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HB 652-FN

abolishing the family division, creating the office of family mediation, and reassigning the jurisdiction of the family division.

Filed 2026 · Died on the table · Children and Family Law · Courts and Procedure

Official record at gencourt.state.nh.us ↗

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On the record

Quoted from the General Court bill status page, not worked out from the docket.

StatusHOUSE
In the HouseDIED ON THE TABLE
Introduced1/9/2025
Floor date2/19/2026
LSR number295
Local government impactno
Committee codeH37

Bill text (PDF) ↗

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.

House committees sometimes retain a bill to keep working on it, and sometimes as a quiet way to end it.

A retained bill stays with the committee into the second year of the term. Sometimes that means more work is planned, and sometimes it is a quiet ending.

In practice this often ends a bill's progress for the term.

A bill goes on the consent calendar when the committee vote was unanimous or nearly so, and any members who dissented did not object to placing it there. It then passes without floor debate. Ten members may file a petition to pull a bill off the consent calendar and have it debated and voted on separately.

The bill was set aside during the session and never taken back up, so it died when the session ended.

Sponsors

Bernardy, JD(R) Rock 36, Sabourin dit Choinière, Matt(R) Rock 30, DeRoy, Susan(R) Straf 3, Post, Lisa(R) Hills 42
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.

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.

Recommit (Rep. DeSimone)

January 7, 2026 · House · 183–161, adopted

Decided on a division vote. Only the outcome was recorded — there is no count of how any member voted.

Lay HB652 on Table (Rep. DeSimone)

February 19, 2026 · House · 268–66, adopted

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.

Committee — INEXPEDIENT TO LEGISLATE

Rep. Mark Pearson

The motion to recommend this bill as Inexpedient to Legislate originally passed the committee 12-2. The minority recommendation was to Refer for Interim Study. Rather than bring forth the Inexpedient to Legislate motion at the beginning of the calendar year, the bill was sent back to the Children and Family Law Committee. On February 10 of this year, we discussed the topic of family court further, and came once again to the conclusion the bill should be Inexpedient to Legislate. Our opinion has not changed. If anything, our belief has become stronger that the family court is the right place for family matters to be discussed and decided. Some decades after the establishment of French-style law courts as part of the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, government leadership in England concluded that “equity courts” were needed to be added to existing tort and criminal courts and with such courts functioning with more flexible rules and procedures. The establishment of such new courts was in response to a growing request of the people. For hundreds of years equity courts have served an important function which is why most states and many countries have such. Family court is such a court of equity. Does family court need some work done on it? That was the conclusion of the two-year-long Special Committee on the Family Division of the Circuit Court and some changes were suggested and adopted. We know the work is not yet complete and look forward to more changes being made as members of the Children and Family Law Committee continue the work of reform. Vote 15-0.

Hearings and recordings

Recordings are the General Court’s own, on YouTube. Start times are estimates unless stated otherwise, and the player opens early.

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]