A review of the latest happenings in and around the New Hampshire Statehouse. This report is compiled by our NAIFA-New Hampshire Lobbyist firm, J. Grimbilas Strategic Solutions, LLC. 

On Thursday, May 26, the House and Senate met to vote on Committee of Conference reports. The Committee of Conference process is used to reconcile differences between differing version of the same bill. For example, if the House passes a bill. The Senate must hold a hearing on the same bill. If they amend the bill, there would now be two differing versions of the same piece of legislation. Committees of Conference allow for Representatives and Senators to discuss their separate versions and determine if a compromise can be reached.

The unofficial halftime of each legislative session is referred to as “Crossover”. This is the date by which the House must complete their work on Senate bills and the Senate must complete their work on House bills. Those bills which were passed by either the House or Senate crossover to the other body. The crossover date this year is March 31. The Legislature is scheduled to complete their work prior to Memorial Day. The second half of the legislative session will have a brisk pace since there will be a lot of issues remaining with not that much time to work.

The New Hampshire legislative process has remained basically unchanged for many years. Our process is different than those used in many other states. In NH, every bill that is introduced must receive a public hearing, a vote in the committee, and, at some point, a vote before the full legislative body. The system provides a clear and consistent process that all bills must follow.

The 2022 legislative session will begin during the first week of January. Due to the ongoing challenges associated with large group gatherings, the 400 member House will meet at the DoubleTree Hotel in downtown Manchester. The 24-member Senate will likely use the much larger House of Representatives Chamber within the State House to allow for their members to be further apart