HB 1134 New Hampshire House · 2026 Regular Session

relative to the town meeting form of local governance.

HB 1134 clarifies how town meeting budget items are counted for tax and budget cap calculations. It requires that total appropriations in warrant articles (budget items) be accumulated in the order they are voted on during annual town meetings, rather than by their position on the agenda. This directly affects towns operating under the town meeting form of government, ensuring consistent application when determining if a budget exceeds the 10% expenditure limit or triggers a tax cap override. The bill makes this procedural change to prevent ambiguity in budget voting outcomes.
Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Dec 2025
Committee Review
Mar 2026
House Passage
Mar 2026
Senate Passage
Governor
Introduced Dec 1, 2025 Last action Apr 3, 2026
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced As Amended by the House · 1 edit
MINOR
The House amendment adds a single substantive requirement to RSA 40:11, Section I: when a town acts upon warrant articles before final adjournment, it must also satisfy all provisions for debate under RSA 40:7. This ensures towns cannot rush through warrant articles without providing proper debate time to residents.
REQUIREMENT

Section I of RSA 40:11 now requires that acting upon warrant articles before final adjournment includes satisfying all provisions for debate pursuant to RSA 40:7. Previously, the section only required that every article be acted upon before final adjournment, without explicitly tying it to debate requirements.

Floor votes

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Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
12
Key actions
3
Committee
4
Amendments
1
Mar 20, 2026
Committee
Committee Report: Referred to Interim Study, 04/09/2026; Vote 5-0; CC; SC 13
upper
Mar 6, 2026
Introduced
Introduced 03/05/2026 and Referred to Election Law and Municipal Affairs; SJ 6
upper
Mar 5, 2026
Lower · Passed
Ought to Pass with Amendment 2026-0204h: MA DV 168-156 03/05/2026 HJ 6
lower
Mar 5, 2026
Introduced
Amendment # 2026-0204h: AA VV 03/05/2026 HJ 6
lower
Feb 10, 2026
Lower · Passed
Minority Committee Report: Inexpedient to Legislate
lower
Feb 10, 2026
Lower · Passed
Majority Committee Report: Ought to Pass with Amendment # 2026-0204h 02/03/2026 (Vote 10-8; RC) HC 9 P. 43
lower
Dec 1, 2025
Introduced
Introduced 01/07/2026 and referred to Municipal and County Government HJ 1 P. 7
lower
1 primary · 10 co-sponsors

Sponsors