HB 1526 New Hampshire House · 2026 Regular Session

relative to the adopting of a municipal budget committee and electing members thereof.

HB 1526 modifies procedures for New Hampshire towns and school districts that use a municipal budget committee. It standardizes the wording of town meeting votes about establishing or changing the committee (e.g., "Shall we change the number of members from X to Y?") and adjusts the timeframe for appointing initial members in cooperative school districts from 15 to 30 days. The bill also clarifies how committees can be rescinded or how membership size or election method can be changed, requiring votes to take effect after the next annual meeting. This affects all towns and school districts operating under RSA 32:14 or 195:12-a.
Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Dec 2025
Committee Review
Apr 2026
House Passage
Mar 2026
Senate Passage
Governor
Introduced Dec 10, 2025 Last action Apr 14, 2026
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced As Amended by the House · 3 edits
MINOR
The bill was amended to clarify voting procedures by specifying that ballots must be accepted for at least one hour after discussion concludes. It also added a new provision stating that a budget committee is officially formed once a quorum of members is sworn in. Additionally, the amendment updated the timeline for appointing cooperative school district committee members from 15 days to 30 days.
REQUIREMENT

Extended the deadline for appointing cooperative school district budget committee members from 15 days to 30 days after the vote.

Added a requirement that ballots must be accepted for a minimum of one hour following the completion of discussion on the budget question.

DEFINITION

Added a definition stating that a budget committee is deemed duly constituted once a quorum of its members is sworn into office.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
11
Key actions
3
Committee
4
Amendments
1
Apr 14, 2026
Committee
Committee Report: Referred to Interim Study, 04/23/2026; Vote 5-0; CC; SC 15
upper
Mar 17, 2026
Introduced
Introduced 03/12/2026 and Referred to Election Law and Municipal Affairs; SJ 7
upper
Mar 12, 2026
Lower · Passed
Ought to Pass with Amendment 2026-0694h: MA DV 187-158 03/12/2026 HJ 8 P. 47
lower
Mar 12, 2026
Introduced
Amendment # 2026-0694h: AA DV 186-153 03/12/2026 HJ 8 P. 46
lower
Feb 27, 2026
Lower · Passed
Minority Committee Report: Inexpedient to Legislate
lower
Feb 27, 2026
Lower · Passed
Majority Committee Report: Ought to Pass with Amendment # 2026-0694h 02/17/2026 (Vote 10-7; RC) HC 10 P. 69
lower
Dec 10, 2025
Introduced
Introduced 01/07/2026 and referred to Municipal and County Government HJ 1 P. 24
lower
1 primary · 8 co-sponsors

Sponsors