During the 2025 New Hampshire Legislative Session, lawmakers introduced more than 1,000 bills, and Governor Kelly Ayotte signed over 100 bills into law. This year’s 169 days of legislature also culminated in the passage of House Bills 1 and 2, which set the biennium State Budget for FY26 and FY27 at 15.9 billion dollars.
Many of the bills introduced in 2025 intersect with the New Hampshire Center for Justice & Equity’s (NHCJE) Policy Platform, launched in April 2024 to outline near-term priorities for advancing equity and justice in the Granite State. This work is organized along six sectors of effort: Education, Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice, Health, Civic Engagement, Economic Development, and Government.
While some of the new legislation reflects meaningful progress, others raise concerns for their potential impact on Granite Staters, including our communities of color. Given the large volume of legislative activity, this recap does not attempt a full review of the 2025 session. Instead, it highlights several notable bills with direct relevance to NHCJE’s public policy priorities.
Civic Engagement: Changes to Absentee Voting Requirements
Making voting accessible is a core priority of NHCJE’s work regarding Civic Engagement. Two bills, SB287 and SB218, introduced additional documentation requirements for absentee voting, including proof of citizenship, age, domicile, and identity. These changes build on 2024 laws requiring in-person voters to provide documents such as a birth certificate or passport to prove citizenship.
For many Granite Staters, absentee voting is a critical pathway to participate in elections, whether due to health, work, or family obligations. With as many as 96 people being turned away from the ballots last Spring due to an inability to produce the mandatory documents, extending these requirements to absentee voters will create new barriers to voting.
Advocates like Sarah Chouinard, Voting Rights Program Manager of the New Hampshire Campaign for Voting Rights, warn that the changes to absentee voting could make it particularly difficult for working parents, seniors, and people with disabilities to exercise their right to vote. “By layering new identification and paperwork requirements onto the process, SB287 and SB218 create unnecessary hurdles that risk disenfranchising eligible voters,” stated Chouinard. “At a time when we should be making it easier for every Granite Stater to participate in our democracy, these laws move us in the wrong direction."
“By layering new identification and paperwork requirements onto the process, SB287 and SB218 create unnecessary hurdles that risk disenfranchising eligible voters. At a time when we should be making it easier for every Granite Stater to participate in our democracy, these laws move us in the wrong direction.”
Economic Development: Expanding Access to Affordable Childcare
NHCJE identifies affordable, high-quality childcare as one of the paths to achieving greater economic equality and closing the racial wealth gap. One of the session’s highlights was SB243, later added to the State Budget as part of HB2, which introduced administrative changes to the Child Care Scholarship Program.
The new legislation makes it easier for families to access affordable childcare by streamlining application paperwork and simplifying data entry for providers. It also reduces processing delays by awarding presumptive eligibility and improves the payment system for childcare centers by shifting to a prospective payment model.
Rebecca Woitkowski, Child and Family Policy Director at New Futures, sees this as a significant step forward for child care access in New Hampshire. “The child care scholarship program is a critical economic support as it helps working families better afford child care and remain in the workforce,” noted Woitkowski. “The inclusion of SB 243 reflects a growing recognition of child care as a cornerstone of economic stability and family well-being. As New Hampshire continues to address workforce shortages and rising costs, easing access to child care is not just good social policy—it’s smart economic policy,” she added.
“The child care scholarship program is a critical economic support as it helps working families better afford child care and remain in the workforce. The inclusion of SB 243 reflects a growing recognition of child care as a cornerstone of economic stability and family well-being. As New Hampshire continues to address workforce shortages and rising costs, easing access to child care is not just good social policy—it’s smart economic policy.”
Education: Defending Diversity in Education
A provision prohibiting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs across municipalities, state agencies, and schools was added to the State Budget, underscoring the importance of work that continues to defend diversity in education. This measure threatens funding cuts and restricts programs tied to characteristics protected under the state’s human rights law, such as age, sex, gender identity, race, or disability.
Civil liberties groups, the state’s largest teachers’ union, and four New Hampshire school districts have sued the state over this anti-DEI law, citing that it could hinder inclusive educational environments and pose financial risks for schools.
Louis Esposito, Executive Director of ABLE NH, alerts of the consequences of restricting DEI in schools, particularly for students with disabilities. “For people with disabilities, DEI is a tool to build a future where barriers are removed and everyone belongs and can thrive,” he said. “Disability should not be seen as an individual flaw but as the product of barriers. Eliminating DEI would deepen exclusion and undo the progress our community has fought so hard to achieve,” Esposito added.
“For people with disabilities, DEI is a tool to build a future where barriers are removed and everyone belongs and can thrive. Disability should not be seen as an individual flaw but as the product of barriers. Eliminating DEI would deepen exclusion and undo the progress our community has fought so hard to achieve. ”
Government: Cuts to the Renewable Energy Fund
Access to efficient and clean energy is important for economic, health, and environmental reasons. The State Budget also redirected Renewable Energy Fund dollars to the general fund, significantly reducing the funds available for projects designed to lower energy costs for Granite Staters.
According to HB2, only one million dollars per year will remain available for renewable energy projects, hindering the capacity of municipalities, school districts, small businesses, and families to leverage grants that reduce their energy burden. Advocates warn that this change will make it harder for Granite Staters to transition to affordable, clean energy and realize savings.
For Sam Evans-Brown, Executive Director of Clean Energy NH, energy costs are heading in the wrong direction. “Electricity costs are rising due to a broken regulatory paradigm, which is resulting in a more expensive electricity system, and higher minimum bills for all customers,” he stated. “Budget shortfalls mean that lawmakers are taking dollars that were intended to be used to reduce rate-payer bills, and instead using them to pay for state services, creating a new energy tax,” explained Evans-Brown.
“Electricity costs are rising due to a broken regulatory paradigm, which is resulting in a more expensive electricity system, and higher minimum bills for all customers. Budget shortfalls mean that lawmakers are taking dollars that were intended to be used to reduce rate-payer bills, and instead using them to pay for state services, creating a new energy tax. ”
Health: Raised Costs for Medicaid Expansion
New Hampshire's Granite Advantage Health Care Program, also known as Medicaid Expansion, remains a lifeline for nearly 60,000 Granite Staters each year, and is particularly important for communities of color. Since 2014, Medicaid Expansion has transformed New Hampshire’s health care system, reducing the uninsured rate by 42% and providing critical mental health and substance use treatment to one in every three recipients. However, the State Budget introduced new requirements that add administrative burden and new financial barriers for people who have this coverage.
Starting in late 2025 and 2026, individuals with incomes at or above 100% of the federal poverty level will pay $60–$100 per month in Medicaid premiums, and prescription co-pays will rise to $4 per medication. Additionally, a new federal law will require Medicaid recipients in New Hampshire to work or participate in approved activities to keep their coverage. The minimum is set at 80 hours per month under federal rules, and potentially 100 hours per month under state law.
Health advocates are concerned these changes may reduce access to care for low-income residents and make it harder for some Granite Staters to maintain health care coverage. Sam Burgess, Health Care Policy Coordinator at New Futures, stated that “the new work requirements, premiums, and increased pharmacy co-pays threaten to unravel over a decade of progress.”
Burgess further observed that “these added barriers will force many Granite Staters to choose between paying for health care and other essential needs. As these new laws take effect, New Hampshire must take steps to ensure our residents don’t lose their essential health care coverage. The health of our state depends on it.”
“. . . the new work requirements, premiums, and increased pharmacy co-pays threaten to unravel over a decade of progress . . . these added barriers will force many Granite Staters to choose between paying for health care and other essential needs. As these new laws take effect, New Hampshire must take steps to ensure our residents don’t lose their essential health care coverage. The health of our state depends on it.”
Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice: Bail Reform Rollback
NHCJE is committed to addressing the disparate impacts of the New Hampshire legal and criminal justice systems. Although bail reforms have demonstrated positive outcomes, through HB592, lawmakers moved to return to a system heavily dependent on cash bail.
This change affects people with limited financial resources, making it harder to secure release even for minor offenses, potentially leading to the unnecessary incarceration of thousands of non-dangerous Granite Staters, all at high taxpayer expense and despite being presumed innocent in the eyes of the law.
Advocates alert that this bill disproportionately impacts our communities of color, who already face racial disparities and inequities in the legal and judicial systems when it comes to incarceration. Devon Chaffee, Executive Director of the ACLU of New Hampshire, emphasized that “HB 592 is anti-liberty, anti-due process, and will not make the Granite State safer.” For her, “it is deeply disturbing that politicians on both sides of the aisle are willing to cast aside the civil liberties of their constituents and overlook the actual facts in an attempt to score political points.”
Research shows that pretrial incarceration leads to job loss, breakdowns of families, and even severe health issues and death. “Under this bill, we will return to an unjust system where Granite Staters will be held in jail for days, weeks, or even months for no reason other than they cannot afford bail,” Chaffee added. “They’ll also be denied freedom using mere probable cause, and experience much longer wait times behind bars for a bail hearing.”
“HB 592 is anti-liberty, anti-due process, and will not make the Granite State safer. It is deeply disturbing that politicians on both sides of the aisle are willing to cast aside the civil liberties of their constituents and overlook the actual facts in an attempt to score political points.”
What You Can Do
The 2026 legislative session begins in September 2025. Proposals for new bills (known as LSRs) must be filed by September 19, 2025. Once filed, all proposed bills will be published on the NH General Court website. This is the moment for Granite Staters to get involved by raising concerns, offering ideas, and contacting their legislators:
● House of Representatives Directory
Your voice matters. Engaging early in the process can help shape the policies that affect our communities and ensure New Hampshire builds a future rooted in equity and justice, where all belong.