HB 1172 New Hampshire House · 2026 Regular Session

relative to confidentiality protections for national guard sexual assault prevention and response personnel.

HB 1172 expands New Hampshire's definition of "sexual assault counselor" to explicitly include National Guard sexual assault prevention and response personnel, such as coordinators and victim advocates. This change grants these military and civilian staff the same confidentiality protections already provided to other sexual assault counselors under state law, based on military rules of evidence. The bill, requested by the Department of Military Affairs and Veteran Services, amends RSA 173-C:1 to include these personnel in the existing legal framework for confidential communications. It takes effect on July 1, 2026, directly affecting National Guard staff who support sexual assault victims.

Bill status signed all 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Dec 2025

Committee Review

Apr 2026

House Passage

Feb 2026

Senate Passage

Apr 2026

Signed into Law

Jun 2026

Introduced Dec 1, 2025 Signed Jun 1, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

Version adopted by both bodies → CHAPTERED FINAL VERSION · 3 edits

MINOR

No substantive policy changes were made between the version adopted by both bodies and the final chaptered version. The changes are entirely technical: the bill was assigned Chapter 90, section numbers were updated from '1' and '2' to '90:1' and '90:2', approval and effective dates were added at the end, and minor formatting/alignment adjustments were made throughout.

TECHNICAL

Section numbers changed from 1 and 2 to 90:1 and 90:2 to reflect the assigned chapter number (Chapter 90).

Header changed from 'VERSION ADOPTED BY BOTH BODIES' to 'CHAPTER 90 / FINAL VERSION' and various line-break and spacing adjustments were made throughout for layout consistency.

TIMELINE

Approval date (May 28, 2026) and effective date (July 1, 2026) were added at the end of the document as part of standard enactment formatting.

Floor votes

How they voted

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Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Jun 1, 2026

Signed into law

Signed by Governor Ayotte 05/28/2026; Chapter 90; eff. 07/21/2026

lower

Apr 3, 2026

Upper · Passed

Ought to Pass: MA, VV; OT3rdg; 04/09/2026; SJ 8

upper

Apr 1, 2026

Upper · Passed

Committee Report: Ought to Pass, 04/09/2026; Vote 5-0; CC; SC 13

upper

Feb 9, 2026

Introduced

Introduced 02/05/2026 and Referred to Judiciary; SJ 4

upper

Feb 5, 2026

Lower · Passed

Ought to Pass: MA VV 02/05/2026 HJ 3 P. 20

lower

Jan 22, 2026

Lower · Passed

Committee Report: Ought to Pass 01/16/2026 (Vote 14-0; CC) HC 5 P. 17

lower

Dec 1, 2025

Introduced

Introduced 01/07/2026 and referred to State-Federal Relations and Veterans Affairs HJ 1 P. 9

lower

1 primary · 9 co-sponsors