Matthew L. Spencer
Historical Details
Position on Issues
For| Read My Position
Voting Record, 2018
Spencer voted for an early version of the "education freedom savings account program" (SB 193)
No Response
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2022
Should New Hampshire ban abortions during the first trimester (e.g. after 6 weeks gestation)?
No Response
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2022
Should New Hampshire ban abortions during the second trimester (e.g. after 15 weeks gestation)?
No Response
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2022
Should New Hampshire ban discussions about sexual orientation and gender identity in grades K-3?
No Response
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2022
Do you support the state law that bans teaching certain concepts, such as the idea that people may be "inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously"?
No Response
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2022
Should NH add a broad-based sales tax?
No Response
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2022
Should New Hampshire add a tax credit for businesses that contribute to student loan repayment for employees?
No Response
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2022
Should New Hampshire lower business taxes?
For| Read My Position
Voting Record, 2017
Voted to consider casinos (SB 242)
No Response
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2022
Should New Hampshire government do more to address climate change?
No Response
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2022
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?
For| Read My Position
Voting Record, 2018
Voted to decriminalize possession of 3/4 ounce or less of marijuana (HB 640)
No Response
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2022
Should New Hampshire add a fee or mileage charge for electric vehicle owners to help pay for transportation and/or electric infrastructure?
No Response
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2022
Should the state do more to encourage municipalities to remove zoning barriers to housing development?
No Response
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2022
Should New Hampshire extend the renewable portfolio standard past 2025, requiring public utilities to obtain more than 25% of electricity from renewable energy sources?
No Response
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2022
Should New Hampshire guarantee the right to access abortion before 24 weeks?
No Response
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2022
Do you support the option of mail-in ballots for all voters, not just absentees?
Against| Read My Position
Voting Record, 2018
Voted against legalizing and taxing marijuana (HB 656)
No Response
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2022
Should New Hampshire legalize the recreational use of marijuana by allowing home-growing and private use without sales?
No Response
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2022
Should New Hampshire legalize the recreational use of marijuana by licensing growers and private retail locations?
No Response
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2022
Should New Hampshire legalize the recreational use of marijuana by establishing state-run cannabis stores?
For| Read My Position
Voting Record, 2018
Voted to continue expanded Medicaid eligibility, using the traditional Medicaid system of managed care instead of private insurance (SB 313)
Other| Read My Position
"On Medicaid expansion, Republican Matt Spencer said he would support it if the government meets its obligation but a study should be done to check that taxpayers are getting good value."
Other| Read My Position
"Yes, but only if a methodical and reasonable increase will help the state maintain our competitiveness with surrounding states. The increase should be based on the ability of the state's business markets sustainability. We must avoid the unintended negative consequence of higher minimum wage, but lower employment growth and layoffs. The goal is to help the people of New Hampshire and not hurt them."
For| Read My Position
Voting Record, 2018
Voted to keep the death penalty unchanged (SB 593)
No Response
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2022
Should the state permanently increase how much tax revenue it shares with towns and cities every year, beyond public school funding?
No Response
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2022
Do you support the gradual phase-out of the Interests and Dividends tax?
No Response
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2022
Do you support the state’s current system of public school funding, with each district’s total funding primarily dependent on local property tax revenue?
No Response
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2022
Should New Hampshire repeal the ban on abortion after 24 weeks gestation?
For| Read My Position
Voting Record, 2018
Voted to consider right-to-work (SB 11)
Against| Read My Position
Voting Record, 2017
Voted to repeal the license to carry a concealed firearm (SB 12)
For| Read My Position
Voting Record, 2018
Voted for the "education freedom savings account program" (SB 193)
For| Read My Position
Voting Record, 2018
Voted to require all voters domiciled in New Hampshire to follow residency laws, such as the requirement to register any car in New Hampshire (HB 1264)
Voting Record
SB 500 (2018)
Removes the prohibition of carrying a loaded rifle or shotgun in or on a stationary motor vehicle, OHRV, snowmobile, or aircraft. This bill also changes some legal references to firearms, and allows licensed bow hunters to carry firearms. Lastly, this bill removes the ability to deny or revoke a hunting license if a person "is not a suitable person to carry firearms." The Senate amended the bill to also allow carrying a loaded firearm on a moving vehicle if the person is protecting livestock or crops. The Senate amendment also allows hunting with an air rifle.
HB 1319 (2018)
Prohibits discrimination based on gender identity.
HB 587 (2017)
Prohibits conversion therapy for anyone under age eighteen. Conversion therapy attempts to change a person's sexual orientation.
HB 628 (2017)
Establishes a social insurance program that would be operated by New Hampshire Employment Security to provide for paid family and medical leave insurance. Employers would pay 0.5% of wages per employee as premium payments. The House amended the bill to increase the employee contribution to 0.67%, to allow employees to opt out, and to limit benefits to six weeks of paid leave.
SB 313 (2018)
Continues New Hampshire's expanded Medicaid program. This bill makes several significant changes to the program. First, it moves participants off private insurance and into managed care, similar to traditional Medicaid enrollees. Second, it adds a work requirement for participants. Third, it removes funding from voluntary contributions by health care providers, which the federal government said is illegal.
HB 1264 (2018)
Redefines "resident" and "inhabitant" to remove the phrase "for the indefinite future." This bill would potentially require all voters domiciled in New Hampshire to follow residency laws, such as the requirement to register any car in New Hampshire.
HB 1680 (2018)
Prohibits abortion after viability, unless the mother's life is in danger, "in cases of Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome, or to remove a fetus with severe anomalies incompatible with life."
CACR 22 (2018)
Constitutional amendment establishing various rights for crime victims.
SB 193 (2017)
Establishes the "education freedom savings account program." This allows a parent to contract with a scholarship organization so that state education funding is transferred to the student's scholarship account rather than to the municipality in which the student resides. The House amended the bill to limit the scholarships to certain students, particularly low income students, students in underperforming schools, and special education students. The amended version also requires any student receiving a scholarship to complete an annual assessment to ensure academic progress.
HB 592 (2017)
Repeals the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). The House amended the bill to instead end energy efficiency grants, and send all the proceeds from RGGI to commercial and residential ratepayer rebates.
SB 593 (2018)
Changes the penalty for any offense eligible for the death penalty to life imprisonment without parole.
HB 656 (2017)
Legalizes and taxes marijuana for adults over age twenty-one. The bill outlines various regulations, from the ability of municipalities to control the location of marijuana establishments, to labels disclosing the THC in each serving of a marijuana product. The bill also legalizes hemp. The House amended the bill to instead legalize possession and homegrowing of marijuana without allowing sales.
HB 115 (2017)
Raises the minimum wage to $9.50 in 2018 and $12 in 2019, with annual cost of living adjustments starting in 2020. The bill also establishes a training wage that is one dollar less than the minimum wage for the first three months of employment for someone sixteen or seventeen years-old.
HB 478 (2017)
Prohibits discrimination based on gender identity.
HB 144 (2017)
Changes the annual county budget procedures for Rockingham County to match those used in Hillsborough County. Since the House failed to pass the 2018-2019 budget bill HB 1, the Senate amended this bill into a new budget bill.
SB 131 (2017)
Appropriates $1,155,000 to hire five state troopers assigned to drug enforcement on the state border. This bill also appropriates $3,340,000 for state and local law enforcement and the state lab for overtime related to drug enforcement.
SB 10 (2017)
Creates a program to repay licensed milk producers from losses during the 2016 drought. The bill appropriates $2 million to the Milk Producers Emergency Relief Fund.
SB 66 (2017)
Includes fetuses as potential victims under murder statutes. The Senate amended the bill to include only fetuses twenty weeks and older, not just "viable" fetuses.
SB 191 (2017)
Increases state funding for full-day kindergarten programs, with adjustments based on the number of English language learners and free and reduced lunch students in each district. The House amended the bill to simply provide full funding for full-day kindergarten programs, and half funding for half-day kindergarten programs. The House also added keno legalization to the bill to create the revenue for kindergarten funding.
HB 103 (2017)
Requires school districts to provide advance notice to parents and legal guardians of course material involving discussion of human sexuality or human sexual education.
SB 3 (2017)
Changes the definition of domicile for voting purposes to make it more restrictive. This bill explicitly excludes anyone who comes to the state "for temporary purposes," such as volunteering or working on political campaigns. Out-of-state college students are still allowed to claim a domicile in New Hampshire. However, if someone moves to a new New Hampshire address within 30 days of voting, he or she must present proof of intent to stay in New Hampshire. This proof could include a lease, driver's license, a child's enrollment at a public school, etc.
SB 8 (2017)
Allows a school district to assign a child to a non-sectarian private school if there is no public school for the child's grade in the child's resident district. The bill was amended to also require the non-sectarian private school to administer an annual assessment.
HB 157 (2017)
Adds chronic pain to the qualifying medical conditions for medical marijuana.
SB 242 (2017)
Authorizes one smaller and one larger casino with video lottery and table gaming. The smaller casino would pay an initial ten-year license fee of $40 million, and the larger casino would pay an initial ten-year license fee of $80 million. The casinos would pay a tax of 35% on gross slot machine revenue and 18% on gross table game revenue. The Legislature would choose how to distribute this revenue, provided that some of the revenue goes to towns hosting or neighboring the casino, and some of the revenue goes to treat problem gambling.
SB 11 (2017)
Right-to-Work bill that prohibits collective bargaining agreements that require employees to join or contribute to a labor union.
HB 640 (2017)
Decriminalizes possession of 3/4 ounce or less of marijuana, with additional penalties for violators under age twenty-one.
SB 12 (2017)
Increases the length of time for which a license to carry a concealed firearm is valid, and repeals the requirement to obtain a license to carry a concealed firearm.
