dominated by parents taking vouchers to subsidize their private school tuition, extracurricular activities or camp fees. 72% of students taking vouchers never attended a public school in the first place. When the state claims it doesn't have enough money to pay for an adequate education for its students but can spend $77.5 million over the last five years on vouchers, voters should demand better."

Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026

Should New Hampshire ban abortions during the first trimester (e.g. after 6 weeks gestation)?

"Abortion is basic health care that gives people the freedom to fully control their bodies, lives, and futures. New Hampshire must acknowledge that abortion access is critical to ensuring that everyone can live free. That includes securing an affirmative right to get the care they need without worrying about threats to their health, freedom, or well-being. New Hampshire remains the only state in New England that has not stood up to explicitly protect our constituents' right to abortion in our state statute or our constitution, a departure from our state's historic record of affirming personal freedoms and limiting government interference. Because, as Granite Staters watch in horror on the news as states with strict abortion bans result in pregnant women bleeding to death, contracting sepsis, and facing other serious infection risks, they deserve for it to be crystal clear that their elected officials here in New Hampshire would never subject them to such danger and pain."

Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026

Should New Hampshire ban abortions during the second trimester (e.g. after 15 weeks gestation)?

"Abortion is basic health care that gives people the freedom to fully control their bodies, lives, and futures. New Hampshire must acknowledge that abortion access is critical to ensuring that everyone can live free. That includes securing an affirmative right to get the care they need without worrying about threats to their health, freedom, or well-being. New Hampshire remains the only state in New England that has not stood up to explicitly protect our constituents' right to abortion in our state statute or our constitution, a departure from our state's historic record of affirming personal freedoms and limiting government interference. Because, as Granite Staters watch in horror on the news as states with strict abortion bans result in pregnant women bleeding to death, contracting sepsis, and facing other serious infection risks, they deserve for it to be crystal clear that their elected officials here in New Hampshire would never subject them to such danger and pain."

Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026

Should NH add an income tax on earned income?

"Against"

Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024

Should NH add a broad-based sales tax?

"Against"

Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026

Should New Hampshire lower business taxes?

"Against"

Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024

Should New Hampshire add a tax on capital gains?

"Against"

Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024

Should New Hampshire government do more to address climate change?

"For"

Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024

Do you support giving voters who register without ID on Election Day a ballot that only counts if they return identifying documents to the state before a deadline?

"Against"

Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026

Should the state do more to encourage municipalities to remove zoning barriers to housing development?

"Zoning is an intensely local issue - what works in one town doesn't necessarily work in the city next door. I believe local control matters. The state's role should be to incentivize good local decisions, not override them. The Housing Champions Program, administered through the Department of Business and Economic Affairs, did that well. It rewarded municipalities for removing barriers to housing development - with real results: the 28 communities that earned Housing Champion status were responsible for 45% of all housing units permitted statewide in 2024. Nashua alone used an $828,000 grant to help deliver 206 workforce housing units; Manchester used $322,000 to help deliver 65. In my district, the towns of Exeter, Hampton and Rye are able to move forward with housing projects thanks to this program. Despite that record, Republicans defunded the program in the current state budget and then moved to repeal it outright in the House. I worked to repeal that effort and it subsequently died in the Senate - the program remains in statute, unfunded, and any future attempt to dismantle it will have to come from the next legislature. I support restoring funding to Housing Champions and building on what already worked, rather than stripping local zoning authority outright. Communities respond to incentives, not mandates - Housing Champions proved that. New Hampshire should be putting money behind housing solutions, not walking away from the one program with a proven record of delivering them."

Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026

Do you support legislation to expand the net energy metering system capacity cap from 1 MW to 5 MW for all residential and commercial customers in New Hampshire?

"Increasing the cap will incentivize larger organizations to introduce solar energy production into their operational plans and further decrease our dependency on fossil fuels. The 1MW cap is an unnecessary limitation on growing renewable energy production in New Hampshire."

Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026

Should New Hampshire guarantee the right to access abortion before 24 weeks?

"Abortion is basic health care that gives people the freedom to fully control their bodies, lives, and futures. New Hampshire must acknowledge that abortion access is critical to ensuring that everyone can live free. That includes securing an affirmative right to get the care they need without worrying about threats to their health, freedom, or well-being. New Hampshire remains the only state in New England that has not stood up to explicitly protect our constituents' right to abortion in our state statute or our constitution, a departure from our state's historic record of affirming personal freedoms and limiting government interference. Because, as Granite Staters watch in horror on the news as states with strict abortion bans result in pregnant women bleeding to death, contracting sepsis, and facing other serious infection risks, they deserve for it to be crystal clear that their elected officials here in New Hampshire would never subject them to such danger and pain."

Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024

Should the state increase funding for child care providers?

"For"

Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026

Do you support New Hampshire’s current system of public school funding, with about two-thirds of total funding coming from local property taxes?

"The state has been found by the Supreme Court, multiple times, to be underfunding basic adequacy for our public schools. That underfunding has downshifted the financial responsibility of educating our students down to our local property taxes. Most cities and towns pay more than the two-thirds posed in this question because in addition to underfunding adequacy, the state has withdrawn all financial support for the teacher retirement system. The state had previously committed to picking up 30% of the costs and then backed out of that promise, downshifting the entire responsibility to local property tax payers. Now with the Governor's blessing, the Attorney General has filed a suit to overturn all three of the court rulings that find the state has a constitutional duty to pay for an adequate education (Claremont I), that the current funding system is unconstitutional (Claremont II) and that the state has failed to meet its obligations to fund an adequate education including special education and reaffirmed the funding system is unconstitutional (Rand). All of this done at taxpayer expense."

Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026

Should New Hampshire legalize the recreational use of marijuana by allowing home-growing and private use without sales?

"For"

Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026

Should New Hampshire legalize the recreational use of marijuana by licensing growers and private retail locations?

"For"

Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026

Should New Hampshire legalize the recreational use of marijuana by establishing state-run cannabis stores?

"Against"

Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024

Should New Hampshire raise the minimum wage?

"NH has opted not to set a minimum wage and thus we must defer to the federal minimum of $7.25 p/h which has not changed in almost 15 years. It's purchasing power has diminished exponentially since it was set. We have the lowest minimum wage in the entire Northeast. Connecticut $15.69 p/h Maine $14.15 p/h Massachusetts $15 p/h New Hampshire $7.25 p/h Rhode Island $14 p/h Vermont $13.67 p/h. If we were to set an average living wage for New Hampshire it would be $23.58 p/h. In State Senate District 24 a single person needing to pay rent and living expenses would need to earn $42.34 p/h (working full time, 52 weeks a year, 2080 hours p/year) to make the $49,045.00 needed to just barely keep your head above water. The federal minimum wage, which NH defers to, was established by Congress under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938. The first federally set wage was $0.25 p/h. The stated intention of the series of government regulations, including the minimum wage was to eliminate conditions 'detrimental to the maintenance of the minimum standard of living necessary for health, efficiency and general well-being of workers.' The minimum wage in recent times has been conflated with a 'starting wage' a designation often used to justify underpaying new workers while they learn the skills of a job. Labor is labor and should be compensated."

Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024

Should New Hampshire add legal protections for residents of other states who travel here for health care related to abortion or gender transition?

"Last session I introduced a shield bill, It contained several key provisions aimed at safeguarding the rights of individuals. It would have prohibited extraditing individuals for legally protected health care activity performed in New Hampshire, prohibited government officials or law enforcement agencies from cooperating with out-of-state investigations into legally protected health care activity without court-issued subpoenas or warrants, it would have prohibited adverse actions or discipline by the board of medicine, board of registered nursing, or pharmacy board based on legally protected health care activity. And it would have prohibited health care providers or other entities in New Hampshire from sharing confidential communications or information regarding reproductive health care services with out-of-state agencies or individuals without a valid, court-issued warrant. This is about the rights and privacy of our citizens. As a state we deeply value the privacy of our residents, to the point that we placed it in our constitution in article 2-b. A Right of Privacy. Our constitution reads 'An individual's right to live free from governmental intrusion in private or personal information is natural, essential, and inherent'. My bill (SB 575) would have protected our residents privacy from government intrusion in what it the most private of decisions. Unfortunately the anti-choice majority favored more surveillance of pregnant women by voting this down and introducing an abortion/medical tracking bill for pregnant Granite Stators and their healthcare providers. We need to ensure protection for patients and providers, by providing legal protections, preventing extradition, and safeguarding confidentiality. The landscape for reproductive healthcare, particularly abortion healthcare, is shifting under Americans feet daily. The fragmented patchwork of laws with total bans in one state and partial bans in others shows us how needed Senate Bill 575 was. It addressed crucial aspects of legal protection and cooperation in the realm of reproductive health care, and could have ensured the constitutional rights of individuals are respected and upheld in our state."

Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026

Should New Hampshire repeal the ban on abortion after 24 weeks gestation?

"Abortion is basic health care that gives people the freedom to fully control their bodies, lives, and futures. New Hampshire must acknowledge that abortion access is critical to ensuring that everyone can live free. That includes securing an affirmative right to get the care they need without worrying about threats to their health, freedom, or well-being. New Hampshire remains the only state in New England that has not stood up to explicitly protect our constituents' right to abortion in our state statute or our constitution, a departure from our state's historic record of affirming personal freedoms and limiting government interference. Because, as Granite Staters watch in horror on the news as states with strict abortion bans result in pregnant women bleeding to death, contracting sepsis, and facing other serious infection risks, they deserve for it to be crystal clear that their elected officials here in New Hampshire would never subject them to such danger and pain."

Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2024

Should NH require local law enforcement to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement?

"To be clear, immigration and border security are the purview of the federal government. NH's longest border is to the south with Massachusetts, then to the west with Vermont and then to the East with Maine. Which leaves the 18 miles of coastline on the Atlantic Ocean and 58 miles of north country next to Canada, the smallest part of the Swanton Sector. The NH GOP has spent $1.4 million to prop up a 'Northern Border Alliance Program' that has had only 21 encounters in a 15 month time frame. The United States has a broken immigration system that needs serious people to make structural changes. Our federal tax dollars pay for that. When the GOP led legislature chooses to sink a program to feed NH's school children breakfast & lunch and instead spends $1.4 million plus to patrol 58 miles of woods and send our National Guard to Texas at a cost of $850K for a political stunt, it highlights the upside down priorities."

Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026

Should NH pass stricter gun control laws?

"New Hampshire doesn't have strict gun laws to make stricter - it has some of the weakest gun violence prevention laws in the country. Here's what's missing: 1. Background checks have a gaping hole. NH only requires background checks through federally licensed dealers - private sales require nothing at all. That loophole lets prohibited buyers acquire weapons with zero scrutiny. 2. We don't report psychiatric commitments to NICS. I've sponsored legislation, more than once, to require the state to share involuntary psychiatric commitment records with the national background check system. Republican colleagues have killed it every time. The cost of that gap is not abstract: John Madore, previously committed to Concord Hospital, lied on his purchase form with no records to contradict him - then used that weapon to murder Security Officer Bradley Haas. 3. We have no Extreme Risk Protection Order law. ERPOs let courts temporarily remove firearms from someone in an active crisis - whether that crisis points inward or outward. NH's suicide rate makes that tool urgent on its own. But Berlin showed the other side of the same failure: Marisol Fuentes had a protective order against her estranged husband, he was out on bail facing sexual assault charges, and two days before he killed her he told a friend he was considering suicide and 'kill her off too.' He still had his shotgun and access to buy more guns and ammunition. An ERPO law gives courts a way to act on exactly those red flags before they turn fatal - NH still doesn't have one. 4. We just shielded manufacturers from accountability. Last biennium, NH enacted liability protections for firearms manufacturers - insulating companies like Newington-based Sig Sauer, which has faced hundreds of lawsuits over defects in its P320 pistol, from the kind of accountability every other consumer product industry faces. NH doesn't need stricter gun laws. It needs basic ones."