HB253 Relative to interest-bearing pooled trust accounts maintained by lawyers.
Relative to interest-bearing pooled trust accounts maintained by lawyers.
Impact Score — How Does This Bill Affect You?
Overall Impact Score
Mixed
Scale: 1 (harmful) to 10 (beneficial)
Your Wallet
Redirects interest income that would otherwise remain in lawyer trust accounts toward public defender funding, modestly increasing resources for indigent defense without raising taxes on residents.
Your Community
Modest potential improvement in public defender resources for low-income residents needing legal representation, though the amount of interest generated is not specified and actual funding impact is unclear.
Your Freedom
Restricts the Public Defender's office from donating to nonprofits or political campaigns, limiting its autonomy and effectively imposing speech/association constraints on a government agency as a condition of receiving funds.
Status
Inexpedient to Legislate: Motion Adopted Voice Vote 01/07/2026 House Journal 1 P. 74
Sponsor
Travis Corcoran (R)
The Short Version
This bill requires New Hampshire lawyers to remit quarterly interest earned from pooled trust accounts to the Public Defender's office, but only if that office avoids contributing to nonprofits or political campaigns and publishes its budget transparently. If the Public Defender's office fails to comply, the funds go to the general fund instead.
Who's Behind This Bill?
Who Benefits
- ▲ New Hampshire Public Defender's office (if compliant with restrictions)
- ▲ Low-income residents receiving public defender services (potential indirect benefit from increased resources)
Who Pays the Price
- ▼ Attorneys maintaining interest-bearing pooled trust accounts in NH (lose interest income)
- ▼ New Hampshire Public Defender's office (subject to spending restrictions and budget disclosure requirements)
Bill statuses as of October 7, 2026. Check LegiScan or NH General Court for the latest.
This bill was auto-scored using AI analysis of the bill text and legislative data. Scores may be refined as we review more bills.