This is the 22nd 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

This week neither the NH House nor Senate had general sessions. The only activity was in committees of conference debating bills and making recommendations. The last day of the 2026 NH legislative session will be June 4 when both chambers have general sessions to vote on the remaining 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 during which there will be 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 the General Session votes on the committee of conference recommendations.

I am attaching the NHTOA’s bill tracker spreadsheet. It lists all the bills the NHTOA is currently monitoring and working on. This week only one bill the NHTOA is monitoring saw activity, House Bill 155.

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 155 (line 3 on the spreadsheet) – This bill was introduced in 2025. Originally it sought to reduce the Business Enterprise Tax (tax on payroll paid) from 0.55to 0.50%. The fiscal impact of this was estimated to be between $19 and $20 million. While in the Senate the bill saw several amendments. One added provisions that deal with Medicare reimbursement and the Senate version proposes to keep the original tax rate (0.55%) but instead raises the threshold for when the tax is due from $250,000 in annual gross receipts to $375,000. The House did not concur and earlier this week the committee of conference negotiated a new bill. The version the House and Seante conferees agreed to raises the threshold to $400,000, keeps the Medicare provisions, and establishes a “business tax plan.” The plan calculates the total business taxes collected (Business Profits Tax and Business Enterprise Tax) and establishes a threshold. If the actual business taxes collected exceed the threshold, the tax rate is reduced. The bill does include conditions where this tax rate reduction will not occur (e.g., general fund and education trust fund revenues fall below projections). There is no published fiscal impact for this proposal.

Given the state’s current budget crunch, it will be interesting to see if this proposal passes at next week’s general session.