A busy Wednesday in Concord saw the governor sign 41 bills into law, covering everything from children’s data privacy to election administration to drinking water infrastructure. Six bills were killed, and a handful of education and criminal justice measures shifted status in the legislature.
Signed into Law
Education and School Safety
- HB 1308 — Increases penalties for drivers who pass stopped school buses.
- HB 1758 — Modifies certification requirements for school bus drivers.
- SB 507 — Creates a study committee on violence directed at school staff and barriers to disciplining students.
Elections
- HB 1266 — Ensures election moderators have access to vote-counting areas during elections.
- HB 1298 — Establishes procedures for disposing of memory devices from electronic ballot counting machines.
- SB 405 — Modifies disclosure reporting requirements for political committees.
Environment and Energy
- SB 541 — Provides capital funding for regional drinking water infrastructure.
- SB 590 — Addresses electric aggregation plans allowing municipalities to negotiate electricity rates collectively.
- SB 589 — Addresses port electrification, microgrid development, and cybersecurity standards for energy and water systems.
- HB 1535 — Clarifies which energy sources qualify under NH’s renewable portfolio standard.
- HB 1140 — Allows people with certain disabilities to hunt from a motor vehicle.
Healthcare
- SB 548 — Establishes contract standards between health insurance carriers and healthcare providers.
- HB 297 — Requires insurance administrators to share claims data with self-funded employer health plans.
Consumer and Civil Protections
- HB 1460 — Bans the sale of children’s location data and other sensitive personal information.
- SB 482 — Creates consumer protection rules for digital transaction kiosks.
- HB 1468 — Supports municipal flood resilience planning and expands use of planning grants.
- HB 1742 — Protects home solar owners from being inadvertently enrolled in municipal energy aggregation programs.
- HB 1698 — Allows NH residents to use digital versions of credentials such as driver’s licenses on smartphones.
Additional bills signed cover alimony enforcement, search warrant inventory procedures, farm dog exemptions, OHRV access in Windsor, trailer titling, amateur radio license plates, and several study committees and technical cleanup measures.
Killed
- SB 552 — Would have permitted classification of individuals based on biological sex in certain limited circumstances; passed the Senate 16-8 before dying.
- HB 1726 — Would have established procedures for selling surplus state-owned land.
- HB 1766 — Would have modified livestock cruelty laws.
- 3 others killed today, including two pooled municipal risk management bills and a special town meeting posting measure.
On the Move
- HB 1708 — Statewide education property tax reform moved from committee to active status; NH has faced ongoing court pressure over inequitable education funding.
- SB 261 — Requiring recorded custodial interrogations moved from dead back to in-committee for further review.
- HB 611 — Indigent defendant attorney repayment reform also revived to in-committee after earlier dying.
To see how your specific legislators voted on these bills, visit nhpolitics.org/find-your-rep.