The State Senate approved its $15.9 billion version of the State Budget on Thursday, June 5, after considering the State Budget amendments proposed by the Senate Finance Committee.

The Senate Finance Committee’s State Budget work between early April and early June was wrapped into two amendments: one for House Bill 1, the Operating Budget Bill, and the other for House Bill 2, the Trailer Bill. The Senate considered 15 amendments and approved three to change the Committee’s budget proposal.

The Senate Finance Committee’s State Budget proposal (read a summary of the Committee proposal here) would increase appropriations relative to the House’s $15.5 billion proposal for Medicaid reimbursement rates, developmental services, community mental health supports, the University System of New Hampshire and funds to support post-secondary scholarships, and the Departments of Corrections and Justice. The Senate Finance Committee’s proposal would spend less than the Governor’s $16.0 billion proposal, and proposed lower expenditures on local public education funding for special education than the House.

The Senate approved the Committee’s amendments and three other amendments that made changes to the Committee’s proposal, including:

• authorizing the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services to accept federal funds for the Summer EBT program, which helps students who receive free and reduced-price meals at school during the academic year continue to receive food assistance during the summer months
• changing the proposed statute governing the Office of the Child Advocate’s ability to access information for its investigations, limiting that scope to the files of children involved with the State’s Division of Children, Youth and Families or who are in residential treatment facilities in the state
• appropriating $460,000 to the Department of Education for facility-related expenditures in State Fiscal Year 2026, which offsets the result of reduced drawdown from the Rainy Day Fund in State Fiscal Year 2025
• removing the language in the Senate Finance Committee’s proposal that would have defined biosimilar products and permitted the dispensation of interchangeable biosimilar products by pharmacists to fulfill a prescription

Next Steps for the Budget

With the Senate’s budget work completed, the House will consider whether to accept the Senate’s changes to House Bills 1 and 2. While not required, the House may request a Committee of Conference to resolve policy disagreements between the two versions of the State Budget. The Committee of Conference must be formed by June 12 and complete its work by June 19.

The State Budget bills produced by the Committee of Conference will receive an up-or-down vote on the floors of both the House and the Senate, without any opportunities for amendments. If House Bills 1 and 2 pass both chambers on June 26, when the votes are scheduled, the bills will go to the Governor’s desk.

Authority granted for State spending under the current State Budget ends on July 1, 2025. Policymakers will need to agree on some form of new legislation to keep State services operating beyond that date.