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HB656 Relative to the authority of local school districts to accept federal grants.

Education Active Auto-scored

Relative to the authority of local school districts to accept federal grants.

Impact Score — How Does This Bill Affect You?

6

Overall Impact Score

Mixed

Scale: 1 (harmful) to 10 (beneficial)

6
💰

Your Wallet

Federal grants offset local tax burden for schools; changes to acceptance authority could affect how much federal money flows to NH schools.

6
🏘️

Your Community

Federal education grants fund critical programs for disadvantaged students and special needs children.

6
⚖️

Your Freedom

Gives local districts more autonomy over whether to accept federal funds and any attached conditions.

Status

Enrolled (in recess of) 05/21/2026 House Journal 14

Voted Yes

0 R

Voted No

0 R

R Yes D Yes R No D No

Sponsor

Katy Peternel (R)

The Short Version

Clarifies or modifies the authority of local school districts to accept federal grant funding. Passed the House 186-155 and is pending in the Senate. Federal grants supplement local school budgets for special education, Title I, and other programs.

Who's Behind This Bill?

Who Benefits

  • ▲ School districts seeking local control over funding decisions
  • ▲ Voters who want say in federal grant acceptance

Who Pays the Price

  • ▼ Students who depend on federally funded programs if districts decline grants

Roll Call Detail (1 vote)

Every recorded floor vote on this bill, with each legislator's individual vote. Click a name to see that rep's full record.

Who actually supports this bill?

Across the 1 recorded vote on this bill — counting each legislator's net direction and treating kill motions as opposing the bill — Republicans supported it ( 185 for ) , and Democrats opposed it ( 1 for , 155 against ) .

"Supporting" means voting for passage OR voting against a kill motion. "Opposing" is the inverse. Concurs and amendment-only votes don't count.

Ought to Pass with Amendment 2026-01-07
Passed

YES = Pass the bill with the attached amendment. NO = Reject the bill (as amended).

185R + 1D
Voted to Pass (186)
0R + 155D
Voted Against (155)
31
Absent
23
Not voting
Show all 395 individual votes

Voted Yea (186)

Republicans (185)
Democrats (1)

Voted Nay (155)

Democrats (155)
Absent (31)

Adam Presa (R) , Allison Knab (D) , Bill Boyd (R) , Cassandra Levesque (D) , Charles Foote (R) , Charlie St. Clair (D) , David Nagel (R) , Deborah Aylward (R) , Denise DeDe-Poulin (R) , Douglas Trottier (R) , Efstathia Booras (D) , Fred Davis (D) , Gaby Grossman (D) , Gary Daniels (R) , Heath Howard (D) , Jeffrey Tenczar (R) , Jim Creighton (R) , Jodi Nelson (R) , Larry Gagne (R) , Laurence Miner (R) , Mary Ford (R) , Mary Murphy (R) , Merryl Gibbs (D) , Michael Cahill (D) , Michael Harrington (R) , Michael Murphy (R) , Mike Bordes (R) , Myles England (D) , Shane Sirois (R) , Tim Mannion (R) , Travis Toner (R)

Read the Actual Bill → See All Bills

Bill statuses as of May 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.