This is the 21st 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.

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General Comments

Thursday (May 21) both the NH House and Senate had general sessions during which they voted on committees of conference recommendations. May 21 was also the last day for the two chambers to form committees of conference. At this point in the session there is very little policy committee work occurring. Over the next two weeks the remaining committees of conference will conclude their work and make their recommendations. The last day of the 2026 NH legislative session will be June 4 when both chambers have general sessions to vote on the committee of conference recommendations.

All the attention now turns to the Governor to consider bills the House and Senate passed. The Governor can sign the bill into law, veto it, or allow it to go into law without a signature. If a bill is vetoed, the House and Senate are obligated to convene a general session to vote on a veto override. These sessions have not been scheduled.

We have a couple of months of little legislative activity as House members and senators take the summer off and prepare for the fall elections. As is tradition, there will be a bill filing period for incumbent Representatives seeking re-election to a seat in the 2027 General Court. In the House, the period for individuals running for re-election to file a bill for consideration in 2027 is September 1. Following the November 2026 election any elected representative can begin filing bills on November 4.

Next week I will report on any committee of conference activity of interest to the NHTOA.

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.

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 NH 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.

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

Jasen

House Bill 1040 (line 15 on the spreadsheet) – This bill establishes a study committee to look at the property fraud occurring through quitclaim deeds (i.e., people establishing bogus claims on others’ property). Several NHTOA members have had these bogus claims levied against their property.

The bill passed the full House, and the Senate made a minor modification to the composition of the study commission last month. Yesterday (May 21) the House concurred with the Senate changes. It now goes to Gov. Kelly Ayotte for her consideration (veto, sign into law, or allow the bill to become law without her signature).

NHTOA position: The NHTOA supports this bill.

Action: No action needed.

Senate Bill 599 (line 32 on the spreadsheet) – This is a bill the NHTOA has been monitoring all session. It modifies the New Hampshire Renewable Portfolio Standard law’s (RPS) renewable energy fund. This modest fund was established when the RPS law was adopted to provide grants and assistance for the development of new renewable energy projects. It is instrumental in helping municipalities, schools, and private businesses build biomass heat and power units (e.g., lumber dry kilns, building heating projects). This bill was introduced to correct an unintended consequence of last year’s budget bill. Specifically, last year House Bill 2 raided the renewable energy fund on a one-time basis to help plug a hole in the state operating budget. It did not completely drain the fund and did retain some funding for renewable thermal projects. An amendment was introduced on the floor of the House that sought to “clean up” the bill’s language. Instead, it potentially harms thermal and other renewable power projects. The NHTOA and several other renewable energy advocates have pointed this out to members of the Senate and House committees dealing with this and they agreed to fix it. A committee of conference was formed to make the needed changes and on May 15 the committee voted to remove the House floor amendment (to Bill 2). We anticipate the House and Senate will adopt the committee of conference recommendations when they meet in general session on June 4.

NHTOA position: The NHTOA supports the committee of conference recommendation.

Action: No action needed.

House Bill 1542 (line 36 on the spreadsheet) – Like Senate Bill 599, this bill will modify the RPS law’s renewable energy fund, but on a permanent basis. Specifically, it would raid the renewable energy fund and divert the money to state coffers and back to ratepayers. This essentially eliminates the fund. House Bill 1542 passed the full House on March 26. While in the Senate the NHTOA and a broad group of renewable energy advocates continued to lobby against it and the Senate amended the bill by converting it to become a study commission. Yesterday (May 21) the full House refused to concur with the Senate amendment and the bill died.

NHTOA position: The NHTOA opposed the House version and was comfortable with the Senate version creating an RPS study commission. We are pleased the bill died.

Action: No action needed.

Senate Bill 592 (line 43 on the spreadsheet) – This bill enables regional, conservation, and energy resource planning for habitat strongholds and wildlife corridors. At the hearing in the Senate, 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 that data from inventoried habitat strongholds and wildlife corridors are only intended for informational purposes (e.g., wildlife populations assessments, etc.) and shall not be utilized as a basis for municipal zoning or planning purposes. The full Senate approved the bill with the NHTOA language, and the House Resources, Recreation, and Development Committee also approved the bill with the NHTOA language. The House approved the bill and because it has a fiscal impact, it was referred to the House Finance Committee. The amended bill passed this committee and the full House. On May 14, the Senate concurred with the House version. It now goes to Gov. Kelly Ayotte for her consideration (veto, sign into law, or allow the bill to become law without her signature).

NHTOA position: NHTOA supports the amended bill.

Action: No action needed

House Bill 1095 (line 47 on the spreadsheet) – This is the OHRV weight limit increase bill. It proposes to increase the weight limit for Off Highway Recreational Vehicles from 2,000 pounds to 3,499 pounds on any state trail in Coös County and the Ammonoosuc recreational trail from Haverhill to Bethlehem and the Warren recreational trail in the town of Warren in Grafton County. Due to concerns over property damage resulting from larger and heavier OHRVs, the NHTOA lobbied against it. It passed the House and while it was in the Senate we successfully modified the bill to postpone its enactment for two years to give the Trails Bureau time to educate landowners and provide additional assistance for trail maintenance. This will also provide time for the NH Fish and Game Department to step up enforcement efforts. Yesterday (May 21) the House concurred with the Senate amendment postponing the bill’s enactment for two years. It now goes to Gov. Kelly Ayotte for her consideration (veto, sign into law, or allow the bill to become law without her signature).

NHTOA position: The NHTOA opposed the original House Bill 1095 and agreed to the two-year postponement, recognizing landowners always reserve the right to control motorized access to their lands.

Action: No action needed.

House Bill 1603 (line 49 on the spreadsheet) – This bill addresses a concern raised by landowners regarding NH Fish and Game biologists entering private property to gather endangered species data without consulting the landowner. 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 Fish and Game, the gathering and cataloguing of information collected from members’ lands without notification or permission is a concern. While the bill was in the House, the NHTOA was able to work with the sponsor to draft a bill that achieves our goal and could pass. The new bill requires the NH Fish and Game Department to develop rules that will establish procedures to confirm the presence or absence of an endangered species, thereby ensuring the data within the database is accurate. The Department will also develop rules that will establish procedures to ensure staff notifies landowners prior to entering private property to gather data. By structuring the process in this manner, NH Fish and Game will have input into the final process and acknowledges that the ultimate goal is landowner notification/permission and database accuracy. While in the Senate the bill was further amended to add clarity. Yesterday (May 21) the full House concurred with the Senate version. It now goes to Gov. Kelly Ayotte for her consideration (veto, sign into law, or allow the bill to become law without her signature).

NHTOA position: The NHTOA supports this bill.

Action: No action needed.