A historically large signing day added 56 bills to NH law on August 1, spanning education funding, election administration, energy policy, housing, and healthcare. Seven bills died, including the state’s 10-year transportation plan and a bill allowing livestock processing at non-USDA facilities.
Signed into Law
Education
- HB 1099 — Creates a study committee on private special education providers and school district reimbursement costs.
- HB 1573 — Allows excused absences for students attending civic events or career and technical education programs.
- HB 1816 — Authorizes the Department of Education to intervene in school districts facing financial emergencies.
- SB 429 — Requires trauma kits in public schools and appropriates state funding for them.
- HB 1374 — Modifies procedures for towns to withdraw from cooperative school districts.
Elections
- HB 281 — Requires voter checklists to be provided in sortable electronic format.
- HB 1306 — Modifies absentee ballot counting procedures.
- HB 1541 — Requires the Secretary of State to supply all precincts with secure ballot storage containers.
- HB 1062 — Authorizes random audits of the citizenship status of registered voters.
- SB 534 — Restricts foreign funding in constitutional amendment and local ballot question campaigns.
Environment and Energy
- HB 1275 — Addresses PFAS contamination impacts on NH farms and food safety.
- HB 1718 — Allows battery storage systems to be paired with net-metered renewable energy installations.
- SB 538 — Extends net metering eligibility terms for municipal renewable energy projects.
Healthcare
- HB 241 — Requires health insurers to cover pain management services for chronic pain.
- HB 661 — Governs how DHHS manages Social Security, SSI, and veterans benefits for children in foster care.
- HB 1772 — Permits ibogaine to be prescribed for investigational use, offering a potential opioid addiction treatment option.
Housing
- HB 1681 — Establishes definitions, inspection standards, and local approval processes for tiny houses and yurts.
- HB 1588 — Creates special assessment districts and expands the housing infrastructure grant program to support new construction.
- HB 1010 — Allows multi-family residential development on commercially zoned land.
Other
- HB 1727 — Enables inter-agency data sharing to distribute Summer EBT food benefits to eligible children.
- HB 639 — Establishes a legal framework for blockchain and digital currencies in NH.
- HB 155 — Reduces the business enterprise tax rate.
Thirty-three additional bills were signed covering banking regulation, veterans license plates, massage therapy licensing, self-defense law, condominium disclosures, and other administrative updates.
Killed
- HB 2026 — The state’s 10-year transportation improvement plan, which had passed the full House 338–13, died without becoming law.
- HB 396 — Would have allowed livestock processing at non-USDA-certified facilities, a measure supported by small farmers facing a shortage of processing options.
- HB 1102 — Would have raised the cap on the state’s research and development tax credit for businesses.
- HB 1442 — Would have restricted facility access based on biological sex and redefined “gender identity” in NH law.
Three others also died today, including bills on animal foster home standards and false abuse report penalties.
To see how your state legislators voted on any of these bills, visit nhpolitics.org/find-your-rep.