Typically, government regulations take a long time to implement and an even longer time to remove. In an emergency, though, both of those time frames are dramatically reduced. This week offered a case study in the perils of rapid regulation and the benefits of flexibility after rules are put in place. On Monday, the state […]
If the state regulations for reopening child care centers take effect as issued, 165 children at the state’s largest child care center would lose their spots and have to stay home. And they aren’t alone. “St. Peter’s would lose 165 spots. That’s over half our enrollment,” Lisa Cormier, director of St. Peter’s Home on Manchester’s […]
Two months ago, New Hampshire’s unemployment rate was 2.6%. The unemployment rate is now 17 percent, and on Thursday a deputy commissioner for employment security said it probably will hit 20%. Nearly 183,000 Granite Staters have filed unemployment claims since the coronavirus contraction began in March. The state has paid $400 million in unemployment benefits […]
In some activist circles, refusal to wear a face mask has become a sign of defiance, an expression of one’s rebellious spirit, like riding a motorcycle without a helmet. It should be the other way around. Wearing a mask is an expression of resistance to governmental authority. (Make it a Gadsden flag mask, to emphasize […]
New Hampshire’s economy spent March and April of 2020 rapidly contracting. Cell phone data and reported restaurant and retail store revenue show that consumers voluntarily began staying home in the early March. Then on March 27 the governor issued a stay-home order and ordered “non-essential” businesses closed to in-person interactions. That one-two punch put nearly […]
Addressing the first meeting of the Governor’s Economic Re-Opening Task Force, Gov. Chris Sununu said the state likely faced a gradual reopening over many months, not a quick lifting of restrictions within a few weeks. The task force’s job, then, is to craft a strategy that would “allow us to continually manage through the process […]
Join us Friday, May 1, from 4:30-5 p.m. for a very special event, our first Virtual Happy Hour with author P.J. O’Rourke. We’ll talk politics and policy during the coronavirus era. Our thanks to Jeremy Hitchcock and the New Hampshire Brewers Association for sponsoring the event. Everyone who attends the Happy Hour with P.J. […]
Join the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy for a virtual luncheon, Licensing in a Pandemic: Why you can’t get a food truck or a haircut, and what you can do about it Monday, April 27, at noon We’ll discuss problems created by state and local licensing laws that prevent customers from […]
In a surprise motion, the Legislature’s Fiscal Committee voted 7-3 along party lines Monday to move $26 million in federal Coronavirus Relief Fund money to the state budget to pay for ongoing programs. But federal law does not allow such a transfer, leaving members confused about what the vote accomplished and whether it was legal. […]
In the month before Gov. Chris Sununu ordered New Hampshire restaurant dining rooms closed, employment at New Hampshire full-service restaurants dropped by more than 8 percent (2,000 people), state figures show. In the month since the governor’s March 16 order, restaurant business has plummeted. State employment data are not yet available for those weeks, but […]