Retained in Committee: The NH Legislature decided these bills need a little more work

As another legislative session comes to a close, we’ve seen many bills passed by the New Hampshire Legislature and many more left by the wayside. Some of this year’s bills were “retained in committee,” which suggests the bills could be back next year. In this article, we’ll talk about what it means to be retained in committee and look at some bills from this session that could make a comeback.

What does it mean for a bill to be “retained in committee?”

Retained in committee status means the House committee working on the bill decided to hold onto the bill for now. This gives the committee more time to work on the bill over the summer. However, sometimes committees retain legislation as a polite route to kill a bill or make way for an alternate proposal.

Knowing whether or not the House really intends on working on the bill rather than letting it die requires a bit of inside baseball. You can sometimes pick up clues by looking at who is sponsoring the bill. If you see familiar names of legislative “heavy hitters,” that could mean the bill has legs and might come back in the next session. Watching committee meetings can also give insight into why a bill has been retained.

Check out our helpful glossary of legislative terms here.

What are some bills from this year that are retained in committee?

There have been more than 160 bills retained in committee from this session. We won’t have room to talk about all of them, but here are some that you might find noteworthy.

HB 232: This bill creates a right for health care providers to conscientiously object to participating in providing abortion, sterilization, or artificial contraception services. A health care employer could not act against a provider who refuses to participate.

The Judiciary Committee deadlocked on this bill after Rep. Joe Alexander, a Republican from Goffstown, shared concern about language in the bill. As a gay man, Rep. Alexander speculated that the bill might empower doctors to deny HIV prevention drugs because they object to a person’s lifestyle. The bill still has some heavy-hitting Republican sponsors – such as Rep. Jess Edwards (R-Auburn) and Sen. Bill Gannon (R-Sandown) – so the bill has a good chance of coming back next year.

HB 359: This bill prohibits banks, financial institutions, and insurers from denying services based on "any factor if it is not a quantitative, impartial, and risk-based standard." For example, this bill forbids consideration of political beliefs, firearm ownership, involvement in fossil fuels, and so on. This is a topic that has come up before in the Legislature, so we suspect this won’t be the last we see of this legislation.

HB 453: Prohibits cities and towns from banning the use of grounds maintenance and snow and ice removal equipment with internal combustion engines. While this might seem like a rather niche issue, its sponsors include Deputy Speaker Steven Smith (R-Charlestown), Sen. Keith Murphy (R-Manchester), and other powerful legislative players. With that in mind, we’ll be keeping an eye out for this issue to come back in the future.

HB 510: This bill establishes certain due process rights for students, student organizations, and faculty members facing disciplinary actions by state institutions of higher learning. For example, this bill creates a right to a hearing on the allegations with an opportunity to cross-examine witnesses. There was a similar bill last year, which we covered in Season 4 of our podcast, $100 Plus Mileage. Legislators clearly haven’t given up on the idea.

SB 162: This bill prohibits businesses and government employees from China, Russia, Iran, Syria, and North Korea from buying or leasing property within ten miles of New Hampshire military facilities. We covered an earlier version of this legislation last year. It appears to us that the House Commerce and Consumer Affairs Committee was working hard on this bill but didn’t quite finish perfecting it before the last day of voting. With that in mind, expect this issue to come back next year. Update 7/1/25: the Legislature included a version of SB 162 in their state budget policy bill for 2025, which Gov. Ayotte signed into law.

These are just a few of the bills that were retained in committee this year. You can find more retained bills on the General Court’s site, using their advanced search feature. Learn how to follow a bill on the NH Legislature’s website.