HB 1730 New Hampshire House · 2026 Regular Session

enhancing the level of offense for certain sexual offenses.

HB 1730 would make all sexual penetration or contact offenses against minors under age 16 punishable by death, raising the age threshold from 13 to 16 in existing law. It amends New Hampshire statutes to classify these crimes as aggravated felonious sexual assault, adding a death penalty option (RSA 632-A:10-a I-a) and updating legal procedures for capital cases. The bill directly affects individuals convicted of sexual offenses against minors under 16, including those with authority over the victim or with significant age differences. Key mechanisms include changing age thresholds in multiple statutes, inserting death penalty provisions, and revising the chapter heading to "HOMICIDE AND CAPITAL OFFENSES." This proposal would significantly increase penalties for these offenses compared to current law.

Issues: ✗ Criminal Justice

Bill status signed all 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Dec 2025

Committee Review

Apr 2026

House Passage

Feb 2026

Senate Passage

Apr 2026

Signed into Law

Jun 2026

Introduced Dec 17, 2025 Signed Jun 1, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 3 comparisons

What changed between versions

Version adopted by both bodies → CHAPTERED FINAL VERSION · 4 edits

MODERATE

No substantive policy changes were made between the version adopted by both bodies and the final chaptered version. The differences are entirely technical and procedural, reflecting the standard process of assigning a chapter number (Chapter 97) when a bill is formally enrolled as law.

TECHNICAL

Section numbers changed from sequential (1-7) to chapter-prefixed format (97:1 through 97:7), which is the standard numbering used in the compiled session laws.

The bill was assigned Chapter 97 and labeled as 'FINAL VERSION' in the header, reflecting its formal enrollment as law.

The fiscal note section (including estimated state and political subdivision impacts) was removed, as fiscal notes are part of the legislative process but not included in the final chaptered statute.

TIMELINE

An approval date of May 28, 2026 was added at the end, confirming when the governor signed the bill into law. The effective date of January 1, 2027 was restated in the closing block.

Introduced → As Amended by the House · 7 edits

MODERATE

The House completely transformed the bill from a proposal to make sexual offenses against minors under 16 punishable by death into a narrower measure that reclassifies certain authority-based sexual offenses (committed by correctional staff, probation/parole officers, and similar positions) as felonies and updates sex offender registration requirements. All death penalty provisions and age threshold changes were removed. The amended bill is far less controversial in scope, targeting abuse of institutional power rather than imposing capital punishment for crimes against children.

Scope change

The bill's scope shifted dramatically from a broad proposal to impose the death penalty for all sexual penetration or contact offenses against minors under 16, to a narrow measure addressing only sexual offenses committed by individuals in specific positions of authority (correctional, psychiatric, detention, probation/parole) and updating related sex offender registration requirements.

SCOPE

All death penalty provisions were removed, including the new paragraph adding death as a possible sentence for aggravated felonious sexual assault and the amendments to RSA 630:5 expanding capital offense procedures beyond murder.

All age threshold changes (raising the relevant age from 13 to 16 in multiple sexual assault statutes) were removed entirely.

The bill now targets sexual offenses committed by persons in positions of authority (correctional institution staff, secure psychiatric unit staff, juvenile detention facility staff, adult or juvenile probation/parole officers), reclassifying such conduct as felonies.

RSA 632-A:4, III (sexual assault in certain positions of authority as a misdemeanor) was repealed, effectively elevating those offenses to felony level under the amended provisions.

DEFINITION

In RSA 632-A:2 and 632-A:3, the requirement that the actor 'uses this authority to coerce the victim to submit' was removed, meaning the offense now applies whenever the actor is in a position of authority over the victim, regardless of whether coercion occurred.

ENFORCEMENT

Sex offender registration provisions (RSA 651-B:1) were amended to update which offenses require registration and at what tier, removing references to the repealed RSA 632-A:4, III and adjusting tier classifications.

TIMELINE

An effective date of January 1, 2027 was added.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Jun 1, 2026

Signed into law

Signed by Governor Ayotte 05/28/2026; Chapter 97; eff. 01/01/2027

lower

Apr 3, 2026

Upper · Passed

Ought to Pass: MA, VV; OT3rdg; 04/09/2026; SJ 8

upper

Apr 1, 2026

Upper · Passed

Committee Report: Ought to Pass, 04/09/2026; Vote 5-0; CC; SC 13

upper

Feb 25, 2026

Introduced

Introduced 02/19/2026 and Referred to Judiciary; SJ 5

upper

Feb 19, 2026

Committee

Referral Waived by Committee Chair per House Rule 47(f) 02/19/2026 HJ 5 P. 112

lower

Feb 19, 2026

Committee

Referred to Finance 02/19/2026 HJ 5 P. 39

lower

Feb 19, 2026

Lower · Passed

Ought to Pass with Amendment 2026-0420h: MA VV 02/19/2026 HJ 5 P. 10

lower

Feb 19, 2026

Introduced

Amendment # 2026-0420h: AA VV 02/19/2026 HJ 5 P. 10

lower

Feb 10, 2026

Lower · Passed

Committee Report: Ought to Pass with Amendment # 2026-0420h (NT) 02/04/2026 (Vote 13-0; CC) HC 7 P. 8

lower

Dec 17, 2025

Introduced

Introduced 01/07/2026 and referred to Criminal Justice and Public Safety HJ 1 P. 33

lower

1 primary · 2 co-sponsors