Isaac Fernandez
Running for: NH House Rockingham County District 16
Completed our 2026 State Candidate Survey
Position on Issues
Against| Read My Position
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?
"Families should remain free to choose private education or home schooling, but taxpayers should not be required to subsidize those private choices. New Hampshire should phase out the Education Freedom Account program and direct those resources toward meeting its obligation to adequately fund public schools that must serve every student. Current participants should be permitted to complete the school year so that children are not removed in the middle of an academic term. When a public district cannot meet a child's documented educational or special needs, the district should fund an appropriate alternative placement through the existing public-education and special-education process."Other| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026
Should New Hampshire’s anti-discrimination law allow segregation based on biological sex in some settings, such as bathrooms and locker rooms?
"Transgender people should generally be able to use ordinary public restrooms corresponding to their gender identity without being subjected to harassment or invasive policing. I do not support broad laws that require businesses, employees or police officers to determine whether someone is transgender or to investigate a person's sex before allowing restroom access. Locker rooms, communal showers, athletics, domestic-violence shelters and correctional facilities raise distinct privacy and safety issues and should be addressed through narrow, setting-specific rules. Private single-user restrooms and changing areas should be made broadly available to anyone seeking additional privacy. In shelters and correctional facilities, government has an affirmative responsibility to protect the physical safety of every person in its care. Where placement in a communal setting would create a genuine safety or trauma concern, the state should provide safe private accommodations rather than simply excluding an individual or disregarding the concerns of other residents."Against| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026
Should New Hampshire ban abortions during the first trimester (e.g. after 6 weeks gestation)?
"I support legal access to abortion before viability and reasonable restrictions on elective abortion afterward. Later medical decisions should remain available when necessary to protect the patient's life or serious health and in other grave fetal medical circumstances. Doctors should receive clear good-faith medical-judgment protections so that fear of prosecution does not prevent appropriate care."Against| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026
Should New Hampshire ban abortions during the second trimester (e.g. after 15 weeks gestation)?
"I support legal access to abortion before viability and reasonable restrictions on elective abortion afterward. Later medical decisions should remain available when necessary to protect the patient's life or serious health and in other grave fetal medical circumstances. Doctors should receive clear good-faith medical-judgment protections so that fear of prosecution does not prevent appropriate care."Against| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026
Should NH add an income tax on earned income?
"I oppose adding a broad-based tax on earned income. Instead of asking working families to pay a new tax on their wages, New Hampshire should consider restoring a modest tax on high levels of interest and dividend income."Against| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026
Should New Hampshire lower business taxes?
"I oppose further across-the-board business-tax reductions while New Hampshire is underfunding important responsibilities and shifting costs onto local property taxpayers. I support reasonable filing thresholds, simpler compliance and practical assistance for genuinely small and newly established businesses. Once a business reaches a meaningful size and is profitable, however, it should contribute through the ordinary tax system."Undecided| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026
Should the state do more to encourage municipalities to remove zoning barriers to housing development?
"New Hampshire needs more housing, and some zoning and permitting rules may unnecessarily prevent reasonable development, including appropriately designed accessory dwelling units. At the same time, municipalities must be able to consider roads, schools, water and septic capacity, traffic and the legitimate expectations of existing neighborhoods. I am still evaluating which reforms the state should encourage and which decisions should remain primarily local. I would favor targeted, evidence-based changes rather than a single statewide policy that treats every community as though it has the same conditions."For| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026
Should New Hampshire do more to encourage the development of nuclear power, including small modular reactors (SMR), in the state?
"New Hampshire should stop treating energy policy as a series of short-term fixes. We should plan now for the electricity system we will need for the next 50–80 years. We should begin developing a pathway for new utility-scale advanced nuclear generation. One with hundreds of megawatts to approximately a gigawatt or more. We need to focus on larger solutions than small demonstration reactors."New Hampshire needs more housing, and some zoning and permitting rules may unnecessarily prevent reasonable development, including appropriately designed accessory dwelling units. At the same time, municipalities must be able to consider roads, schools, water and septic capacity, traffic and the legitimate expectations of existing neighborhoods. I am still evaluating which reforms the state should encourage and which decisions should remain primarily local. I would favor targeted, evidence-based changes rather than a single statewide policy that treats every community as though it has the same conditions."For| Read My Position
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?
"I support expanding net-metering opportunities to include projects up to 5 MW, provided compensation is based on the actual value the electricity provides to the grid rather than automatically paying the full retail rate. The price should recognize avoided energy and system costs as well as any measurable grid benefits, while also accounting for costs created by the project. Project-specific equipment should generally be the project owner's responsibility. Broader grid upgrades that benefit many customers may reasonably be shared and recovered over time. The objective should be to remove unnecessary barriers to distributed generation without either over-subsidizing project owners or allowing utilities to profit unfairly from locally generated electricity."For| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026
Should New Hampshire restore funding for the Office of the Child Advocate?
"For"For| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026
Should New Hampshire guarantee the right to access abortion before 24 weeks?
"I support legal access to abortion before viability and reasonable restrictions on elective abortion afterward. Later medical decisions should remain available when necessary to protect the patient's life or serious health and in other grave fetal medical circumstances. Doctors should receive clear good-faith medical-judgment protections so that fear of prosecution does not prevent appropriate care."For| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026
Should New Hampshire reinstate the interest and dividends tax?
"For"Against| Read My Position
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?
"I do not support a system that places most public-school costs on local property taxpayers. It creates substantial differences in both educational opportunity and tax burdens based on the amount of taxable property within each community. The state should provide a substantially larger and more predictable share of education funding. Every district should receive meaningful state support, with additional equalization aid directed to communities with lower property wealth and greater student needs. Local communities should remain free to fund programs beyond the state's constitutional obligation."For| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026
Should New Hampshire legalize the recreational use of marijuana by allowing home-growing and private use without sales?
"Criminal records for conduct that becomes legal should be eligible for automatic annulment, particularly for simple possession and personal cultivation that would be lawful under the new system."For| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026
Should New Hampshire legalize the recreational use of marijuana by licensing growers and private retail locations?
"Criminal records for conduct that becomes legal should be eligible for automatic annulment, particularly for simple possession and personal cultivation that would be lawful under the new system."Against| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026
Should New Hampshire legalize the recreational use of marijuana by establishing state-run cannabis stores?
"Criminal records for conduct that becomes legal should be eligible for automatic annulment, particularly for simple possession and personal cultivation that would be lawful under the new system."Other| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026
Should New Hampshire require new voters to provide proof of U.S. citizenship, such as a birth certificate or passport, when registering to vote?
"New Hampshire should verify that newly registering voters are United States citizens, but possession of a passport or birth certificate should not become an absolute condition of exercising the right to vote. The state should accept multiple reliable forms of evidence, use secure government-record verification where available, and allow an applicant who lacks documents to sign a sworn affidavit under penalty of perjury. When additional verification is required, the voter should receive a clear and timely opportunity to cure the issue, and the ballot should be counted once eligibility is confirmed. If the state requires a voter to obtain a particular document, it should provide or reimburse that document at no cost to a voter who does not already possess it. Knowingly making a false citizenship claim should remain subject to serious penalties."Against| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026
Should New Hampshire allow at least 10% of students in each school district to enroll in a different public school, regardless of where they live?
"Students should ordinarily attend the public schools operated by their resident district. A statewide open-enrollment mandate would make enrollment and budgeting less predictable and could weaken a district financially without proportionately reducing its fixed costs. The state's priority should be improving every community's public schools rather than creating incentives for families to leave them. I support common-sense exceptions, including appropriate special-education placements, access to a program that the resident district cannot provide, unusual geographic hardships, and voluntary agreements between neighboring districts. Those exceptions should not become a general system allowing every family to select any town's school."Against| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026
Should New Hampshire repeal the ban on abortion after 24 weeks gestation?
"I support legal access to abortion before viability and reasonable restrictions on elective abortion afterward. Later medical decisions should remain available when necessary to protect the patient's life or serious health and in other grave fetal medical circumstances. Doctors should receive clear good-faith medical-judgment protections so that fear of prosecution does not prevent appropriate care."Against| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026
Should state law cap how much local school districts can increase their budget each year?
"I oppose a state-imposed cap on local school budgets. Communities elect school boards, budget committees and other officials to examine spending, make difficult choices and present budgets to voters. If those officials do not reflect a community's priorities, the appropriate remedy is accountability through elections and not an inflexible state formula. A uniform cap would also fail to account adequately for special education, enrollment changes, emergencies, contractual costs and necessary building maintenance. I support transparent budgets and strong local oversight rather than a state mandate."For| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2026
Should NH pass stricter gun control laws?
"I support focused gun-safety laws, including background checks for private firearm sales and reasonable safe-storage requirements when a minor or prohibited person could reasonably gain access to a firearm. These laws should include practical exceptions for immediate family transfers, temporary lawful use, hunting, shooting ranges and emergencies. I also support a short waiting period for handgun purchases and would consider one for clearly defined categories of semiautomatic rifles associated with elevated public-safety risks. I do not support imposing the same restrictions on ordinary hunting shotguns without evidence that doing so would materially improve safety. I support preserving lawful permitless carry and would require due process in any law that temporarily removes firearms from an individual."
