NH House passes child data privacy bill despite criticism of hearing process 

Rep. Mark Pearson, a Hampstead Republican, speaks on the House floor in favor of a bill to prohibit the sale of location data regarding children, Feb. 12, 2026. (Photo by Ethan DeWitt/New Hampshire Bulletin)

The New Hampshire House of Representatives advanced a bill Thursday that would expand on federal child data protection laws, despite a representative’s protest that the hearing was inadequate.

In a 214-145 Republican-led vote, the House passed House Bill 1460, which prohibits social media applications and websites from selling location and other sensitive data of underage users in the state to third-party vendors. It expands on the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. 

Rep. Alicia Gregg, a Nashua Democrat, asked the Legislature to send the bill to interim study, arguing that it did not have a proper hearing. As a member of the Children and Family Law Committee, where HB 1460 was sent for its first hearing, Gregg said the bill’s prime sponsor, Brentwood Republican Rep. Melissa Litchfield, was absent due to a family emergency and that few stakeholders testified. 

“We had a bill number, we had text, and we had nothing else, and yet the majority of the committee voted ought to pass,” Gregg said. 

During the hearing on Jan. 20, members of the Children and Family Law Committee expressed concerns about “not being able to get into the weeds” of the bill because the prime sponsor was not present. 

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Chairwoman Debra DeSimone, an Atkinson Republican, presented the bill to the committee but did not have the information to answer specific questions. She told members to bring them to Litchfield later. 

Gregg said that while it is likely that Litchfield spoke with people behind the scenes about the bill, it creates a problem of “transparency and equal access.” 

“Our constituents send us here to ask questions, to seek understanding, to weigh consequences, intended and unintended,” she said on the House floor. “Instead, we’ve set a troubling precedent that bills can advance through our legislative process without public explanation, without reported debate, and without transparent scrutiny.” 

Committee members also voiced concerns about how the bill could impact the state Department of Justice, as the bill’s methodology stated that it could have “an indeterminable” fiscal impact on the general fund for next year. No one from the Department of Justice testified during the hearing. 

Republican Reps. Mark Pearson of Hampstead and Jodi Nelson of Derry, who also serve on the committee, spoke to the Legislature about why the bill should go forward. Pearson said it is “not a complicated bill.” Nelson, who is also the committee clerk, argued that a proper hearing was held.

“We had three people testify on this bill, so I do believe we had a proper hearing,” Nelson said. “I know that New Hampshire would join other states, such as Texas, Florida, Vermont, Colorado, Connecticut, that have expanded federal child privacy laws and further … [it] falls within this Legislature’s constitutional authority to protect the health, safety, and welfare of minors.” 

The bill now heads to the House Finance Committee for a second hearing.