As legislative session hits midpoint, the NH House and Senate vote on remaining child care bills 

Thursday is “crossover day” in the New Hampshire state Legislature, the last day to vote on bills in the originating chamber and the midpoint of the legislative session. Both the House of Representatives and the Senate held floor sessions to vote on the remaining bills, including those on early care and education. 

Child care scholarship bills tabled

In a consent calendar vote — a group of bills considered noncontroversial and acted upon with a single vote — the House recommended that House Bill 1720 “pass but to be laid upon the table because of funding,” an action that puts the bill aside until the chamber takes it up again or the legislative session ends, resulting in the bill dying. 

HB 1720 would require the Department of Health and Human Services to notify child care programs within three days of receiving a scholarship application that lists them as the provider. Once the department decides whether an application is approved, denied, or withdrawn, providers must be notified within three days. The bill also allocates $230,000 to update NH EASY, the system parents use for the scholarship, so it can send information to providers.

In a committee report, Milford Republican Rep. Gary Daniels wrote that the House Finance Committee voted to table the bill because of the date the bill would go into effect. Daniels argued that the bill is funded by state and federal dollars for Fiscal Year 2027, but if passed now, it would take effect in Fiscal Year 2026 with no funding allocated. 

On behalf of the committee, he said the bill should be tabled “until the funding mechanism to make these changes can be identified.” 

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In the Senate, a bill that would increase income eligibility for the child care scholarship program was also tabled. 

Senate Bill 645 would raise income eligibility for the program from 85% of the state median income to 95%, and would apply 2% of the alcohol and tobacco tax fund to pay for it. 

Despite the bill not going into effect until the next fiscal year, which would erase concerns about current fiscal issues, Senate Republicans voted to pass it and then tabled it by voice vote along party lines. 

Self-insurance risk coverage moves ahead

Senate Bill 614 was passed in a Senate consent calendar vote and will now cross over to the House. 

SB 614 establishes a program that would allow child care, day care, foster care, and behavioral health services providers to enter into a “multiple-caregiver self-insured” risk coverage arrangement as an alternative to purchasing an insurance agency liability insurance plan. The bill, proposed by Bedford Republican Sen. Denise Riccardi, is intended to help caregivers find a reprieve from costly, often business-ending insurance costs.