HB 1426 New Hampshire House · 2026 Regular Session

requiring the department of environmental services to employ certified personnel in each program area.

HB 1426 requires New Hampshire's Department of Environmental Services (DES) to ensure every program area with regulatory, permitting, or enforcement duties has at least one certified professional available on call. This applies to all DES program areas and can be met through hiring certified staff, training existing employees, or contracting with certified individuals. The bill specifies that certified personnel must hold valid program-specific certifications and exempts them from certain fee requirements or conflict-of-interest certification maintenance. DES estimates potential annual costs between $100,000 and $500,000 starting in 2028, though it does not provide new funding. The requirement takes effect July 1, 2027.

Issues: ✓ Environment

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Dec 2025

Committee Review

Apr 2026

House Passage

Mar 2026

Senate Passage

Governor

Introduced Dec 4, 2025 Last action May 5, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced → As Amended by the House · 4 edits

MODERATE

The House amendment narrows the bill's scope from all DES program areas with regulatory, permitting, or enforcement responsibilities to only those that issue licenses or certifications. It also requires that certified individuals hold their certification from the specific DES program they serve (not just a relevant external credential), and removes the 'on call' requirement. These changes make the bill less burdensome on DES by limiting which programs are covered and clarifying what counts as a qualifying certification.

SCOPE

The bill now applies only to DES program areas that issue licenses or certifications, rather than all program areas with regulatory, permitting, or enforcement responsibilities. This excludes programs that do enforcement or permitting work but don't issue licenses/certifications.

ELIGIBILITY

A certified individual must now hold a certification or license 'in and from' the specific DES program area they serve, rather than just holding one 'in' that program area. This means the credential must come from that same DES program, not from an external certifying body.

REQUIREMENT

The requirement that certified individuals be 'on call to address' program matters was changed to simply being available 'to address' program matters, removing the specific on-call obligation.

FISCAL

The fiscal note now explicitly states that in the absence of an appropriation, DES may seek funding through the FY 2028 and FY 2029 operating budget process.

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Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Apr 27, 2026

Committee

Committee Report: Referred to Interim Study, 05/07/2026; Vote 5-0; CC; SC 17

upper

Mar 30, 2026

Introduced

Introduced 03/26/2026 and Referred to Executive Departments and Administration; SJ 7

upper

Mar 26, 2026

Lower · Passed

Ought to Pass: MA VV 03/26/2026 HJ 9 P. 2

lower

Mar 18, 2026

Lower · Passed

Committee Report: Ought to Pass 03/17/2026 (Vote 25-0; CC)

lower

Feb 12, 2026

Lower · Passed

Ought to Pass with Amendment 2026-0331h: MA VV 02/12/2026 HJ 4 P. 47

lower

Feb 12, 2026

Introduced

Amendment # 2026-0331h: AA VV 02/12/2026 HJ 4 P. 47

lower

Feb 12, 2026

Committee

Referred to Finance 02/12/2026 HJ 4 P. 47

lower

Feb 3, 2026

Lower · Passed

Committee Report: Ought to Pass with Amendment # 2026-0331h 01/28/2026 (Vote 16-0; RC) HC 6 P. 17

lower

Dec 4, 2025

Introduced

Introduced 01/07/2026 and referred to Resources, Recreation and Development HJ 1 P. 20

lower

0 primary · 5 co-sponsors