This is the 13th legislative/policy update for the 2026 New Hampshire legislative session. I provide this update periodically (almost weekly) while the New Hampshire legislature is in session to keep NHTOA members informed about what is happening in Concord.

If you do not wish to receive this update, please let me know and I will remove you from the distribution list.

General Comments

Yesterday (March 26) was “Crossover.” This marks the halfway point in the N.H. legislative calendar. The House voted on all House bills they plan to advance, and the Senate voted on all Senate bills they plan to advance. Any bills placed in “interim study,” retained within a committee, or tabled are, for practical purposes, dead. The opportunity still exists for the language, the entire bill, or parts of the bill, to get amended onto a bill moving through the legislative process.

Next week neither the House nor Senate will have general session, but the policy committees will be working on the bills newly arriving from the other chamber.  

I am attaching the NHTOA’s bill tracker spreadsheet. It lists all the bills the NHTOA is currently monitoring and working on. All the bills of interest to the NHTOA have been vetted and reviewed by the NHTOA Policy Committee. There are still several bills about which we are seeking information. Therefore, our positions are tentative, pending the additional information.

While reviewing the spreadsheet, there are three notes to consider:

  1. The legislative process is very fluid and moves quickly. The House and Senate Status/Actions are as they are on the day the report is printed. Please note these are subject to change.
  2. The link to the bill text should take you directly to the N.H. General Court website’s link to the bill. Note that during the heat of committee meetings and debate over amendments, this link will sometimes not take you to the most current amendments.
  3. The Priority/Action looks at the entire bill and weighs many factors. The NHTOA Executive Director analyzes each bill and makes a recommendation to the NHTOA Policy Committee.

If you have any questions about any of the bills on the spreadsheet, please contact me.

Lastly, given the diversity of the NHTOA’s membership (landowners, loggers, truckers, foresters, and wood processors), the diversity of bills we monitor and lobby is large. This also explains why we will be following bills that deal with small-business interests, trucking, and renewable energy along with land use, forest management, and real estate matters.

Again, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about any of the bills listed.

Jasen

Senate Bill 503 (line 11 on the spreadsheet)

House Bill 1204 (line 12 on the spreadsheet)

Senate Bill 529 (line 59 on the spreadsheet)

All three of these bills seek to address a lumber grading issue. Specifically, they seek to address a market disparity between spruce/pine/fir (SPFs) grown and milled in New Hampshire and SPF grown in Canada. Due to lumber sampling and testing criteria, SPF lumber typically yields higher strength and density ratings and is exclusively specified for construction projects over SPFs. These bills seek to overcome this bias. Senate Bill 503 and House Bill 1204 have a very narrow focus, proposing to modify the state’s building code to put New Hampshire harvested and milled lumber on par with SPF. Senate Bill 529 seeks to give SPFs lumber first right of refusal for state building projects;contractors must consider using SPFs when specifying lumber for state building projects. If all other factors are equal (e.g., price and terms) they will specify SPFs.

Because these bills support the use of locally-grown timber and their modifications are narrowly focused—as opposed to overhauling the code for all tree species and points of timber origin—the NHTOA is supportive.

The House Resources, Recreation, and Development Committee hosted a public hearing on Senate Bill 503 on Wednesday (March 25), while the House Public Works and Highways Committee hosted a public hearing on Senate Bill 529 on Tuesday (March 24).

The House Resources, Recreation, and Development Committee voted to recommend the full House pass Senate Bill 503 and the House Public Works and Highways Committee will be voting on Senate Bill 529 next week. The full Senate passed House Bill 1204.

Senate Bill 592 (line 49 on the spreadsheet) – This bill enables regional, conservation, and energy resource planning for habitat strongholds and wildlife corridors. At the Senate hearing last month, the NHTOA expressed concerns that the designation of a “stronghold” or “corridor” could be used to impact natural resource management (e.g., timber harvesting). Working with the bill’s sponsor, the NHTOA helped move an amendment to clarify inventoried habitat strongholds and wildlife corridors are only intended for informational purposes and shall not be utilized as the basis for municipal zoning or planning purposes. The amended bill passed the Senate on Feb. 20. On Wednesday (March 25) the House Resources, Recreation, and Development Committee held a public hearing on the Senate approved version of this bill and voted to recommend the full House approve it when they convene next month.

House Bill 1603 (line 56 on the spreadsheet) – The hearing on this bill before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee was continued on Tuesday (March 17). Recall, when it was originally introduced, this bill sought to make significant changes to how the NH Fish and Game Department gathers and maintains location data for threatened and endangered species collected on private property. Although the NHTOA’s membership has a good working relationship with the NH Fish and Game Department, the gathering and cataloguing of information collected from members’ lands without notification or permission is a concern. The NHTOA did not seek this bill, but we support its intent. NHTOA worked with the sponsor to amend the bill to require the NH Fish and Game Department to conduct a public rulemaking process to develop rules that will address how they will notify/seek permission to gather data about threatened and endangered species on private lands and develop protocols to review the stored data to ensure it is accurate.

At the public hearing, the committee heard from “citizen scientists” and others arguing this bill will impact their ability to gather data on public roads and on private land and submit it to the NH Fish and Game Department. The committee also heard from landowners expressing concern that a state agency is not communicating with landowners before entering their property to gather data.

The committee continues to consider the testimony and will vote on a recommendation within the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned.