HB 675 increases the statewide education property tax revenue cap to $773 million for 2025 and requires municipalities to remit excess tax collections to the state education trust fund. It limits school district spending growth on non-facilities expenses by tying annual appropriations to the 3-year average Consumer Price Index (CPI), with stricter rules after 2027. The bill also raises the base per-pupil adequacy cost from $4,100 to $7,356 and mandates annual reporting of district spending to the Department of Education. These changes directly affect school districts and municipalities managing education funding, effective July 1, 2025. (Note: The bill’s title mentioning "central office expenses" does not align with the actual provisions; this summary reflects the actual tax and spending mechanisms described in the bill text.)
HB 572 establishes the "Partners in Housing" program, a low-interest loan and grant program under the Housing Champions Fund to help municipalities, counties, and developers build workforce housing. The program prioritizes single-family starter homes, duplexes, small apartment buildings, and "missing middle housing" on municipally-owned land suitable for residential development, with $2 million of the $10 million total funding specifically allocated for this initiative. Municipalities can identify suitable public land for housing development, which would be added to a statewide list prioritized for program funding, and projects must include at least 20% affordable units for 20 years. The program also includes expedited review processes for qualifying projects to speed up development. The bill appropriates $10 million for the Housing Champions Fund, with $500,000 designated for program administration.
HB 256 establishes a New Hampshire committee to study the federal government's response to the 1967 attack on the USS Liberty, a U.S. Navy ship. The committee - comprising four House members, one Senate member, and one public appointee - will investigate whether the U.S. government properly determined Israeli civilian and military culpability in the attack. It must report findings and recommendations to New Hampshire's congressional delegation by November 1, 2025. This is a procedural study bill with no direct policy changes, focusing solely on examining historical federal actions.
HB 624 creates a grant program to provide funding to existing local river management advisory committees in New Hampshire. These committees, established under state law, can apply for grants of up to $10,000 annually to support their work managing local river resources. The bill appropriates $40,000 for fiscal year 2026 and $40,000 for fiscal year 2027 from the General Fund, to be administered by the Department of Environmental Services. The program requires the department to develop application rules but does not include funding for administrative costs.
SB 150 defines "electric vehicle charging station" as any device that transfers electricity to electric vehicles from an external source, meeting specific technical standards. It requires charging station operators to pay a $175 annual fee per meter for testing and certification by the Division of Weights and Measures. The bill creates a new state position for a "registered electric vehicle service technician" within the Department of Agriculture, Markets, and Food to handle this testing. The fee revenue and costs for the new position are funded through the Agricultural Products Regulatory Fund, with estimated annual revenue starting at $25,165 in 2026. This directly affects businesses operating electric vehicle charging stations in New Hampshire.
SB 90 allows municipalities to permit high-density residential housing (defined as at least 20 units per acre) on land currently zoned for commercial use like retail or offices. It directly affects local governments, which must permit such development if adequate infrastructure (roads, water, sewage) is available or provided. The bill amends zoning rules to remove barriers for mixed-use projects combining residential and commercial space, requiring only that infrastructure supports the new housing. This policy change aims to increase housing options in areas currently limited to business uses, without mandating new construction. The law takes effect 60 days after passage.
SB 111 establishes a pilot program allowing New Hampshire electric utilities to buy reliability indexing credits from qualified local energy storage systems (like batteries) to support grid reliability. The program would pay storage providers the difference between a set "strike price" and a daily "reference price" reflecting wholesale market value - paying them when the strike price is higher, and charging them when the reference price is higher. Utilities must get approval from the Public Utilities Commission for multi-year agreements (up to 200 megawatts) and recover costs through customer rates. The Department of Energy must develop program terms by December 2025, with utilities petitioning for approval by February 2026. This pilot aims to incentivize storage participation without direct state funding.
SB 142 establishes a new Department of Children's Services and Juvenile Justice to replace the Department of Health and Human Services' Division for Children, Youth and Families and Bureau of Children's Behavioral Health. The bill transfers all related functions, including child protection, foster care, adoption, juvenile justice, and children's behavioral health services, to this new department, which will be organized into four divisions: Administration support, Child welfare, Juvenile justice, and Children's behavioral health services. The new department will be headed by a commissioner appointed by the governor, and all employees from the transferred divisions will become employees of the new department. This change affects all children, youth, and families in New Hampshire who receive these services, as well as the state employees currently working in the transferred divisions.
SB 63 changes how the Division of Travel and Tourism in New Hampshire is funded by adjusting the calculation of meals and rooms tax revenue. Currently, the division receives 3.15% of the "net income" from this tax, which excludes transfers to the Municipal Revenue Fund. The bill adds back that transfer amount to the calculation, increasing the funding base. Based on 2024 data, this would raise annual funding from $10.2 million to $14.3 million (a $4.1 million increase). The change applies to future budgets starting with the 2028-2029 fiscal year.
SB 175 allows municipalities to enforce valid private covenants (like neighborhood rules set by homeowners' associations) but prohibits them from requiring or encouraging such covenants as a condition for zoning or land use approvals. The bill specifically exempts workforce housing developments from this prohibition, permitting municipalities to require covenants for these projects under separate rules. This directly affects municipalities (which must adjust their approval processes), developers (especially for workforce housing), and property owners with existing covenants. The law takes effect 60 days after passage, creating clear boundaries for when covenants can be enforced versus when they cannot be mandated.
This bill creates a 5-year registration program for commercial fleets of 25 or more vehicles, allowing businesses to register all vehicles under one common expiration date instead of individual annual renewals. It requires annual submission of a "certificate of good standing" from the Secretary of State and mandates upfront payment of state and municipal fees for the full 5-year period. The program excludes off-highway recreational vehicles and snowmobiles, and fees collected are distributed to municipalities within 30 days. The bill has no new revenue impact but requires a one-time $25,000 system update cost for the Division of Motor Vehicles. It takes effect January 1, 2026.
SB 289 establishes rules for how police body-worn camera footage can be used in criminal, juvenile, and administrative court cases. It allows law enforcement and prosecutors to copy footage for discovery but prohibits further sharing without a court order, requires destruction of copies after case resolution, and mandates law enforcement to preserve original recordings until a defendant completes all sentencing terms. The bill directly affects law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, defendants, and courts by standardizing access to body camera evidence while preventing unauthorized distribution. Violations of these rules are classified as misdemeanors. The law applies to all body-worn camera recordings used in qualifying legal proceedings.
