HB 1655 New Hampshire House · 2026 Regular Session

establishing a funding source for maintaining state owned dams.

HB 1655 establishes annual fees on properties with waterfront access or deeded water rights to state-owned dams to fund dam maintenance. Property owners with waterfront access pay $100 yearly, while those with deeded water rights pay $50 yearly, with both fees deposited into a dedicated dam maintenance fund. Working farms and properties in current use are exempt from these fees. Municipalities collect the fees, report to the state, and may retain $5 per property for administrative costs, with unpaid fees subject to interest and liens.

Issues: ✓ Budget & Taxes

Bill status died 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Dec 2025

Committee Review

Mar 2026

House Passage

Feb 2026

Senate Passage

Governor

Introduced Dec 12, 2025 Last action Aug 20, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced → As Amended by the House · 4 edits

MODERATE

The House amendment corrects the statutory reference from RSA 77 to RSA 76, fixes a typo, and makes a significant substantive change requiring that repair and reconstruction work on state-owned dams can only be performed after the property has actually been acquired by the state (rather than merely approved for acquisition). The fiscal note was also removed from the amended version.

Scope change

The scope of when repair and reconstruction work may begin was narrowed: it now requires actual state acquisition of the property before any work can proceed, rather than allowing work to start once acquisition is merely approved by the legislature and governor and council.

SCOPE

The statutory reference was corrected from RSA 77 to RSA 76, meaning the new subdivision is now placed in a different title of state law.

REQUIREMENT

Repair and reconstruction projects (sections b and c) can now only be performed on dams and associated properties that have already been acquired by the state, rather than on dams merely approved for acquisition. This means no work can begin until the state actually owns the property.

TECHNICAL

A typo was corrected: 'paragrpahs' changed to 'paragraphs.'

FISCAL

The fiscal note section was removed from the amended version of the bill.

Floor votes · House Mar 26, 2026

How they voted

102–100

Passed · 21 other

Total votes 223

Mar 26, 2026

D Democratic108

5 Yea 96 Nay 7

88% Nay

I Independent2

1 Yea 1

50% Yea

R Republican113

96 Yea 4 Nay 13

84% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Mar 26, 2026

House · Passed

House Vote: pass (102-100-21)

house

Mar 17, 2026

Lower · Passed

Committee Report: Without Recommendation 03/02/2026 (Vote 9-9; RC)

lower

Feb 25, 2026

Lower · Passed

Full Committee Work Session: 03/02/2026 11:00 am GP 159

lower

Feb 12, 2026

Lower · Passed

Ought to Pass with Amendment 2026-0170h: MA RC 208-146 02/12/2026 HJ 4 P. 49

lower

Feb 12, 2026

Introduced

Amendment # 2026-0170h: AA VV 02/12/2026 HJ 4 P. 48

lower

Feb 12, 2026

Committee

Referred to Ways and Means 02/12/2026 HJ 4 P. 51

lower

Feb 3, 2026

Lower · Passed

Minority Committee Report: Inexpedient to Legislate

lower

Feb 3, 2026

Lower · Passed

Majority Committee Report: Ought to Pass with Amendment # 2026-0170h 01/28/2026 (Vote 10-6; RC) HC 6 P. 17

lower

Dec 12, 2025

Introduced

Introduced 01/07/2026 and referred to Resources, Recreation and Development HJ 1 P. 30

lower

1 primary · 2 co-sponsors