HB 1653
relative to emergency medical care provided at freestanding hospital emergency facilities.
Official record at gencourt.state.nh.us ↗Open this bill in the searchable view → · Follow this bill by RSS
On the record
Quoted from the General Court bill status page, not worked out from the docket.
| Status | HOUSE |
|---|---|
| In the House | DIED ON THE TABLE |
| Introduced | 1/7/2026 |
| Floor date | 3/5/2026 |
| LSR number | 3066 |
| Local government impact | no |
| Committee code | H09 |
Where it stands
House: DIED ON THE TABLE
Every floor vote on this bill was a voice or division vote, so there is no record of how individual legislators voted.
The bill was set aside during the session and never taken back up, so it died when the session ended.
Sponsors
Telerski, Laura(D) Hills 11, Avard, Kevin(R) Hills 12, Chourasia, Manoj(D) Hills 11, Gregg, Alicia(D) Hills 7, Murray, Megan(D) Hills 37, Ohm, Bill(R) Hills 10, Rosenwald, Cindy(D) Hills 13, Sheehan, Vanessa(R) Hills 43, Veilleux, Daniel(D) Hills 34
Prime sponsor in bold. From the General Court sponsor file.
What happened
Every action recorded in the official docket, in order. Each line ends with the journal or calendar that recorded it; where we have the document, that citation links to it.
- January 7, 2026Introduced 01/07/2026 and referred to Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs
- January 21, 2026Public Hearing: 01/21/2026 02:00 pm GP 158
- January 28, 2026Executive Session: 01/28/2026 02:30 pm GP 158
- February 3, 2026Majority Committee Report: Inexpedient to Legislate 01/28/2026 (Vote 10-7; RC)
- February 3, 2026Minority Committee Report: Ought to Pass
- March 5, 2026Lay HB1653 on Table (Rep. W. MacDonald): MA DV 173-158 03/05/2026
- August 19, 2026Died on Table, Session ended 08/19/2026
Votes
Roll call tallies and individual votes from the General Court roll call files. Presiding, excused and absent are shown separately: one member presides over each House roll call and does not vote except to break a tie.
Lay HB1653 on Table (Rep. W. MacDonald)
Decided on a division vote. Only the outcome was recorded — there is no count of how any member voted.
Committee reports
Reproduced from the House Calendar in the committee’s own words.
Majority — INEXPEDIENT TO LEGISLATE
This bill requires freestanding hospital emergency facilities (FHEFs) to explicitly offer patients a choice of receiving facility on transfer and document that choice. It also requires FHEFs to transfer to the closest suitable hospital instead of their parent facility if the patient is unable to choose, and bars them from contracting with an ambulance service to provide exclusive transport ability between the FHEF and its parent hospital. The majority of the committee believes that this is a transparent attempt to suppress market competition and unfairly alleged that doctors at FHEFs were not performing their duties with regard to patients and informed consent. The proponents of this bill were unable to provide a single documented case where this had occurred, and further were unable to make any arguments that applied solely to FHEFs and not to every ER department in every hospital. Vote 10-7.
Minority — OUGHT TO PASS
Free-standing emergency facilities are owned by a parent hospital but provide emergency services in an off-site location some miles away from the parent facility. When the patient needs to be transported to a full-service hospital, this bill provides that the patient or their representative must be informed of their right to be transferred to any receiving hospital that has the capability to address the patient’s medical needs. There are many reasons why a patient might prefer to be transferred to a hospital other than the free-standing emergency facility’s parent hospital: the other hospital might be closer than the parent hospital, or it might be closer to the patient’s home, family, and support systems, or it might be the place where the patient’s existing specialists might practice and where their existing medical records are located. The bill simply promotes patient choice and self-determination by requiring that every patient or their representative be informed of their right to go to any medically appropriate receiving hospital.
Hearings and recordings
Recordings are the General Court’s own, on YouTube. Start times are estimates unless stated otherwise, and the player opens early.
- January 21, 2026 at 14:00Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs public hearing recording 4:29:46–5:36:50, about 67 min (estimated)
- January 28, 2026 at 14:30Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs executive session recording 5:44:00–5:44:30, about 0 min (estimated)
- March 5, 2026House floor debate recording (start time not identified)
Page generated 2026-09-03 from data published by the New Hampshire General Court. Granite Record is an independent project, not affiliated with the General Court. The official record always takes precedence. Corrections: [email protected]