SB 569 New Hampshire Senate · 2026 Regular Session

relative to the qualifications for hearings officers within the department of labor.

SB 569 requires hearing officers in New Hampshire's Department of Labor to be licensed attorneys with relevant adjudicative experience. This applies specifically to officers handling workers' compensation cases. The bill mandates that hearing officers must be in good standing with the bar, have experience conducting administrative hearings, and complete 15 hours of annual continuing education plus 15 hours of training with the attorney general's office. It also requires the commissioner to establish a code of ethics for these officers.
Bill status signed all 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Nov 2025
Committee Review
May 2026
Senate Passage
Jan 2026
House Passage
May 2026
Signed into Law
Jul 2026
Introduced Nov 24, 2025 Signed Jul 9, 2026
Maddy AI version diff · 3 comparisons

What changed between versions

Version adopted by both bodies CHAPTERED FINAL VERSION · 2 edits
MINOR
No substantive policy changes were made between the version adopted by both bodies and the final chaptered version. The only changes are administrative: the bill was assigned Chapter 266, section numbers were updated to reflect the chapter (e.g., '1' became '266:1'), and the approval date (July 02, 2026) and effective date (August 31, 2026) were added. The actual legal requirements for hearing officers remain identical.
TECHNICAL

Section numbers were updated from '1' and '2' to '266:1' and '266:2' to reflect the assigned chapter number (Chapter 266).

TIMELINE

Approval date (July 02, 2026) and effective date (August 31, 2026) were added at the end of the document.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
15
Key actions
5
Committee
4
Amendments
2
Jul 9, 2026
Signed into law
Signed by the Governor on 07/02/2026; Chapter 266; Effective 08/31/2026
upper
May 21, 2026
Introduced
Sen. Pearl Moved to Concur with the House Amendment, MA, VV; 05/21/2026; SJ 13
upper
May 14, 2026
Lower · Passed
Ought to Pass with Amendment 2026-1869h: MA VV 05/14/2026 HJ 13 P. 24
lower
May 14, 2026
Introduced
Amendment # 2026-1869h: AA VV 05/14/2026 HJ 13 P. 24
lower
May 7, 2026
Lower · Passed
Committee Report: Ought to Pass with Amendment # 2026-1869h 05/06/2026 (Vote 16-0; CC) HC 19 P. 13
lower
Feb 26, 2026
Introduced
Introduced (in recess of) 02/19/2026 and referred to Executive Departments and Administration HJ 5 P. 127
lower
Jan 29, 2026
Upper · Passed
Ought to Pass: MA, VV; OT3rdg; 01/29/2026; SJ 2
upper
Jan 22, 2026
Upper · Passed
Committee Report: Ought to Pass, 01/29/2026; Vote 5-0; CC; SC 3
upper
Nov 24, 2025
Introduced
Introduced 01/07/2026 and Referred to Executive Departments and Administration; SJ 1
upper
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Photo of Regina Birdsell
Regina Birdsell
RRepublican
NH
19