The New Hampshire Legislature, known as the General Court, is made up of 400 Representatives and 24 Senators. The Legislative session runs from January to June each year, with some additional activity over the summer and fall.
An idea for a proposed bill/law can come from a member of the legislature or from a citizen.Citizens who have ideas for laws may contact their elected official(s) to discuss their ideas. If the Representative agrees, the idea is researched a Legislative Service Request is submitted as a precursor to a full bill. LSRs are generally developed in between legislative sessions.
Legislative Service Requests
- An LSR must be filed by a legislative sponsor or sponsors. Bill sponsors are State Representatives and Senators.
- The exact language of bill is then drafted by an attorney in Legislative Services to ensure the appropriate language is used to meet the purpose of the LSR.
- Once complete, the draft must be signed off by the sponsor(s).
Bills in Committee
Bills that are completed/signed off on by the prime sponsor, the bill will be introduced, assigned a bill (docket) number under either the House of Representatives (HB) or Senate (SB), depending on the seat of the prime sponsor and assigned to a policy committee. A listing of policy committees for the House and Senate are available through the General Court website.
The committee will hold a public hearing for stakeholders to present their arguments in support or opposition of the bill. Public Hearings are publicized through the House and Senate Calendars. Anyone may view or subscribe to receive a calendar. Members of the public may attend and/or testify at a public hearing.
- Citizens may participate in this process by registering their support or opposition (known as “Remote Testimony”) of a bill through the General Court Website. Here are step by step directions on how to provide Remote Testimony.
- Once the public hearing is complete, the committee will review all oral and written/email testimony, and then hold an Executive Session on the bill. It is during this session that the committee will make a recommendation that the bill should or should not pass when it goes to the full house or senate.
- Motions include, “Ought to Pass/OTP, Ought to Pass with an Amendment/OTP-A, Inexpedient to Legislate.
- Sometimes a committee may choose to Retain a bill for further work or study. The committee will also vote on whether the bill will be placed on the Consent calendar, where bills that receive unanimous support or an overwhelming majority of support of the motion are voted on in the full session by voice vote; or the Regular calendar, where the bill’s merits will be debated on the House/Senate floor prior to voting.
House/Senate Session
The full House or Senate meets several times throughout the session. Once a bill receives a recommendation from the policy committee, the bill will be added to the next calendar for a full chamber (House or Senate) session.
Bills that have a financial impact are also sent to the Finance committee for further consideration, and another recommendation of whether the bill should or should not pass to the other chamber. A second floor vote will take place before bills with financial notes are sent over to the opposite chamber.
If the bill passes it goes to the other body on what is referred to as Crossover Day.
After another round of hearings and meetings, the other body will vote on the bill.
If the bill passes, but has changes, which makes it different from the original bill, then a special committee is set up to work out an agreement between the house and the senate so everyone is satisfied with the changes. This is called the Committee of Conference.
Once the Committee of Conference has everything worked out, then the bill is sent back to both houses for their approval. If it is passed by both the house and the senate, it goes to the Governor for his/her signature, then it becomes law.
The Governor has three choices about signing a bill into law:
- Sign the bill and it will become law;
- Choose not to sign the bill and it will become law within 5 days w/o a signature;
- Veto the bill. If the bill is vetoed, it will then go back to the legislature for a 2/3rd majority vote to override the Governor’s veto or the bill dies