Lucius Parshall
Lucius was first elected in 2020 and currently represents District 8. This year, he has switched districts to District 16, which includes all towns in Districts 7, 8, and 9.
About Lucius
Lucius retired in 2020 from 20 years as a public school music teacher. Prior to that, he worked as an arts administrator, grant writer for New York Public Radio, and Executive Director for the Cummington Arts Colony in Massachusetts.
Rounding out his employment history, he has worked several colorful jobs, including stints as a chef, ranch hand, and in just about every aspect of the wine industry in his native upstate New York. He's often said that you don't learn anything by traveling first class.
Along the way, he has picked up various degrees and certifications, including a Bachelor of Music from Ithaca College, a Master of Business Administration from SUNY Binghamton, and teaching credentials from Keene State College.
He moved to New Hampshire over thirty years ago due to the active contra dance community. As a lifelong guitarist, he has been heavily influenced by the folk singers of the sixties, both musically and politically. While he generally eschews labels, he believes that he have earned the label “folkie”. His wife, Christine, and he moved from Keene to Marlborough in 2017, and happily became involved in the local Democratic Committee as well as other civic organizations because that is how communities work.
Letters to the Editor
Republicans' double hit on education
--Lucius Parshall the Keene Sentinel Oct 12
Lucius Parshall, current State House Rep. for District 8 and candidate for State House Rep. District 16, describes the devastating impact of HB 1815 and HB 1300 on funding for public education. With HB 1815, the state "legally excuses itself from its financial responsibilities". HB 1300 puts Question 2, a cap on local school funding, on the ballot state-wide in November. VOTE NO ON QUESETION 2!
Read the full article here.
2026 NH Energy Summit
Lucius Parshall (third from left above) candidate for State Rep, Cheshire County District 16, at the 2026 New Hampshire Energy Summit, September 28, in Concord
NH's use of nuclear power
-- Lucius Parshall, Oct 3, email
2026 New Hampshire Energy Summit brought together policymakers, industry executives, and stakeholders to analyze the state’s changing power landscape. Hosted by The Dupont Group, the event served as a critical platform for addressing the dual challenges of grid modernization and consumer affordability.
The first topic on the agenda was incorporating Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) into New Hampshire’s energy mix,. While proponents highlight its potential for 24/7 carbon-free power, nuclear development remains highly capital-intensive, carrying severe risks of regulatory gridlock, safety concerns, and steep cost overruns.
With most of the room in agreement that we would not see full-scale SMR deployment until at least 2045, it became clear that advanced nuclear is not a near-term fix. We simply cannot afford another two decades of out-of-control energy costs while waiting for unproven commercial rollouts. The summit ultimately underscored this urgent need for sola and wind innovation. To secure New Hampshire’s energy future, regional leaders must focus on immediate, scalable solutions—like battery storage and community power—rather than pinning long-term financial stability on a distant nuclear horizon.
Recent posts
Protecting citizens from untried energy solutions
-- Lucius Parshall, Oct 3, email
I’ve been following up on my early legislation submission to get ratepayers off the hook, should any of our energy providers get the idea that they can risk ratepayer dollars for untried energy solutions. What follows is an essay on that very topic.
New Hampshire families and small businesses are facing a quiet economic crisis every single month when they open their utility bills. We currently endure some of the highest electricity rates in the entire nation. Granite Staters have adapted, scrimped, and saved, but their resilience is being pushed to the brink. It is the job of the General Court to protect our citizens, which is why we must immediately correct a dangerous vulnerability introduced into state law earlier this summer.
When House Bill 1775 was signed into law, it rolled back key pieces of New Hampshire’s landmark 1996 electric deregulation rules. The bill’s intent was noble: to boost grid reliability by allowing electric utilities to invest in and own small-scale, localized power generation infrastructure like natural gas, hydrogen, and nuclear facilities. But tucked inside that legislation was a structural flaw that threatens the pocketbook of every ratepayer in this state—a mechanism known as "Ratepayer Recovery."
Ratepayer recovery is a polite industry term for a forced consumer bailout. It allows monopoly utility companies to pass the immense capital construction costs, financing fees, and inevitable project overruns of building power infrastructure directly onto your monthly electric bill.
We have walked this dark path before. In the 1980s, the multi-billion-dollar cost overruns at the Seabrook Station nuclear plant devastated New Hampshire ratepayers and triggered the largest utility bankruptcy in American history. It took us decades to untangle that financial mess and establish the firewalls that legally separated the companies delivering your power from the companies generating it.
By restoring ratepayer recovery, we have effectively invited history to repeat itself. Look no further than Georgia’s recent Plant Vogtle nuclear project, where billions in cost overruns were dumped squarely on the backs of everyday consumers, driving monthly bills through the roof.
That is why I have introduced new corrective legislation to slam this door shut once and for all.
Our new bill does not strip utilities of their right to build or innovate. If a utility believes a localized five-megawatt hydrogen plant is a smart, profitable investment that will strengthen our grid, they are entirely free to build it. However, under this new law, they must fund it using their own corporate capital and shareholder equity. They must take the risk. If they manage the project well, their shareholders reap the rewards. But if they suffer an executive miscalculation or a massive cost overrun, their shareholders take the financial hit—not a senior citizen living on a fixed income in Manchester or a small machine shop owner trying to make payroll in Concord. To ensure this protection has real teeth, our legislation establishes an aggressive, zero-tolerance enforcement framework.
First, we are ending corporate shell games. Any utility caught intentionally hiding, misclassifying, or embedding these power generation costs within general distribution or delivery rate filings will face a civil penalty of at least $1,000,000 per violation, or double the hidden amount. Every single dollar collected from these fines will bypass the state's general fund and go directly into the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) to help our most vulnerable neighbors keep their heat on.
Second, we are issuing a clear ultimatum. Utilities with pending projects initiated under HB 1775 will have exactly 180 days to prove full private financing. If they cannot fund a project privately, they must immediately halt operations and divest the asset to a competitive, independent power producer within one year. Any losses from this forced sale will be borne 100 percent by shareholders.
New Hampshire ratepayers should not be forced to act as an uncompensated insurance policy for multi-billion-dollar corporations. It is time to return to a simple, fair market principle: if you want the profit, you take the risk. Let us protect the public, secure our energy future, and keep corporate liabilities off our New Hampshire family’s kitchen table.
Lucius' work in the NH House
Municipal control
Lucius was a prime sponsor on the failed House Bill 1098 relative to municipalities’ right to deny building permits for property on Class VI roads. This was a municipal rights bill that attempted to reclaim Class Six road zoning authority from the state. There are many Class Six roads in my districts that are impassable, and the exorbitant cost to restore them is another unfunded state mandate that downshifts costs to our communities.
Composting facilities
Lucius sponsored House Bill 1282 to establish an advisory commission to DES on food waste diversion. We have no publicly accessible “hot” composting facilities in New Hampshire, so local composting service providers must take their compost to facilities in Vermont—an added expense. Again, it was deemed inexpedient to legislate.
Excessive Packaging
Lucius was a prime sponsor on House Bill 1789 relative to extended producer responsibility for the excessive packaging that is choking our waste stream. This is legislation that he has introduced every biennium, and will continue to do so. The disposal costs of so many consumer items are a hidden cost that we pay in our municipal taxes. Producers avoid this responsibility for the end disposal of their products or packaging. Many countries have found Extended Producer Responsibility legislation to be a benefit in managing their waste streams. Now even our neighboring states are turning to this solution. New Hampshire should not be the last to the table.
Electric utilities
House Bill 1741, a very smart bill required use of distributed energy resource aggregations by electric utilities. The bill aimed to better incorporate local generation into the statewide energy grid. Lowering peak demand and transmission costs were not in the interests of the Republican majority legislature or the special interests that fund their campaigns, and this bill too died
Groundwater extraction
Lucius is listed as a co-sponsor on House Bill 1141, but he is not proud of how Republicans gutted it. Originally, it would have created a moratorium on new groundwater extractions for the purpose of bottling water in plastic bottles. This bill was gutted by Republicans and rewritten into a bill relative to permitting and fee authority for mining and prospecting. I take no pride in that it was signed by the governor.
Independent redistricting
Lucius was a proud co-sponsor of House Bill 1487, for creating an independent commission to propose redistricting maps for the legislature to consider. With all the misinformation that Republicans spread about illegal aliens voting and the like, Democrats thought that we should welcome legislation that would restore the principle of one person, one vote, rather than gerrymandering the state into a spider web of districts that deny fair representation. An independent commission would have made this happen, but again, Republicans deemed this bill inexpedient to legislate.
Climate resilience
Lucius was a co-sponsor on several bills as well, including House Bill 246 directing the state conservation committee to implement the conservation district climate resilience grant program and making an appropriation therefor. It was laid on the table.