Adam Hirshan

Honorable Members of the House Ways and Means Committee, My name is Adam Hirshan. I am the founder and publisher of The Laconia Daily Sun, an independently owned local newspaper that has served the Lakes Region of New Hampshire for more than 25 years. I write in strong support of HB 1420-FN, the Lift Our Communities Advertise Locally Act. This bill recognizes a simple but increasingly urgent reality: local news organizations and local small businesses are interdependent, and both are under significant pressure. When small businesses advertise locally, they are not only promoting their own goods and services; they are helping sustain the reporting, editing, and publishing of local news that binds communities together, informs citizens, and strengthens civic life. HB 1420 is thoughtfully structured. It is temporary, capped, targeted to small businesses, and limited to bona fide local newspapers and local broadcast media that employ local journalists and provide consistent local coverage. It excludes large national platforms and programmatic digital advertising that do nothing to support New Hampshire journalism or New Hampshire communities. In short, it incentivizes exactly the kind of economic activity the state should want to encourage. From the perspective of a local publisher, this bill does not represent a subsidy for newspapers. It is an incentive for small businesses to reinvest in their own communities. The benefit to local media is indirect but essential: more local advertising means more stable local newsrooms, more professional journalists living and working in New Hampshire, and more coverage of town government, schools, courts, and community life—coverage that no national or out-of-state platform will provide. Local newspapers operate on thin margins. We compete for advertising dollars with global digital platforms that extract revenue from New Hampshire communities while employing few, if any, local residents and producing no meaningful local journalism. This bill helps level that playing field without mandating behavior or picking winners. It simply nudges market activity back toward local institutions. I understand and respect the Department of Revenue Administration’s concerns regarding administration and clarity. Those issues are appropriate for committee consideration and refinement. They should not, however, obscure the core public purpose of this legislation: strengthening local economies and preserving access to reliable, professional local news. New Hampshire has long valued local control, local enterprise, and informed citizenship. HB 1420 is consistent with those values. I urge the committee to recommend this bill as Ought to Pass. Thank you for the opportunity to submit this testimony and for your service to the state. Respectfully submitted, Adam Hirshan Founder and Publisher The Laconia Daily Sun Laconia, New Hampshire