NH House candidate 2024: Eric Turer, Rockingham District 6, Brentwood

Name: Eric Turer

Party: Democrat

Office you are seeking: NH House candidate

District: Rockingham District 6 (Brentwood)

Education: Master's in business administration - health systems administration

Occupation: Health systems consultant

Political or civic experience highlights: 1 term NH House, past president of New England Rural Health Association, Brentwood representative on the Exeter-Squamscott River Local Advisory Committee, Chair Brentwood Democratic Committee

What are your top three priorities if elected?: 1) Restoring and safeguarding of the protection of our privacy and freedom as it pertains to individuals' ability to make decisions about our bodies, our families, our health care, and our identity. This begins by guaranteeing reproductive freedom in our state constitution, and covers other personal choices under assault in recent years.2) Improving community affordability. The rapid rise in housing affordability (purchase price and property taxes) is driving residents out and preventing younger families from coming to NH. The cost of child care makes this worse. We can incentivize locally controlled growth and restore revenue sharing from the state to address these issues.3) Promoting the return of civil dialogue and productive public discourse. The divisions that exist are tearing our communities apart. We have started a legislative caucus in the House to bring different sides together and changes such as ranked-choice voting can further help bridge the partisan divide.

What would you do to address the housing crisis in NH? Please be specific.: Affordable housing is a huge challenge for our state. Housing prices in our region are very high and rental availability is very limited. This makes it difficult to attract and retain our retail and service workforce, and for young residents to live in our communities. This is unsustainable. There are a range of effective strategies to incentivize increased affordable housing and avoid gentrification. That said, our community has recently seen the unintended impacts of changes to zoning and building ordinances that threaten the rural character of our town while failing to produce more affordable options. Brentwood repealed these once this was recognized, and our Planning Board is undertaking a study to explore other strategies. Incentives for municipalities to adopt changes that promote the development of affordable housing is different than imposing statewide changes that override town planning and zoning boards and remove local control. Our state does not control housing prices, which are set by market forces. The increase in remote work and outmigration from cities following the pandemic had put great upward pressure on our state's housing market. These can be countered to some degree by state policy, but will ultimately be set by supply and demand. We can also address the high and rising property taxes that also threaten the ability of residents, our elderly in particular, to remain in the community. Restoration of state revenue sharing is most impactful here.

Do you support NH's school voucher program, known as education freedom accounts? Why or why not?: No - This policy undermines the premise of public education and the unity of the community to continually improve our school system. It diverts public funds to private and religious schools with little oversight or accountability. Most of the recipients to date were already in private/home school settings before the program was enacted, demonstrating that it is not providing greater 'educational freedom' as implied. Vouchers lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy of failure in public education systems, as those with the means use public resources as a supplement to support their private decision, and leave the schools with the fixed costs and little ability to adjust staffing in a predictable way. This option was inserted into law via the budget bill because it couldn't pass as its own bill, and it has opened the existing education system to costs that have already greatly exceeded the programs’ budget in every year. The current income limit is over $100k for a family of four. Proposals to further expand the family income cap and other eligibility limits only deepens the impact on our schools and further removes any pretense of providing needed options that are not otherwise possible for families.

Do you support changes to abortion law in NH? Why or why not?: Yes - Decisions about one's body and family should be private rights guaranteed in our state constitution, restoring the protections in place prior to the Dobbs decision. I was proud to introduce two proposals on the House floor to allow voters the option to amend the state constitution in this way, and both gained historic majority support, but not the 60% needed for a constitutional amendment (CACR). Nothing is gained by state intervention in these private family matters. Under our current law, this guaranteed right has been opened to our ever-changing state legislature. We've seen the disastrous consequences in other states and similar provisions have now been proposed in NH.

The current 24-week limit was also slipped into law through the budget as it couldn't pass on its own. It is a ban on something that is literally not done in our state, and only exists to open the door to further restrictions as has been attempted repeatedly in recent years. Serving on the Judiciary Committee, I was able to speak directly against such bills and help prevent their passage, but that is small comfort in an ever-changing legislature.

More could be said here, but I will also add that this is not an abstract argument to me. My wife is an Ob/Gyn physician who has cared for women in our community for decades, and she has seen the many permutations of these difficult decisions play out in real, not theoretical, terms.

Do you support changes to gun laws in NH? Why or why not?: Yes - I do support a range of reasonable changes to our gun laws to address the disproportionate issues with gun violence in our society compared to others. We will not solve all issues with gun violence, but we can do much better without impinging on anyone's rights. I believe the second amendment does provide for the individual right to own firearms, but the Supreme Court, in the Heller ruling, clarified that it is "…not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever". We can prevent the worst issues of violence and self-harm by focusing on those that we know should not have had access to a weapon, and on the availability of weapons that have no place in civil society.I would like to assure that our police and military are always the best armed members of our society, and that there is a clear line between what is civilian vs not. Our community has seen firearm tragedy directly, with the loss of a good man, officer, and father of my son's friend, which we should all seek ways to prevent. The repeal of the concealed carry permit and the adoption of “stand your ground” legislation increases the potential for deadly conflicts. I support provisions like 'Red Flag' laws, which allow the temporary removal of weapons from individuals at risk of violence or self-harm, and also the ability for individuals to voluntarily place themselves on the 'no sell' list if they know that they have the potential for such actions due to mental health conditions.

Do you support the NH law banning transgender girls from playing on girls school sports teams? Why or why not?: No - This type of legislation is a thinly veiled attempt to further marginalize trans youth, as well as a misguided legislative solution to a problem that doesn't practically exist. By focusing on transgender girls, these laws make a range of misguided assumptions about gender transition in general, the advantage that being a trans girl might provide, and the 'value' of such advantages if they do exist. Many trans youth are placed on puberty blockers that prevent the biological changes perceived to offer some advantage. Furthermore, there are many other biological differences in height, weight, strength, and agility that are specifically selected for in sports participation, but none of these is treated as unfair. Nobody undergoes gender transition to gain an advantage in sports.

We need only look at the story of New Hampshire's own Sarah Rose Huckman, a trans girl who was barred from competing in her scholastic sports because of her gender identity. Her story is one of several featured in the documentary movie Changing the Game, and it led a GOP controlled NH legislature and a GOP governor to enact legislation to explicitly extended New Hampshire’s nondiscrimination protections to transgender people explicitly. It is beyond understanding why we would now try to reverse this progress and repeat the same mistakes of the past in legislation.

Do you feel NH lawmakers need to address immigration and border security? If yes, what would you do?: NO - Immigration law is a federal issue and our local and state resources should not be commandeered to enforce these laws. We do need federal immigration reform, largely to increase avenues for legal immigration and making the process of seeking asylum more streamlined and practical, while sorting out valid claims from others. Moreover, border security in NH would only pertain to our border with Canada, which has not been a source of any notable issues with immigration. Recent changes to our federal existing immigration enforcement policies have only resulted in worker shortages in key NH industries. The issues with our immigration system are not issues that can be, or should be, addressed by NH state law.

What else should voters know about you?: My public service is grounded in my experience and knowledge of our community, along with my professional understanding of the principles of public policy and good government. Our family has lived in Brentwood for 25 years, giving me a deep understanding and love for this community and this state. I combine my experience in town with an MBA degree and 30+ years of senior-level policy consulting focused on improving health care access here in NH and across the country. I have seen the best and worst of what government and industry can do to solve problems, and I believe I know the difference. My pledge is to put sound policy back into our politics.

Representing our town has been my highest priority and I’ve embraced this role in every way that I can. I never missed a vote on the House floor, or in my Committee (Judiciary). I’ve sponsored meaningful legislation in response to constituent needs and state priorities, and I advocated on bills that matter to our town. I believe that I’ve earned the respect and trust of my fellow legislators, regardless of party, as someone willing to build consensus around sensible solutions. I am proud to be a founding member and leader of the N.H. Granite Bridge Legislative Alliance—the nation’s first legislative caucus based on the Braver Angels’ principles for disagreeing constructively. I serve Brentwood proudly as a Democrat who works to represent our whole community. I bring thoughtful and engaged service at this critical time.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: NH House candidate 2024: Eric Turer, Rockingham District 6, Brentwood