Rep. Alicia Gregg

Maddy summaryHB 1779 requires New Hampshire's Department of Health and Human Services to consider a child's cultural background during foster care placements and develop resources to support their cultural heritage. The bill mandates foster parents to complete cultural sensitivity training covering language, traditions, and community connections, and assigns a cultural advocate to each foster child within 30 days to help integrate cultural practices and link to community resources. It also establishes a dedicated "Cultural Foster Care Fund" for implementation costs and requires the department to publish timelines and progress reports on partnerships with cultural organizations. This directly affects children in foster care, foster families, and the state's child welfare system.

Maddy summaryHB 1680 directs New Hampshire's Department of Transportation to improve Boston express bus service from Nashua, Manchester, and Londonderry. It requires increasing service frequency during peak commuting hours and late nights on Fridays/Saturdays, advocating for consistent federal/state funding, and allocating existing federal funds to expand this service. The bill mandates a report on service frequency, ridership, and impacts on workforce mobility and regional economic development, due November 1. Crucially, the bill does not provide new state funding but directs the use of existing transportation program resources.

Maddy summaryHB 1084 requires individuals subject to a domestic violence protective order in New Hampshire to immediately surrender all firearms, ammunition, and deadly weapons to law enforcement officers. The bill directly affects people ordered to relinquish weapons under protective orders (RSA 173-B:4 or 173-B:5), making surrender mandatory rather than discretionary. Key provisions include replacing "may" with "shall" for weapon relinquishment, prohibiting refusal (with immediate detention for non-compliance), and requiring courts to issue search warrants if weapons remain unturned over. This bill strengthens enforcement of existing protections by ensuring weapons are removed from individuals deemed a threat under domestic violence orders.

Maddy summaryThis bill requires all New Hampshire law enforcement agencies to use a standardized lethality assessment tool (LAP) during responses to suspected domestic violence incidents, violations of protective orders, and stalking cases involving domestic violence. It mandates that officers administer the LAP screening with victims and submit the results to the court at the defendant's arraignment. Currently, participation in the LAP program is voluntary, with only about 45% of departments reporting data; this bill makes statewide use mandatory. The policy directly affects police departments, victims in these cases, and court proceedings by ensuring consistent assessment of risk during critical early stages of investigations.

Maddy summaryHB 1812 requires health insurers in New Hampshire to conduct third-party evaluations of mental health network adequacy every three years. These evaluations must measure appointment availability (within 7-14 days), ensure at least 70% of appointments are in-person, and assess provider distribution by specialty (like psychiatry and child services) across the state. The bill directly affects health insurers, mandating they report findings to regulators and the public, with violations subject to administrative fines up to $5,000 per covered person. It aims to ensure mental health services are accessible without unreasonable delays, particularly for vulnerable groups like those with substance use disorders or developmental disabilities.

Maddy summaryHB 1739 creates incentives to attract large data-center campuses to New Hampshire while modernizing the electric grid. It offers developers phased property tax breaks over 12 years and transferable tax credits covering up to 20% of construction costs, contingent on signing binding Grid Modernization Agreements. These agreements require developers to source non-gas electricity (like solar or wind) matching their energy use, fund grid-stabilizing programs, and partner with community colleges for workforce training in data-center operations. The bill also establishes fast-track permitting for eligible sites and mandates community benefits like noise limits, environmental screening, and resident bill credits from exported power.

Maddy summaryHB 1835 updates New Hampshire's funding formula for special education by requiring the state to reimburse school districts 80% of the actual costs for services provided to students with disabilities, as defined by federal law (IDEA). This reimbursement must be paid within 90 days of the district submitting billing information, addressing delays in current funding cycles. School districts can now borrow funds in advance of receiving state payments and count those borrowed amounts as revenue when setting property tax rates. The bill directly affects all public school districts serving students with disabilities and aims to align state payments more closely with documented special education expenses.

Maddy summaryThis bill establishes a statewide domestic violence program within the judicial branch to improve handling of civil domestic violence cases. It requires judges and court staff to complete specialized training on domestic violence dynamics, lethality assessment, and victim safety, and mandates law enforcement to use a standardized lethality assessment form in suspected cases. The bill also allows victims to submit safety affidavits when filing family court petitions, updates stalking laws to include installing electronic devices on a person as a stalking offense, and expands annulment eligibility for violent crimes while requiring courts to notify and seek input from victims before granting annulment. These changes directly affect domestic violence victims, law enforcement, courts, and individuals seeking annulment of criminal records.

Maddy summaryHB 1715 requires all domestic violence and stalking petition filings to be submitted electronically through the court's system starting October 1, 2026, with exceptions only for extraordinary hardship preventing access. It directly affects individuals filing these petitions, including victims seeking protection orders, by mandating electronic submission instead of paper filings. The bill specifies no filing fees and allows self-representation, while requiring courts to develop a new secure electronic system to handle confidential cases, including encryption and law enforcement integration. This change applies to both domestic violence cases (RSA 173-B) and stalking cases (RSA 633:3-a), replacing temporary pandemic-era email filing methods.

Maddy summaryHB 1547 requires defendants charged with specific misdemeanors - including misdemeanor sexual assault involving minors, class A misdemeanor assault, and misdemeanor stalking - to choose within 30 days of arraignment: either appeal to superior court for a jury trial or proceed in circuit court with a waived right to a jury trial. Circuit courts cannot move forward with a trial under the waiver option without confirming the defendant knowingly and voluntarily gave up their jury trial right through a court discussion. The bill applies only to these three offense types and modifies existing appeal rules to clarify that superior courts handle jury trial appeals for these cases. It does not change sentencing or create new costs, as noted in the fiscal impact statement.