The New Hampshire House of Representatives voted to make changes to the House Finance Committee’s State Budget proposal on the final day, April 10, before House Bills had to cross over to the Senate. These floor amendments, which were all changes to the Trailer Bill, adjusted proposed State finances by relatively small amounts, but included some significant policy recommendations.

Relative to expenditures, the House rejected the House Finance Committee’s proposal to remove $14.0 million in State marketing expenses designed to promote tourism in New Hampshire. The House also added back about $2.3 million in funding for the State welcome centers on non-Turnpike highways that the House Finance Committee had proposed defunding in the second year of the State Budget. Those two additions brought the State Budget total from the House up to $15.39 billion for State Fiscal Years 2026 and 2027. Additional revenues were not needed to fund that increase because of the $113.0 million in unspent dollars the House Finance Committee plan left to the Rainy Day Fund at the end of the biennium.

The House also voted to remove the House Finance Committee’s proposed provision that would have legalized Keno statewide, rather than leaving the choice to legalize Keno gaming within city or town borders up to the voters in each municipality. This reduced projected revenue to the Education Trust Fund by $12 million relative to the Committee’s forecast.

These appropriations and revenue changes would reduce the undesignated General Fund surplus that would be projected to flow to the Rainy Day Fund from $113.0 million to $85.1 million, and bring the Rainy Day Fund back to $228.8 million at the end of State Fiscal Year 2027.

All other changes to the State Budget Trailer Bill that passed the House were additions of policies that did not include direct appropriated revenue or expenditure changes at the State. While some policies had significant impacts on local finances, most did not have a clear relationship to fiscal policy and were designed to reinforce House policy positions relative to the Senate.

The House voted to remove several policies proposed by the House Finance Committee in the State Budget, including:

• the repeal of the Board of Tax and Land Appeals, which the House voted to keep, although the funding did not appear to be restored for the Board.
• the establishment of a defined contribution plan for new State employees who are not police, firefighters, or teachers starting January 2026, rather than permitting participation in the current defined benefit contribution plan used by these State employees.
• the imposition of a budget cap on local school districts based on historical enrollment or expenditures.

The House also voted to add new policies to the State Budget, including:

• requiring the annual verification of voting checklists by municipalities based on individuals voting within the last five years, rather than the current requirement that a voter participated in an election in the four years before a verification that occurs every ten years, to remain registered voters.
• ensuring that no public employees engage in electioneering, defined as influencing votes regarding any question or office, while performing official duties or using government property and equipment.
• specifying that civil rights law does not make classifying use of space or participation in activities by biological sex illegal or unlawfully discriminatory in the cases of multi-occupant bathrooms or locker rooms, participation in sports or similar activities “in which physical strength, speed, or endurance is generally recognized to give an advantage to biological males,” or in corrections or certain types of treatment facilities.
• permitting the addition of more nursing facility capacity, rehabilitation hospitals, or other similar facilities for membership-based models or for people who make direct payment for services, while allowing these membership or direct-payment facilities to not provide services to all who require services regardless of source of payment.
• forcing the expiration of rules that require New Hampshire children to be immunized for varicella, Hepatitis B, and Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib) through vaccination, and alters one component of the statutes that authorize the State’s rulemaking authority to require vaccinations of children.
• establishing specific labels for firearms made within New Hampshire, requiring that firearms labeled in this manner not be sold outside of the state, and specifically exempting them from regulation by the United States government imposed through the interstate commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution.
• permitting adults to have blackjacks, slung shots, or metallic knuckles in New Hampshire, repealing the prohibitions on these weapons.
• removing immunity, and bringing potential liability, to reporters of child neglect or abuse if such reports are knowingly false.

As the House has now completed its phase of the State Budget process, the Senate will begin work on the State Budget this week. However, the Senate Finance Committee will likely not have updated revenue estimates from the Senate Ways and Means Committee until early May. The Senate must complete its work on the State Budget by June 5, according to the current schedule.

For updated information and analysis, including a larger analysis of the version of the State Budget proposed by the House and changes made from the Governor’s proposal, subscribe to the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute newsletter at https://nhfpi.org/subscribe.