Transcript above, Video below.
Mr. Speaker, Madame President, Mr. Chief Justice, honorable members of the House, Senate, Councilors, former Governors, my fellow citizens:
It is humbling to stand before you today.
It’s so wonderful to see so many of my family here, especially my parents. Thank you!
In this chamber, I see friends, colleagues, and dedicated public servants.
But what’s more, I see the passion, energy, and independence that makes our state different. That drives a commonsense approach to governing and that has made this the best state in the entire country.
We’re #1 for…
- Freedom,
- Opportunity,
- Taxpayer Return on Investment,
- Public Safety,
- Child well-being
We’ve got the lowest tax burden in the country, and the lowest poverty rate in the country.
New Hampshire is moving in the right direction, and no one deserves more credit for that after four terms at the helm than Governor Chris Sununu. Thank you, Governor, and thank you to Valerie and your children for your dedicated service to our State.
I’m thankful to have my former boss and close friend, Governor Craig Benson here. He saw potential in me at a young age and provided me the opportunity to serve as Attorney General,
But unfortunately, today, there is someone important who is not here — we’re missing our great friend and mentor and the chair of my first two campaigns, Governor Steve Merrill. I know he’s looking down on us. I’m so proud to have his wife Heather here with us today — thank you, Heather.
Over the past year, we’ve lost some incredible public servants in our state, two women I have always respected and looked up to, Ruth Griffin and Nancy Sununu. I’m thinking of them both today.
There’s no way I’d be here if not for my wingman, Joe. And I have Joe to thank for all the recipe suggestions I get when I’m out on the campaign trail, but I also feel the need to set the record straight: Joe snores way louder than me.
All kidding aside, our family’s story, like many of yours too, is a story of service.
Joe is a former A-10 pilot who deployed to the Middle East, and now he’s a middle school math teacher. Our daughter Kate is a cadet at the United States Air Force Academy, and our son Jake enjoys volunteering for our local food pantry.
I have spent my life in public service – first as a murder prosecutor, later as Attorney General and US Senator, and today, truly the honor of my life, as your next Governor.
Service can take on so many forms, and all of you wouldn’t be here today if you weren’t dedicated to serving. Our citizen legislature is a model for the rest of the country, and I thank all of you for your service.
We cannot forget that service takes teaching. It takes demonstrating.
If we don’t teach our kids about it, they aren’t going to learn it. It is so important to root our lives in something bigger than ourselves, and it is critical to the health of our state and our communities that our next generation step up and contribute.
One of the things I am most looking forward to as Governor is when the fourth graders come to the State House, and I get to talk to them. I want to share with them how service feels. What it feels like to help others and be a part of something bigger than yourself. I want them to know that there are as many ways to serve as you can imagine and to understand the fulfillment that comes with giving what you can to help others.
That’s how Joe and I raised our kids, and it’s what I will carry in my heart as your Governor.
Speaker Packard and President Carson, I look forward to working with you, and I am looking to you both to marshal our Republican majorities over the next two years to deliver on the promises we made to keep our state moving in the right direction.
The results these past number of years speak for themselves, but we have more work to do to deliver for everyone.
The Corner Office is the people’s office. It’s not about me. It’s about our State, all of us, together.
You have my word that each and every day I will work on your behalf to do what’s best for all of us.
For all of New Hampshire.
I am going to be a Governor for you, whether you’re a Republican, Democrat, Independent, you name it. Our state is so much bigger than a party or an ideology.
Minority Leaders Perkins Kwoka and Simpson, I want you to know that my door is always open.
Good government knows no party, so let’s show folks that even when partisanship is at a fever pitch, we can set a different example.
You heard me talk a lot about Massachusetts on the campaign trail, and the reason I did is because it is a cautionary tale. Look at the out-of-control spending, tax hikes, illegal immigrant crisis, people and businesses leaving in droves — what is normal today in Massachusetts wasn’t always this way.
Year after year, their model of higher taxes and more government has made it harder to run a small business and harder for families to make ends meet.
On the other hand, over that same period, New Hampshire has gotten stronger. But only because of our leadership, our policies, and our commitment to taxpayers.
To the people of Massachusetts, our Bay State neighbors, I want you to know we love that you visit our communities, shop at our businesses, and enjoy our great outdoors. To the businesses of Massachusetts, we’d love to have you bring your talents to the Granite State. Reach out to us — we’re happy to show you why it’s better here.
To our friends across our northern border in Canada, the same goes for you. We’ll welcome your business with open arms to the Granite State and especially to our North Country, and your bottom line will benefit if you come here.
As Governor, I will work tirelessly to recruit businesses to our state, from near and far. I will doggedly pursue opportunities for economic expansion, and I will bring businesses to the table to ensure that economic opportunity is available for all. Because New Hampshire truly is a special place.
And I believe that our spirit of common-sense cooperation is part of what makes that true.
Extraordinary people, abilities, ideas, and passions.
An independence that no other state embodies like we do.
And we’re tough. Some say it’s the weather, others say it’s the granite, I say it’s our Live Free or Die spirit.
I’m focused on tapping our deep well of talent so that our government has the best: the best people and the best ideas.
I’ve made it a point during this transition to bring those outside of government, in, to get their perspective on how things are going.
I have been glad to have business leaders alongside me as we meet with Commissioners to evaluate where things are so that we have fresh eyes on where our State needs to go next.
When you’ve got as many accolades as our state does, it’d be easy to rest on our successes and not strive forward with the same energy.
But nothing helps battle complacency more than bringing new people with new ideas into the fold. From my time in the private sector these past number of years, I saw firsthand the benefit of challenging the status quo and bringing in new blood to do it.
We’re going to make sure we have new people, new ideas, and new energy to get the job done.
If we are going to keep our state on a path of prosperity, if we are going to deliver For All Of New Hampshire, we have to bring everyone to the table.
From the Corner Office to the legislature, to the Executive Council, private sector, and nonprofits, we have to get to work immediately.
Because while things are great today, tomorrow holds real challenges for our state.
If we’re going to remain the economic beacon of New England, we need to start by tackling our housing crisis. This is about our now and our future.
Our state has so much opportunity to offer, but our lack of housing supply and sky-high costs are making it increasingly difficult for individuals to tap into it.
It affects everyone, from the young family looking to buy their first home, to the business that is trying to hire more workers, to the retiree who wants to be able to stay where they are. Selfishly, as the mom of a twenty-year-old and a teenager, I want them to stay here, but the next generation isn’t going to if they can’t afford to.
We need to get serious about housing production, streamline state agency approvals, and partner with our local communities.
The journey of a thousand steps begins with one, and there is no simple solution to this crisis, but we’re going to pursue an all-of-the-above strategy to address it.
We have to bring everyone to the table, the state, the local communities, the private sector, so we figure out where the opportunities are and how we can clear the way to build and strengthen new and existing partnerships.
A great example of this is what’s happening in Rochester under Mayor Paul Callaghan. This fall, I had the chance to join the mayor at a groundbreaking for The Rapids on Cocheco project. A 52-unit workforce housing complex coming together because the city, HUD, private sector, New Hampshire Housing, and state government are working together.
Or look at Berlin, where the old Brown Elementary School has been repurposed for new housing. We need to look at state property like this and find opportunities to leverage underutilized assets on our books to combat this crisis.
As a state, we must model good behavior if we are going to ask the same of our local communities that are making these zoning decisions. That starts with overhauling agency approvals, so they take no more than 60 days from start to finish. We need to make the process as frictionless as possible so projects that are great for our communities are not getting halted by unnecessary red tape.
Working together, we’ll tackle this crisis head-on and make sure New Hampshire remains the best place to live.
While being Governor is a big job, I can tell you the biggest job I’ve faced in my life is that of being a parent. As a parent, our life’s work is our children. We pour into them in so many ways when they are under our roof and when they go out on their own, our minds are never far from them.
As public servants, we must bring that spirit and that focus to our education system.
We are in the top ten in total education funding per pupil in the country – I think that’s wonderful, and we need to keep it up. But it’s not only about dollars and cents, it’s also about how best our children learn and what kind of environment we are creating in our classrooms.
As a mother, I understand that every child learns differently and that we should give each child the opportunity to be in the education setting that allows them to reach his or her full potential.
Public Schools are critical, and I am the proud product of Nashua’s public schools, but they are not working for every child. I applaud the work the legislature has done to expand opportunities for families through education freedom accounts and look forward to strengthening and expanding this program to ensure more families have the freedom to put their children in the learning environment that is best for them.
Joe and I talk about what he is seeing in the classroom and what his students need all the time. He and the thousands of teachers across our state are on the front lines of our education system. Teachers know uniquely what is working for our students and what isn’t. We need to listen to them.
That’s why today I am announcing that we will be taking action to ban cell phones in our schools.
Screens are negatively impacting our learning environments, drawing students’ attention away from their classes, and becoming a barrier for teachers to do their jobs. No more.
We also need to have some hard conversations about how prepared our students are when they leave high school to join the workforce or continue their studies.
We have done struggling students a disservice by passing them along when they don’t grasp the material at hand. This problem only snowballs the longer it goes on. We can’t allow our standards to slide because the student is the one who pays the price for our unwillingness to have tough conversations about whether they are truly prepared for the next step.
We need to keep emphasizing the importance of investments in the trades, career-ready education and workforce training. Our businesses are desperately in need of workers. We’ve got a generation retiring, and we do not have enough young people considering these critical jobs.
We need to keep telling the amazing stories of the opportunities that exist in the trades and open more pathways to a good-paying career.
We need to expand public-private partnerships and continue the great work that is already happening to increase workforce training programs and help our community colleges expand the pipeline.
I’m proud that our state stands as a model for the rest of the country when it comes to living within our means and having balanced budgets. Just imagine what Washington would look like if they took a page out of our playbook.
I’m even prouder that we do it with no income tax and no sales tax, with our New Hampshire Advantage. And taxpayers are keeping even more of their hard-earned dollars in their pockets thanks to the elimination of the interest and dividends tax.
By the way, I’m not going to surprise anyone when I say this: no income tax, no sales tax, not now, not ever. And I would also say to our local officials, don’t forget the importance of keeping the tax burden as low as possible. Property taxes are a burden in New Hampshire in spite of the fact that the State is sending more money than ever before down to the local level.
But while we have a lot to be proud of when it comes to our financial restraint, challenges are ahead for us in this coming budget.
The federal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act is expiring.
Business revenue is coming in lower than the past few years.
And that means we’ve got to tighten the belt here in Concord.
Just like any family, what’s going out needs to match what’s coming in. So we are going to have to make reductions and recalibrate from the higher spending of the last few years.
We are going to have to look to find better ways to do things with fewer dollars.
Now whenever we talk about cuts, just like that family making hard decisions, there’s things we can’t skimp on — protecting our most vulnerable and serving those most in need. This is a non-negotiable, like groceries and gas are for families. But we have to look carefully across our budgets to find savings to meet the financial realities we face.
I’ve instructed our commissioners to roll up their sleeves and find ways to rethink our approach and where appropriate, do more with less. We need to make sure that government is operating more like the lean process in manufacturing, where waste is eliminated at each stage in the process, to produce better results.
And to help us do this, because I know nothing is harder than getting politicians to not spend money, today I am announcing the creation of the Commission on Government Efficiency, or as I like to call it – the “COGE”.
COGE will make us smarter than ever before when it comes to saving taxpayer dollars and finding better ways to serve the people of our state. I can think of no better duo to lead this effort than two of the smartest business guys I know, Governor Craig Benson and Andy Crews. They are going to put proposals on my desk to streamline government, cut spending, and ensure that we’re doing everything we can to create value for our taxpayers.
As a former Attorney General, it will come as no surprise to you that my absolute top priority as your Governor is to keep our communities safe and to always have the backs of our law enforcement and first responders who put their lives on the line every day for us.
If we’re going to keep New Hampshire the safest state in the nation, we have to make critical investments in the Group 2 retirement system to keep it competitive so that we can recruit and retain the men and women who do this critical work for our communities.
We also need to ban sanctuary policies in our state, and I am counting on the legislature to do just that this term.
We’ve got the Massachusetts illegal immigrant crisis right down the road if you want to see what these dangerous policies do not just to communities, but to the state budget. They’ve spent over a billion dollars housing migrants rather than investing in their law-abiding residents. We can’t allow that to happen here.
We’re also not done on bail reform. I firmly believe that the legislature did more harm than good when they changed our bail law, and the recent reforms haven’t gone far enough. I was on a ride along with an officer in Manchester who lost six months after having his pinky gnawed to the bone by a criminal who should not have been out on bail. Mayor Ruais has worked hard in the past year turning the tide in Manchester, and our cities need this law fixed to ensure our communities are protected.
Our mental health system is a key component of strengthening our communities and providing families the assistance they need to get help for their loved ones.
As I’ve traveled across New Hampshire, I have heard firsthand about the urgent need to improve our mental health care system. There are not enough providers, and we’re going to find ways to partner with our community colleges and university system to expand educational opportunities for mental health providers.
A few months ago, I visited HOPE for NH Recovery’s location in Manchester with Mayor Ruais to hear about their efforts to support those recovering from substance use disorder.
They shared with me that many of their clients are battling addiction and mental health challenges at the same time, but licensing for new providers presents a challenge when trying to grow their team.
All too often, substance use treatment and mental health care are siloed, when it would be more beneficial for these challenges to be addressed together.
In addition to strengthening the system itself, we also need to ensure anyone who is facing mental health challenges feels like they can reach out for help.
Seeking care for your mental health is just as important as going to the doctor when you’re feeling sick or dealing with a physical injury.
We all need to work together on this and take care of each other. Together, we can elevate the importance of mental health awareness and suicide prevention efforts across our state.
There are few groups more near and dear to my heart than those that have served our country in the armed forces. Could I please have all the veterans in the room stand up?
Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for what you’ve done for our country. Can we give them a round of applause please?
I want each of you to know, and all of our veterans across the state, that you are going to have a friend in my administration. We’re going to fight for you, we’re here to help you — if you need anything — I want to hear from you. Get in touch with us.
We will bolster the New Hampshire Department of Military Affairs and Veterans Services in their efforts to advocate for veterans. I also know that incredibly important work happens in the non-profit community for our veterans, with organizations like Swim with a Mission, Veterans Count, and many others. Working together with our robust nonprofit community and with state and local leaders, we will make sure that New Hampshire is the most veteran-friendly state in the nation.
The greatest resource our state has besides its people is our beautiful landscape. No other state boasts the natural beauty we do, and there is a lot that comes along with that, from recreation to tourism, to industry as well.
Our North Country is a gem that provides so much to our state, and we have to ensure it stays that way. My administration is going to enforce the state’s conservation easement on the Connecticut Headwaters tract negotiated under the bipartisan leadership of then-Governor Jeanne Shaheen and Senator Judd Gregg to ensure that this beautiful tract of land remains open for recreation and local timber harvesting for the people of New Hampshire.
Similarly, there will be NO landfill at Forest Lake in Dalton. We will not allow that beautiful area of our state to become a dumping ground for out-of-state trash. Not gonna happen.
Lastly, before I close, just in case you forgot — since the television ads haven’t been running for a few months — if you send me legislation that further restricts access to abortion beyond our current law: I will veto it.
New Hampshire is a wonderful, beautiful state.
And protecting what makes us unique is so much more important than one person or one party.
I want you to know that I will be the Governor for everyone. And please know this, even if there are times that we don’t see eye to eye, I will look to bring people together.
I could not be more optimistic about our shared future. But all the same — we have real challenges that we need to confront head-on if we are going to keep moving in the right direction.
Voters are expecting us to find new ways to better our state, grow our economy, and increase our quality of life.
We need to be proactive in securing new victories for our state — that will make our communities safer, families more prosperous, and our daily lives more free.
I look forward to working with each of you to deliver that for all of New Hampshire.
Thank you.
Swearing in starts at 47:00. Speech begins at 49:00
