Legislative Update

The 2022 NH legislative session has ended. The House and Senate met on May 26, 2022, to vote on the bills that had gone to Committees of Conference and needed final votes to determine if they would pass or not. While this year’s legislative session has been marked by a significant polarization between those advocating for greater individual liberty and those focused on supporting public health, we have seen many of the bills that were introduced to deal with COVID-related issues have either been voted inexpedient to legislate (ITL) or amended significantly. However, a few remain that we continue to advocate in opposition. Specifically, there are a couple bills that we are hoping the Governor decides to veto when they reach his desk. Any bills that are vetoed by the Governor will be considered by the full House and Senate on “Veto Override” day in September. It takes two-thirds of both bodies to override a Governor’s veto. 

While NHHA has been following many bills of interest to our members, the primary focus this year has been on the extraordinary number of anti-vaccine related bills. NHHA was instrumental in establishing the Healthy 603 Coalition, which includes over 50 organizations that represent businesses, health care and non-profits that have a shared interest in working to defeat the vaccine-related bills that do not support public health and that do not allow for businesses to determine for themselves what vaccine requirements are best for their organizations. In addition, we have been working on workplace safety, reimbursement improvements to Medicaid labor/delivery services and streamlining the professional licensing and criminal background check processes.  

We thank all of you who have been willing to reach out to your legislators to discuss these bills and share your perspective on why many of the COVID-related bills are so problematic. Your advocacy is very important to our collective efforts.

All of the bills that NHHA is following can be found on our web site here which includes links to bill language, the prime sponsor, hearing dates/times and the status of the bill.