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HB1131 • 2026

relative to the official ballot referendum form of town meetings.

relative to the official ballot referendum form of town meetings.

Elections
Passed Legislature

This bill passed both chambers and reached final enrollment, even if later executive action is not shown here.

Sponsor
Diane Pauer (R), Juliet Harvey-Bolia (R), Bill Gannon (R), Deborah Aylward (R), Jim Kofalt (R), Daniel Innis (R), JD Bernardy (R), James Qualey (R), Tim McGough (R), Richard Brown (R), Paul Terry (R), Kevin Avard (R), Jose Cambrils (R), John Sellers (R)
Last action
2026-05-21
Official status
HOUSE
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

Using official source text because the generated explanation was unavailable or could not be confirmed against the official bill text.

relative to the official ballot referendum form of town meetings.

relative to the official ballot referendum form of town meetings.

What This Bill Does

  • relative to the official ballot referendum form of town meetings.

Limits and Unknowns

  • This entry is temporarily using official source text because the generated explanation could not be confirmed against the official bill text during the last sync.

Bill History

  1. 2026-05-21 H

    House Non-Concurs with Senate Amendment 2026-1595s (Rep. Pauer): MA VV 05/21/2026 HJ 14

  2. 2026-05-05 S

    Committee Amendment #2026-1595s , AA, VV; 05/07/2026; SJ 11

  3. 2026-05-05 S

    Ought to Pass with Amendment #2026-1595s , MA, VV; OT3rdg; 05/07/2026; SJ 11

  4. 2026-04-23 S

    Committee Report: Ought to Pass with Amendment #2026-1595s , 05/07/2026; Vote 5-0; CC; SC 17

  5. 2026-03-25 S

    Hearing: 03/31/2026, Room 122-123, SH, 01:00 pm; SC 12

  6. 2026-03-17 S

    Introduced 03/12/2026 and Referred to Election Law and Municipal Affairs; SJ 7

  7. 2026-03-12 H

    Ought to Pass : MA DV 181-159 03/12/2026 HJ 8 P. 29

  8. 2026-02-27 H

    Majority Committee Report: Ought to Pass 02/17/2026 (Vote 10-7; RC) HC 10 P. 63

  9. 2026-02-27 H

    Minority Committee Report: Inexpedient to Legislate

  10. 2026-02-11 H

    Executive Session: 02/17/2026 09:00 am GP 154

  11. 2026-01-14 H

    Public Hearing: 01/23/2026 02:00 pm GP 154

  12. 2025-12-01 H

    Introduced 01/07/2026 and referred to Municipal and County Government HJ 1 P. 7

Official Summary Text

relative to the official ballot referendum form of town meetings.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text 
HB 1131 - AS AMENDED BY THE SENATE

05/07/2026 1595s
2026 SESSION
26-2284
08/07

HOUSE BILL
1131

AN ACT
relative to the official ballot referendum form of town meetings.

SPONSORS: Rep. Pauer, Hills. 36; Rep. Aylward, Merr. 5; Rep. Bernardy, Rock. 36; Rep. R. Brown, Carr. 8; Rep. Cambrils, Merr. 4; Rep. Harvey-Bolia, Belk. 3; Rep. Kofalt, Hills. 32; Rep. Qualey, Ches. 18; Rep. Terry, Belk. 7; Rep. Sellers, Graf. 10; Sen. Gannon, Dist 23; Sen. Innis, Dist 7; Sen. McGough, Dist 11; Sen. Avard, Dist 12

COMMITTEE: Municipal and County Government

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AMENDED ANALYSIS

This bill requires that questions proposing to adopt an official ballot referendum form of meeting be placed first on annual meeting warrants.

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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in
bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [
in brackets and struckthrough.
]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
05/07/2026 1595s 26-2284
08/07

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty-Six

AN ACT
relative to the official ballot referendum form of town meetings.

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

1 Government of Town Meeting; Optional Form of Meeting-Official Ballot Referenda; Method of Adopting Official Ballot Referendum Form of Meeting. Amend RSA 40:14, III to read as follows:
III. The local political subdivision shall place the question on the warrant of the annual meeting under the procedures set out in RSA 39:3 or RSA 197:6.
The question shall be placed first on the warrant.
Voting on the question shall be by ballot, but the question shall not be placed on the official ballot used to elect officers. Polls shall remain open and ballots shall be accepted by the moderator for a period of not less than one hour following the completion of discussion on the question.
2 Municipal Finance Act; Procedure for Authorizing Bonds or Notes in Excess of $100,000. Amend RSA 33:8-a, II to read as follows:
II. All articles appearing in the warrant which propose a bond or note issue exceeding $100,000 shall appear in consecutive numerical order and shall be acted upon prior to other business except the election of officers, action on the adoption, revision, or amendment of a municipal charter,
adoption of the official ballot referendum form of town meeting,
and zoning matters or as otherwise determined by the voters at the meeting. Polls shall remain open and ballots shall be accepted by the moderator on each such article, for a period of not less than one hour following the completion of discussion on each respective article. A separate ballot box shall be provided for each bond article to be voted upon pursuant to this section.

3 Effective Date. This act shall take effect July 1, 2026.