{"id": "HB1491", "year": 2026, "term": "2025-2026", "title": "relative to pooled risk management programs.", "narrative": "It was introduced on January 7, 2026 and referred to the House Commerce and Consumer Affairs committee. The committee held a public hearing on February 4, 2026, with 32 people signed in online: 27 in support and 5 in opposition. The committee held work sessions on February 10, 2026 and February 18, 2026. The committee met in executive session on March 3, 2026 to vote on its recommendation. The committee voted unanimously, 14\u20130, to recommend that the House pass it, and the report was placed on the consent calendar. On March 11, 2026 the House voted to pass it on a voice vote. It crossed to the Senate on March 12, 2026 and was referred to the Senate Finance committee. The committee held a public hearing on April 7, 2026. The committee voted unanimously, 7\u20130, to recommend that the Senate pass it with changes (amendment 2026-1924s), and the report was placed on the consent calendar. The committee's amendment (2026-1924s) was adopted on a voice vote on May 14, 2026, changing the text of the bill. On May 14, 2026 the Senate voted to pass it with changes on a voice vote and ordered it to a third reading. On May 21, 2026 the House adopted \u201cHouse Concurs with Senate Amendment 2026-131s and 2026-1924s\u201d on a voice vote, on a motion by Rep. John Hunt. The bill was enrolled on June 4, 2026 \u2014 the final check of the text before it goes to the governor. The governor vetoed it on June 19, 2026. The legislature can override a veto with a two-thirds vote in both chambers. On August 19, 2026 the House voted 160\u2013148 on overriding the governor's veto on a roll call, and the veto was sustained, failing to meet the two thirds threshold. On August 19, 2026 the House failed \u201cReconsider HB1491\u201d on a voice vote, on a motion by Rep. Nicholas Germana.", "stages": [{"label": "House Committee (Commerce and Consumer Affairs)", "hand": "H:committee", "text": "It was introduced on January 7, 2026 and referred to the House Commerce and Consumer Affairs committee. The committee held a public hearing on February 4, 2026, with 32 people signed in online: 27 in support and 5 in opposition. The committee held work sessions on February 10, 2026 and February 18, 2026. The committee met in executive session on March 3, 2026 to vote on its recommendation. The committee voted unanimously, 14\u20130, to recommend that the House pass it, and the report was placed on the consent calendar.", "notes": ["A committee decides whether its report goes on the consent calendar, and can send it there even when its members divided on the recommendation itself. The chamber adopts all the reports on its consent calendar in one vote, without floor debate, unless a bill is taken off it first."]}, {"label": "On the House Floor", "hand": "H:floor", "text": "On March 11, 2026 the House voted to pass it on a voice vote.", "notes": []}, {"label": "Senate Committee (Finance)", "hand": "S:committee", "text": "It crossed to the Senate on March 12, 2026 and was referred to the Senate Finance committee. The committee held a public hearing on April 7, 2026. The committee voted unanimously, 7\u20130, to recommend that the Senate pass it with changes (amendment 2026-1924s), and the report was placed on the consent calendar.", "notes": []}, {"label": "On the Senate Floor", "hand": "S:floor", "text": "The committee's amendment (2026-1924s) was adopted on a voice vote on May 14, 2026, changing the text of the bill. On May 14, 2026 the Senate voted to pass it with changes on a voice vote and ordered it to a third reading.", "notes": []}, {"label": "On the House Floor", "hand": "H:floor", "text": "On May 21, 2026 the House adopted \u201cHouse Concurs with Senate Amendment 2026-131s and 2026-1924s\u201d on a voice vote, on a motion by Rep. John Hunt.", "notes": []}, {"label": "With the Governor", "hand": "G:governor", "text": "The bill was enrolled on June 4, 2026 \u2014 the final check of the text before it goes to the governor. The governor vetoed it on June 19, 2026. The legislature can override a veto with a two-thirds vote in both chambers.", "notes": []}, {"label": "On the House Floor", "hand": "H:floor", "text": "On August 19, 2026 the House voted 160\u2013148 on overriding the governor's veto on a roll call, and the veto was sustained, failing to meet the two thirds threshold. On August 19, 2026 the House failed \u201cReconsider HB1491\u201d on a voice vote, on a motion by Rep. Nicholas Germana.", "notes": []}], "story_people": [{"text": "Rep. John Hunt", "label": "Rep. John Hunt (R - Ches 14)", "slug": "john-hunt-ches-14"}, {"text": "Rep. Nicholas Germana", "label": "Rep. Nicholas Germana (D - Ches 15)", "slug": "nicholas-germana-ches-15"}], "notes": [], "vote_note": "", "events": [{"date": "2026-01-07", "text": "Introduced 01/07/2026 and referred to Commerce and Consumer Affairs", "routine": false, "cite": "HJ 1, page 22", "cite_url": "https://gc.nh.gov/house/calendars_journals/viewer.aspx?fileName=journals%5C2026%5CHJ%2001%20January%207%2C%202026.pdf", "plain": "Introduced and referred to Commerce and Consumer Affairs"}, {"date": "2026-02-04", "text": "Public Hearing: 02/04/2026 01:45 pm GP 229", "routine": false, "testimony": {"date": "2026-02-04", "total": 32, "support": 27, "oppose": 5, "neutral": 0, "dated": true}}, {"date": "2026-02-10", "text": "Subcommittee Work Session: 02/10/2026 01:00 pm GP 229", "routine": false}, {"date": "2026-02-18", "text": "Full Committee Work Session: 02/18/2026 02:00 pm GP 229", "routine": false}, {"date": "2026-03-03", "text": "Executive Session: 03/03/2026 01:00 pm GP 229", "routine": false}, {"date": "2026-03-03", "text": "Committee Report: Ought to Pass 03/03/2026 (Vote 14-0; CC)", "routine": false, "cite": "HC 10, page 8", "cite_url": "https://gc.nh.gov/house/calendars_journals/viewer.aspx?fileName=calendars%5C2026%5CNo10%20March%206%202026.pdf", "plain": "Committee report: pass the bill, 14\u20130, for the consent calendar"}, {"date": "2026-03-11", "text": "Ought to Pass: MA VV 03/11/2026", "routine": false, "cite": "HJ 7, page 12", "cite_url": "https://gc.nh.gov/house/calendars_journals/viewer.aspx?fileName=journals%5C2026%5CHJ%2007%20March%2011%2C%202026.pdf", "plain": "Bill passed, on a voice vote"}, {"date": "2026-03-12", "text": "Introduced 03/12/2026 and Referred to Finance", "routine": false, "cite": "SJ 7", "cite_url": "https://gc.nh.gov/senate/calendars_journals/Journals/2026/SJ%2007%20March%2026%2C%202026.PDF", "plain": "Introduced and referred to Finance"}, {"date": "2026-04-07", "text": "Hearing: 04/07/2026, Room 103, SH, 01:30 pm", "routine": false, "cite": "SC 13", "cite_url": "https://gc.nh.gov/senate/calendars_journals/viewer.aspx?fileName=Calendars%5C2026%5CNo%2013%20April%202%202026.pdf", "plain": "Public hearing, 1:30 p.m., Room 103, State House"}, {"date": "2026-04-07", "text": "Hearing: 04/07/2026, Room 103, SH, 01:31 pm, on proposed amendment # 2026-1316s", "routine": false, "cite": "SC 13", "cite_url": "https://gc.nh.gov/senate/calendars_journals/viewer.aspx?fileName=Calendars%5C2026%5CNo%2013%20April%202%202026.pdf", "plain": "Public hearing, 1:31 p.m., Room 103, State House"}, {"date": "2026-05-14", "text": "Committee Report: Ought to Pass with Amendment # 2026-1924s, 05/14/2026; Vote 7-0; CC; SC 18A", "routine": false, "cite": "SC 18A", "cite_url": "https://gc.nh.gov/senate/calendars_journals/viewer.aspx?fileName=Calendars%5C2026%5CNo%2018A%20May%207%202026.pdf", "plain": "Committee report: pass the bill with changes (amendment 2026-1924s), 7\u20130, for the consent calendar"}, {"date": "2026-05-14", "text": "Committee Amendment # 2026-1924s, AA, VV; 05/14/2026", "routine": false, "cite": "SJ 12", "cite_url": "https://gc.nh.gov/senate/calendars_journals/Journals/2026/SJ%2012%20May%2014%2C%202026.PDF", "plain": "Committee amendment 2026-1924s adopted, on a voice vote"}, {"date": "2026-05-14", "text": "Ought to Pass with Amendment # 2026-1924s, MA, VV; OT3rdg; 05/14/2026", "routine": false, "cite": "SJ 12", "cite_url": "https://gc.nh.gov/senate/calendars_journals/Journals/2026/SJ%2012%20May%2014%2C%202026.PDF", "plain": "Bill passed with changes, on a voice vote"}, {"date": "2026-05-21", "text": "House Concurs with Senate Amendment 2026-131s and 2026-1924s (Rep. Hunt): MA VV 05/21/2026", "routine": false, "cite": "HJ 14, page 2", "cite_url": "https://gc.nh.gov/house/calendars_journals/viewer.aspx?fileName=journals%5C2026%5CHJ%2014%20May%2021%2C%202026.pdf", "plain": "Changes accepted, on a voice vote"}, {"date": "2026-06-04", "text": "Enrolled Adopted, VV, (In recess 06/04/2026)", "routine": false, "cite": "SJ 14", "cite_url": "https://gc.nh.gov/senate/calendars_journals/Journals/2026/SJ%2014%20June%204%2C%202026.PDF", "plain": "Enrolled: the final text checked before it goes to the Governor"}, {"date": "2026-06-04", "text": "Enrolled (in recess of) 06/04/2026", "routine": false, "cite": "HJ 15, page 45", "cite_url": "https://gc.nh.gov/house/calendars_journals/viewer.aspx?fileName=journals%5C2026%5CHJ%2015%20June%204%2C%202026.pdf", "plain": "Enrolled: the final text checked before it goes to the Governor"}, {"date": "2026-06-19", "text": "Vetoed by Governor Ayotte 06/19/2026", "routine": false}, {"date": "2026-08-19", "text": "Veto Sustained 08/19/2026: RC 160-148 Lacking Necessary Two-Thirds Vote", "routine": false, "cite": "HJ 16, page 44", "cite_url": "https://gc.nh.gov/house/calendars_journals/viewer.aspx?fileName=journals%5C2026%5CHJ%2016%20August%2019%2C%202026.pdf", "plain": "Veto sustained, 160\u2013148 to override on a roll call, short of two thirds"}, {"date": "2026-08-19", "text": "Reconsider HB1491 (Rep. N. Germana): MF VV 09/19/2026", "routine": false, "date_as_recorded": "2026-09-19", "date_note": "The General Court's online docket dates this 19 September 2026, a Saturday when the House did not meet. The House Journal for 19 August 2026 records it on page 48, and the docket entry was made that afternoon, so it is shown on 19 August.", "cite": "HJ 16, page 48", "cite_url": "https://gc.nh.gov/house/calendars_journals/viewer.aspx?fileName=journals%5C2026%5CHJ%2016%20August%2019%2C%202026.pdf", "plain": "Earlier vote stands, on a voice vote"}], "next_step": "Vetoed. The override failed and the bill is dead", "status_source": "General Court docket", "chapter": "", "journey": {"steps": [{"date": "2026-03-11", "body": "H", "act": "passed", "mark": "p", "text": "Passed on a voice vote"}, {"date": "2026-05-14", "body": "S", "act": "passed", "mark": "p", "text": "Passed with an amendment on a voice vote"}, {"date": "2026-05-21", "body": "H", "act": "concurred", "mark": "p", "text": "Agreed to the Senate's amendment on a voice vote"}, {"date": "2026-06-19", "body": "G", "act": "vetoed", "mark": "x", "text": "Vetoed"}, {"date": "2026-08-19", "body": "H", "act": "sustained", "mark": "x", "text": "Veto sustained, 160\u2013148 to override, short of two thirds"}], "rail": [{"stop": "Introduced", "mark": "p", "date": "2026-01-07", "say": "Introduced"}, {"stop": "House", "mark": "p", "date": "2026-03-11", "say": "Passed on a voice vote"}, {"stop": "Senate", "mark": "p", "date": "2026-05-14", "say": "Passed with an amendment on a voice vote"}, {"stop": "Governor", "mark": "x", "date": "2026-06-19", "say": "Vetoed"}, {"stop": "Law", "mark": "x", "date": "2026-08-19", "say": "Did not become law"}]}, "text_url": "https://gc.nh.gov/bill_status/legacy/bs2016/billText.aspx?id=1598&txtFormat=html&sy=2026", "facts": {"lsr": "2397", "body": "H", "local": "N", "gen_status": "VETOED BY GOVERNOR", "house_status": "VETO SUSTAINED", "senate_status": "PASSED/ADOPTED WITH AMENDMENT", "date_introduced": "1/7/2026", "floor_date": "8/19/2026", "committee_code": "H43"}, "sponsors": [{"member_id": "414", "name": "Hunt, John", "party": "R", "chamber": "H", "label": "Rep. John Hunt (R - Ches 14)", "sequence": 0, "prime": true, "role": "Prime", "county": "Ches", "district": "14", "display_plain": "Rep. John Hunt", "display": "Rep. John Hunt (R)", "display_full": "Rep. John Hunt (R - Ches 14)", "district_label": "Ches 14", "sort": "hunt, john", "slug": "john-hunt-ches-14"}, {"member_id": "8747", "name": "Innis, Daniel", "party": "R", "chamber": "S", "label": "Sen. Daniel Innis (R - SD7)", "sequence": 1, "prime": false, "role": "Sponsor", "county": "Belk", "district": "07", "display_plain": "Sen. Daniel Innis", "display": "Sen. Daniel Innis (R)", "display_full": "Sen. Daniel Innis (R - SD7)", "district_label": "SD7", "sort": "innis, daniel", "slug": "daniel-innis-sd-7"}, {"member_id": "9856", "name": "Perkins Kwoka, Rebecca", "party": "D", "chamber": "S", "label": "Sen. Rebecca Perkins Kwoka (D - SD21)", "sequence": 1, "prime": false, "role": "Sponsor", "county": "Rock", "district": "21", "display_plain": "Sen. Rebecca Perkins Kwoka", "display": "Sen. Rebecca Perkins Kwoka (D)", "display_full": "Sen. Rebecca Perkins Kwoka (D - SD21)", "district_label": "SD21", "sort": "perkins kwoka, rebecca", "slug": "rebecca-perkins-kwoka-sd-21"}, {"member_id": "10700", "name": "Porcelli, Susan", "party": "R", "chamber": "H", "label": "Rep. Susan Porcelli (R - Rock 19)", "sequence": 1, "prime": false, "role": "Sponsor", "county": "Rock", "district": "19", "display_plain": "Rep. Susan Porcelli", "display": "Rep. Susan Porcelli (R)", "display_full": "Rep. Susan Porcelli (R - Rock 19)", "district_label": "Rock 19", "sort": "porcelli, susan", "slug": "susan-porcelli-rock-19"}], "rollcalls": [{"date": "2026-03-11", "body": "H", "question": "Ought to Pass", "mover": "", "yeas": null, "nays": null, "passed": true, "vote_kind": "VV", "vote_kind_label": "voice vote", "threshold_note": null, "tally": {}, "members": [], "amendment": null, "mk": "otp", "mf": {}}, {"date": "2026-05-14", "body": "S", "question": "Ought to Pass with Amendment # 2026-1924s", "mover": "", "yeas": null, "nays": null, "passed": true, "vote_kind": "VV", "vote_kind_label": "voice vote", "threshold_note": null, "tally": {}, "members": [], "amendment": null, "mk": "otpa", "mf": {}}, {"date": "2026-05-21", "body": "H", "question": "House Concurs with Senate Amendment 2026-131s and 2026-1924s", "mover": "Rep. John Hunt", "yeas": null, "nays": null, "passed": true, "vote_kind": "VV", "vote_kind_label": "voice vote", "threshold_note": null, "tally": {}, "members": [], "amendment": null, "mk": "concur", "mf": {}, "mrec": "House Concurs with Senate Amendment 2026-131s and 2026-1924s", "mover_m": {"label": "Rep. John Hunt (R - Ches 14)", "slug": "john-hunt-ches-14"}}, {"date": "2026-08-19", "body": "H", "question": "Veto Override", "yeas": 160, "nays": 148, "passed": false, "threshold_note": "A majority voted yes, but this needed 206 (two thirds of the 308 members voting) and fell 46 short.", "amendment": null, "threshold_needed": 206, "threshold_rule": "two thirds of the 308 members voting", "tally": {"R": {"Yea": 159, "Nay": 12, "Not Voting/Excused": 19, "Presiding": 1, "Not Voting/Not Excused": 22}, "D": {"Nay": 136, "Not Voting/Not Excused": 20, "Not Voting/Excused": 13, "Yea": 1}, "I": {"Not Voting/Not Excused": 1}}, "members": [{"n": "Rep. Phyllis Katsakiores (R)", "s": "katsakiores, phyllis", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Mary Jane Wallner (D)", "s": "wallner, mary jane", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. John Hunt (R)", "s": "hunt, john", "p": "R", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Janet Wall (D)", "s": "wall, janet", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Wayne Burton (D)", "s": "burton, wayne", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Gary Gilmore (D)", "s": "gilmore, gary", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Kenneth Weyler (R)", "s": "weyler, kenneth", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Gary Daniels (R)", "s": "daniels, gary", "p": "R", "v": "Not Voting/Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Sherman Packard (R)", "s": "packard, sherman", "p": "R", "v": "Presiding"}, {"n": "Rep. John Sytek (R)", "s": "sytek, john", "p": "R", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. John Cloutier (D)", "s": "cloutier, john", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. James MacKay (D)", "s": "mackay, james", "p": "D", "v": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Susan Almy (D)", "s": "almy, susan", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Joseph Guthrie (R)", "s": "guthrie, joseph", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Peter Leishman (D)", "s": "leishman, peter", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Marjorie Smith (D)", "s": "smith, marjorie", "p": "D", "v": "Not Voting/Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Michael Harrington (R)", "s": "harrington, michael", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Charles McMahon (R)", "s": "mcmahon, charles", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Maureen Mooney (R)", "s": "mooney, maureen", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Peter Schmidt (D)", "s": "schmidt, peter", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Ralph Boehm (R)", "s": "boehm, ralph", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Jordan Ulery (R)", "s": "ulery, jordan", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Thomas Buco (D)", "s": "buco, thomas", "p": "D", "v": "Not Voting/Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Jean Jeudy (D)", "s": "jeudy, jean", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Lucy Weber (D)", "s": "weber, lucy", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Debra DeSimone (R)", "s": "desimone, debra", "p": "R", "v": "Not Voting/Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Larry Gagne (R)", "s": "gagne, larry", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Timothy Horrigan (D)", "s": "horrigan, timothy", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Rick Ladd (R)", "s": "ladd, rick", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Carol McGuire (R)", "s": "mcguire, carol", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Timothy Soucy (D)", "s": "soucy, timothy", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Susan DeLemus (R)", "s": "delemus, susan", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Jack Flanagan (R)", "s": "flanagan, jack", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Gregory Hill (R)", "s": "hill, gregory", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. David Lundgren (R)", "s": "lundgren, david", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Dan McGuire (R)", "s": "mcguire, dan", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Jeanine Notter (R)", "s": "notter, jeanine", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Bill Ohm (R)", "s": "ohm, bill", "p": "R", "v": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Mark Proulx (R)", "s": "proulx, mark", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Brian Seaworth (R)", "s": "seaworth, brian", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Steven Smith (R)", "s": "smith, steven", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Marc Tremblay (R)", "s": "tremblay, marc", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Mark Warden (R)", "s": "warden, mark", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Dick Ames (D)", "s": "ames, dick", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Paul Berch (D)", "s": "berch, paul", "p": "D", "v": "Not Voting/Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Peter Bixby (D)", "s": "bixby, peter", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Efstathia Booras (D)", "s": "booras, efstathia", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Michael Cahill (D)", "s": "cahill, michael", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Karel Crawford (R)", "s": "crawford, karel", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Linda DiSilvestro (D)", "s": "disilvestro, linda", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Karen Ebel (D)", "s": "ebel, karen", "p": "D", "v": "Not Voting/Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Linda Harriott-Gathright (D)", "s": "harriott-gathright, linda", "p": "D", "v": "Not Voting/Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Martin Jack (D)", "s": "jack, martin", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Aboul Khan (R)", "s": "khan, aboul", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Dennis Malloy (D)", "s": "malloy, dennis", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. David Milz (R)", "s": "milz, david", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Chris Muns (D)", "s": "muns, chris", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Skip Rollins (R)", "s": "rollins, skip", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Thomas Schamberg (D)", "s": "schamberg, thomas", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Joe Sweeney (R)", "s": "sweeney, joe", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. George Sykes (D)", "s": "sykes, george", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Thomas Walsh (R)", "s": "walsh, thomas", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Gerald Ward (D)", "s": "ward, gerald", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Glen Aldrich (R)", "s": "aldrich, glen", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Keith Ammon (R)", "s": "ammon, keith", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Lino Avellani (R)", "s": "avellani, lino", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Russell Dumais (R)", "s": "dumais, russell", "p": "R", "v": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Thomas Kaczynski (R)", "s": "kaczynski, thomas", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Mark McLean (R)", "s": "mclean, mark", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Jason Osborne (R)", "s": "osborne, jason", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. John Potucek (R)", "s": "potucek, john", "p": "R", "v": "Not Voting/Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Katherine Prudhomme-O'Brien (R)", "s": "prudhomme-o'brien, katherine", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Kimberly Rice (R)", "s": "rice, kimberly", "p": "R", "v": "Not Voting/Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. James Spillane (R)", "s": "spillane, james", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Douglas Thomas (R)", "s": "thomas, douglas", "p": "R", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Len Turcotte (R)", "s": "turcotte, len", "p": "R", "v": "Not Voting/Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Peter Varney (R)", "s": "varney, peter", "p": "R", "v": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Michael Vose (R)", "s": "vose, michael", "p": "R", "v": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Patricia Cornell (D)", "s": "cornell, patricia", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Linda Gould (R)", "s": "gould, linda", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Christopher Herbert (D)", "s": "herbert, christopher", "p": "D", "v": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. David Luneau (D)", "s": "luneau, david", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Alexis Simpson (D)", "s": "simpson, alexis", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Thomas Southworth (D)", "s": "southworth, thomas", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Michael Edgar (D)", "s": "edgar, michael", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Michael Moffett (R)", "s": "moffett, michael", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Barry Faulkner (D)", "s": "faulkner, barry", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Barbara Comtois (R)", "s": "comtois, barbara", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Jim Fedolfi (R)", "s": "fedolfi, jim", "p": "R", "v": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Gerald Griffin (R)", "s": "griffin, gerald", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Lisa Freeman (R)", "s": "freeman, lisa", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Richard Lascelles (R)", "s": "lascelles, richard", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Kevin Scully (R)", "s": "scully, kevin", "p": "R", "v": "Not Voting/Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Andrew Prout (R)", "s": "prout, andrew", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. John Leavitt (R)", "s": "leavitt, john", "p": "R", "v": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Kevin Verville (R)", "s": "verville, kevin", "p": "R", "v": "Not Voting/Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Jess Edwards (R)", "s": "edwards, jess", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Richard Tripp (R)", "s": "tripp, richard", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. John Janigian (R)", "s": "janigian, john", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Cathryn Harvey (D)", "s": "harvey, cathryn", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Mark MacKenzie (D)", "s": "mackenzie, mark", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Sue Newman (D)", "s": "newman, sue", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Catherine Sofikitis (D)", "s": "sofikitis, catherine", "p": "D", "v": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Beth Richards (D)", "s": "richards, beth", "p": "D", "v": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Ellen Read (D)", "s": "read, ellen", "p": "D", "v": "Not Voting/Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Julie Gilman (D)", "s": "gilman, julie", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Mark Pearson (R)", "s": "pearson, mark", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Kris Schultz (D)", "s": "schultz, kris", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Charlie St. Clair (D)", "s": "st. clair, charlie", "p": "D", "v": "Not Voting/Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Brian Sullivan (D)", "s": "sullivan, brian", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Anita Burroughs (D)", "s": "burroughs, anita", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Stephen Woodcock (D)", "s": "woodcock, stephen", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. John MacDonald (R)", "s": "macdonald, john", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Jerry Stringham (D)", "s": "stringham, jerry", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Sallie Fellows (D)", "s": "fellows, sallie", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Laurel Stavis (D)", "s": "stavis, laurel", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Keith Erf (R)", "s": "erf, keith", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Nancy Murphy (D)", "s": "murphy, nancy", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Rosemarie Rung (D)", "s": "rung, rosemarie", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Wendy Thomas (D)", "s": "thomas, wendy", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Ray Newman (D)", "s": "newman, ray", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Fred Davis (D)", "s": "davis, fred", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Laura Telerski (D)", "s": "telerski, laura", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Matthew Wilhelm (D)", "s": "wilhelm, matthew", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Connie Lane (D)", "s": "lane, connie", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Gary Woods (D)", "s": "woods, gary", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Tom Dolan (R)", "s": "dolan, tom", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. David Love (R)", "s": "love, david", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Stephen Pearson (R)", "s": "pearson, stephen", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Mark Vallone (D)", "s": "vallone, mark", "p": "D", "v": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Robert Harb (R)", "s": "harb, robert", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Charles Melvin (R)", "s": "melvin, charles", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Gaby Grossman (D)", "s": "grossman, gaby", "p": "D", "v": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Jim Maggiore (D)", "s": "maggiore, jim", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. David Meuse (D)", "s": "meuse, david", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Terry Roy (R)", "s": "roy, terry", "p": "R", "v": "Not Voting/Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Cassandra Levesque (D)", "s": "levesque, cassandra", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Judy Aron (R)", "s": "aron, judy", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Megan Murray (D)", "s": "murray, megan", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Kat McGhee (D)", "s": "mcghee, kat", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Joe Alexander (R)", "s": "alexander, joe", "p": "R", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Paul Dargie (D)", "s": "dargie, paul", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Peter Petrigno (D)", "s": "petrigno, peter", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Tom Ploszaj (R)", "s": "ploszaj, tom", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Mike Bordes (R)", "s": "bordes, mike", "p": "R", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Juliet Harvey-Bolia (R)", "s": "harvey-bolia, juliet", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Douglas Trottier (R)", "s": "trottier, douglas", "p": "R", "v": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Jonathan Smith (R)", "s": "smith, jonathan", "p": "R", "v": "Not Voting/Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Chris McAleer (D)", "s": "mcaleer, chris", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Dru Fox (D)", "s": "fox, dru", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Lucius Parshall (D)", "s": "parshall, lucius", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. James Qualey (R)", "s": "qualey, james", "p": "R", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Jennifer Rhodes (R)", "s": "rhodes, jennifer", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Arnold Davis (R)", "s": "davis, arnold", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Lex Berezhny (R)", "s": "berezhny, lex", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Mary Hakken-Phillips (D)", "s": "hakken-phillips, mary", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Russell Muirhead (D)", "s": "muirhead, russell", "p": "D", "v": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Jim Kofalt (R)", "s": "kofalt, jim", "p": "R", "v": "Not Voting/Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Lisa Post (R)", "s": "post, lisa", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Ted Gorski (R)", "s": "gorski, ted", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Daniel Veilleux (D)", "s": "veilleux, daniel", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Vanessa Sheehan (R)", "s": "sheehan, vanessa", "p": "R", "v": "Not Voting/Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Diane Kelley (R)", "s": "kelley, diane", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Diane Pauer (R)", "s": "pauer, diane", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. James Creighton (R)", "s": "creighton, james", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Ross Berry (R)", "s": "berry, ross", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Louise Andrus (R)", "s": "andrus, louise", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Tony Caplan (D)", "s": "caplan, tony", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Jose Cambrils (R)", "s": "cambrils, jose", "p": "R", "v": "Not Voting/Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Eric Gallager (D)", "s": "gallager, eric", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Matthew Pitaro (R)", "s": "pitaro, matthew", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Stephen Boyd (R)", "s": "boyd, stephen", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Paul Tudor (R)", "s": "tudor, paul", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Erica Layon (R)", "s": "layon, erica", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Julius Soti (R)", "s": "soti, julius", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Bob Lynn (R)", "s": "lynn, bob", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Susan Vandecasteele (R)", "s": "vandecasteele, susan", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Melissa Litchfield (R)", "s": "litchfield, melissa", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. JD Bernardy (R)", "s": "bernardy, jd", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Mark Paige (D)", "s": "paige, mark", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Glenn Bailey (R)", "s": "bailey, glenn", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Aidan Ankarberg (I)", "s": "ankarberg, aidan", "p": "I", "v": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Walter Spilsbury (R)", "s": "spilsbury, walter", "p": "R", "v": "Not Voting/Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Wayne MacDonald (R)", "s": "macdonald, wayne", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Paul Terry (R)", "s": "terry, paul", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Bill Boyd (R)", "s": "boyd, bill", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Muriel Hall (D)", "s": "hall, muriel", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Catherine Rombeau (D)", "s": "rombeau, catherine", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Jodi Nelson (R)", "s": "nelson, jodi", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Cyril Aures (R)", "s": "aures, cyril", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Deborah Aylward (R)", "s": "aylward, deborah", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Peggy Balboni (D)", "s": "balboni, peggy", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Heather Baldwin (D)", "s": "baldwin, heather", "p": "D", "v": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Lorie Ball (R)", "s": "ball, lorie", "p": "R", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Luz Bay (D)", "s": "bay, luz", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Steven Bogert (R)", "s": "bogert, steven", "p": "R", "v": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Bill Bolton (D)", "s": "bolton, bill", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Richard Brown (R)", "s": "brown, richard", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Claudine Burnham (R)", "s": "burnham, claudine", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Matthew Coker (R)", "s": "coker, matthew", "p": "R", "v": "Not Voting/Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Rich\u00e9 Colcombe (R)", "s": "colcombe, rich\u00e9", "p": "R", "v": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Travis Corcoran (R)", "s": "corcoran, travis", "p": "R", "v": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Thomas Cormen (D)", "s": "cormen, thomas", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Hope Damon (D)", "s": "damon, hope", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Will Darby (D)", "s": "darby, will", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. William Dolan (D)", "s": "dolan, william", "p": "D", "v": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Tanya Donnelly (R)", "s": "donnelly, tanya", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Mike Drago (R)", "s": "drago, mike", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Margaret Drye (R)", "s": "drye, margaret", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Ron Dunn (R)", "s": "dunn, ron", "p": "R", "v": "Not Voting/Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Susan Elberger (D)", "s": "elberger, susan", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Charles Foote (R)", "s": "foote, charles", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Loren Foxx (D)", "s": "foxx, loren", "p": "D", "v": "Not Voting/Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Nicholas Germana (D)", "s": "germana, nicholas", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Merryl Gibbs (D)", "s": "gibbs, merryl", "p": "D", "v": "Not Voting/Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Michael Granger (R)", "s": "granger, michael", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Alicia Gregg (D)", "s": "gregg, alicia", "p": "D", "v": "Not Voting/Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Jessica Grill (D)", "s": "grill, jessica", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Matthew Hicks (D)", "s": "hicks, matthew", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Molly Howard (D)", "s": "howard, molly", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Heath Howard (D)", "s": "howard, heath", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Allan Howland (D)", "s": "howland, allan", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Philip Jones (D)", "s": "jones, philip", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Louis Juris (D)", "s": "juris, louis", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Catherine Kenny (R)", "s": "kenny, catherine", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Seth King (R)", "s": "king, seth", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Allison Knab (D)", "s": "knab, allison", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Katelyn Kuttab (R)", "s": "kuttab, katelyn", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Jessica LaMontagne (D)", "s": "lamontagne, jessica", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Nicole Leapley (D)", "s": "leapley, nicole", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Daniel LeClerc (D)", "s": "leclerc, daniel", "p": "D", "v": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Christal Lloyd (D)", "s": "lloyd, christal", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Peter Lovett (D)", "s": "lovett, peter", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Tom Mannion (R)", "s": "mannion, tom", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Dennis Mannion (R)", "s": "mannion, dennis", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Zoe Manos (D)", "s": "manos, zoe", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Lisa Mazur (R)", "s": "mazur, lisa", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Valerie McDonnell (R)", "s": "mcdonnell, valerie", "p": "R", "v": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Alissandra Murray (D)", "s": "murray, alissandra", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. David Nagel (D)", "s": "nagel, david", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Jodi Newell (D)", "s": "newell, jodi", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Kristin Noble (R)", "s": "noble, kristin", "p": "R", "v": "Not Voting/Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Mike Ouellet (R)", "s": "ouellet, mike", "p": "R", "v": "Not Voting/Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. David Paige (D)", "s": "paige, david", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. William Palmer (D)", "s": "palmer, william", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Stephanie Payeur (D)", "s": "payeur, stephanie", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Kristine Perez (R)", "s": "perez, kristine", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Katy Peternel (R)", "s": "peternel, katy", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Yury Polozov (R)", "s": "polozov, yury", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Daniel Popovici-Muller (R)", "s": "popovici-muller, daniel", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Susan Porcelli (R)", "s": "porcelli, susan", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Kelley Potenza (R)", "s": "potenza, kelley", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Heather Raymond (D)", "s": "raymond, heather", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Ned Raynolds (D)", "s": "raynolds, ned", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. James Roesener (D)", "s": "roesener, james", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Linda Ryan (D)", "s": "ryan, linda", "p": "D", "v": "Not Voting/Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Alvin See (R)", "s": "see, alvin", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Christine Seibert (D)", "s": "seibert, christine", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Loren Selig (D)", "s": "selig, loren", "p": "D", "v": "Not Voting/Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. John Sellers (R)", "s": "sellers, john", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Shane Sirois (R)", "s": "sirois, shane", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Geoffrey Smith (D)", "s": "smith, geoffrey", "p": "D", "v": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Carry Spier (D)", "s": "spier, carry", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Kathy Staub (D)", "s": "staub, kathy", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Jared Sullivan (D)", "s": "sullivan, jared", "p": "D", "v": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. James Summers (R)", "s": "summers, james", "p": "R", "v": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Trinidad Tellez (D)", "s": "tellez, trinidad", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Jeffrey Tenczar (R)", "s": "tenczar, jeffrey", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Eric Turer (D)", "s": "turer, eric", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. David Walker (R)", "s": "walker, david", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Lilli Walsh (R)", "s": "walsh, lilli", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Jonah Wheeler (D)", "s": "wheeler, jonah", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Robert Wherry (R)", "s": "wherry, robert", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Clayton Wood (R)", "s": "wood, clayton", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Dick Thackston (R)", "s": "thackston, dick", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. James Tierney (R)", "s": "tierney, james", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Brian Cole (R)", "s": "cole, brian", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Mike Belcher (R)", "s": "belcher, mike", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Marc Plamondon (D)", "s": "plamondon, marc", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. David Fracht (D)", "s": "fracht, david", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Paige Beauchemin (D)", "s": "beauchemin, paige", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Sean Durkin (R)", "s": "durkin, sean", "p": "R", "v": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Erik Johnson (D)", "s": "johnson, erik", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Jennifer Mandelbaum (D)", "s": "mandelbaum, jennifer", "p": "D", "v": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Michael Aron (R)", "s": "aron, michael", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Liz Barbour (R)", "s": "barbour, liz", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Joseph Barton (R)", "s": "barton, joseph", "p": "R", "v": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Calvin Beaulier (R)", "s": "beaulier, calvin", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Cindy Bennett (R)", "s": "bennett, cindy", "p": "R", "v": "Not Voting/Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Dan Bergeron (D)", "s": "bergeron, dan", "p": "D", "v": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Marie Louise Bjelobrk (R)", "s": "bjelobrk, marie louise", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Tracy Bricchi (D)", "s": "bricchi, tracy", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Nicholas Bridle (R)", "s": "bridle, nicholas", "p": "R", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Pam Brown (R)", "s": "brown, pam", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Scott Bryer (R)", "s": "bryer, scott", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Manoj Chourasia (D)", "s": "chourasia, manoj", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Suzanne Chretien (D)", "s": "chretien, suzanne", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Eleana Colby (D)", "s": "colby, eleana", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Erica de Vries (D)", "s": "de vries, erica", "p": "D", "v": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Denise DeDe-Poulin (R)", "s": "dede-poulin, denise", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Susan DeRoy (R)", "s": "deroy, susan", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Sayra DeVito (R)", "s": "devito, sayra", "p": "R", "v": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Ricky Devoid (R)", "s": "devoid, ricky", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Matt Drew (R)", "s": "drew, matt", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Dillon Dumont (R)", "s": "dumont, dillon", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Pierre Dupont (R)", "s": "dupont, pierre", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Myles England (D)", "s": "england, myles", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Samuel Farrington (R)", "s": "farrington, samuel", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Mary Ford (R)", "s": "ford, mary", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Lily Foss (D)", "s": "foss, lily", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Linda Franz (R)", "s": "franz, linda", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Mary Georges (D)", "s": "georges, mary", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Henry Giasson (R)", "s": "giasson, henry", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Dale Girard (R)", "s": "girard, dale", "p": "R", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Ernesto Gonzalez (R)", "s": "gonzalez, ernesto", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. George Grant (R)", "s": "grant, george", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. James Gruber (D)", "s": "gruber, james", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Stephanie Grund (D)", "s": "grund, stephanie", "p": "D", "v": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. James Guzofski (R)", "s": "guzofski, james", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Robley Hall (R)", "s": "hall, robley", "p": "R", "v": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Joseph Hamblen (R)", "s": "hamblen, joseph", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Karen Hegner (D)", "s": "hegner, karen", "p": "D", "v": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Wayne Hemingway (R)", "s": "hemingway, wayne", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Samantha Jacobs (D)", "s": "jacobs, samantha", "p": "D", "v": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Sly Karasinski (R)", "s": "karasinski, sly", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Eileen Kelly (D)", "s": "kelly, eileen", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Erin Kerwin (D)", "s": "kerwin, erin", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Steven Kesselring (R)", "s": "kesselring, steven", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Lee Ann Kluger (D)", "s": "kluger, lee ann", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Lori Korzen (R)", "s": "korzen, lori", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Brian Labrie (R)", "s": "labrie, brian", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. John Larochelle (D)", "s": "larochelle, john", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Patrick Long (D)", "s": "long, patrick", "p": "D", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Darrell Louis (R)", "s": "louis, darrell", "p": "R", "v": "Not Voting/Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Janet Lucas (D)", "s": "lucas, janet", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Amy Malone (D)", "s": "malone, amy", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Tim Mannion (R)", "s": "mannion, tim", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Sanjeev Manohar (D)", "s": "manohar, sanjeev", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Jay Markell (R)", "s": "markell, jay", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Rita Mattson (R)", "s": "mattson, rita", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Donald McFarlane (R)", "s": "mcfarlane, donald", "p": "R", "v": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Linda McGrath (R)", "s": "mcgrath, linda", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Peter Mehegan (R)", "s": "mehegan, peter", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Julie Miles (R)", "s": "miles, julie", "p": "R", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Seth Miller (D)", "s": "miller, seth", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Laurence Miner (R)", "s": "miner, laurence", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Sheri Minor (R)", "s": "minor, sheri", "p": "R", "v": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Pete Morency (R)", "s": "morency, pete", "p": "R", "v": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Bryan Morse (R)", "s": "morse, bryan", "p": "R", "v": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Mary Murphy (R)", "s": "murphy, mary", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Denis Murphy (R)", "s": "murphy, denis", "p": "R", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Brian Nadeau (R)", "s": "nadeau, brian", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Rich Nalevanko (R)", "s": "nalevanko, rich", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. James Newsom (D)", "s": "newsom, james", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Terri O'Rorke (D)", "s": "o'rorke, terri", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Kathleen Paquette (R)", "s": "paquette, kathleen", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Wayne Pearson (D)", "s": "pearson, wayne", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Raymond Peeples (R)", "s": "peeples, raymond", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Raymond Plante (R)", "s": "plante, raymond", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Adam Presa (R)", "s": "presa, adam", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Sherri Reinfurt (R)", "s": "reinfurt, sherri", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Ellen Rockmore (D)", "s": "rockmore, ellen", "p": "D", "v": "Not Voting/Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Matt Sabourin dit Choini\u00e8re (R)", "s": "sabourin dit choini\u00e8re, matt", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Santosh Salvi (D)", "s": "salvi, santosh", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Gregory Sargent (D)", "s": "sargent, gregory", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Buzz Scherr (D)", "s": "scherr, buzz", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. John Schneller (R)", "s": "schneller, john", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Donald Selby (R)", "s": "selby, donald", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Jeremy Slottje (R)", "s": "slottje, jeremy", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Jim Snodgrass (D)", "s": "snodgrass, jim", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Carrie Sorensen (D)", "s": "sorensen, carrie", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Terry Spahr (D)", "s": "spahr, terry", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. John Stone (D)", "s": "stone, john", "p": "D", "v": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. John Suiter (R)", "s": "suiter, john", "p": "R", "v": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Dale Swanson (D)", "s": "swanson, dale", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Brian Taylor (R)", "s": "taylor, brian", "p": "R", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. James Thibault (R)", "s": "thibault, james", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Travis Toner (R)", "s": "toner, travis", "p": "R", "v": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Alice Wade (D)", "s": "wade, alice", "p": "D", "v": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Toni Weinstein (D)", "s": "weinstein, toni", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Vicki Wilson (R)", "s": "wilson, vicki", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Billie Butler (D)", "s": "butler, billie", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Bobbi Boudman (D)", "s": "boudman, bobbi", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. David Preece (D)", "s": "preece, david", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}], "mk": "override_first", "mf": {"Chamber": "House"}, "mrec": "Veto Override"}, {"date": "2026-08-19", "body": "H", "question": "Reconsider HB1491", "mover": "Rep. Nicholas Germana", "yeas": null, "nays": null, "passed": false, "vote_kind": "VV", "vote_kind_label": "voice vote", "threshold_note": null, "tally": {}, "members": [], "amendment": null, "mk": "reconsider", "mf": {}, "mrec": "Reconsider HB1491", "mover_m": {"label": "Rep. Nicholas Germana (D - Ches 15)", "slug": "nicholas-germana-ches-15"}}], "stations": [{"when": "2026-02-04", "time": "13:45", "what": "public hearing", "committee": "Commerce and Consumer Affairs", "body": "H", "venue": "GP 229", "video_id": "_YNaTMx17_k", "watch": null, "predicted": 13763.0, "start": 17155.6, "state": "stated", "tolerance": 5, "short": false, "end": null, "end_stated": false, "end_from": null, "candidate": null, "start_stated": true, "said_how": "number", "end_stated_cluster": false, "testimony": {"date": "2026-02-04", "total": 32, "support": 27, "oppose": 5, "neutral": 0, "dated": true}}, {"when": "2026-02-10", "time": "13:00", "what": "subcommittee work session", "committee": "Commerce and Consumer Affairs", "body": "H", "venue": "GP 229", "video_id": "utCuLwh1PZ4", "watch": null, "predicted": 1.0, "start": 559.0, "state": "stated", "tolerance": 5, "short": false, "end": null, "end_stated": false, "end_from": "last mention of the bill", "candidate": null, "start_stated": true, "said_how": "bare number (weak marker)", "end_stated_cluster": false}, {"when": "2026-02-18", "time": "14:00", "what": "full committee work session", "committee": "Commerce and Consumer Affairs", "body": "H", "venue": "GP 229", "video_id": "120gOWa2Jl0", "watch": null, "predicted": 14473.0, "start": null, "state": "approximate", "tolerance": null, "short": false, "end": null, "end_stated": false, "end_from": null, "candidate": 19980.0, "start_stated": false, "said_how": null, "end_stated_cluster": false}, {"when": "2026-03-03", "time": "13:00", "what": "executive session", "committee": "Commerce and Consumer Affairs", "body": "H", "venue": "GP 229", "video_id": "gomHXskSVYk", "watch": null, "predicted": 10864.0, "start": null, "state": "approximate", "tolerance": null, "short": false, "end": null, "end_stated": false, "end_from": null, "candidate": null, "start_stated": false, "said_how": null, "end_stated_cluster": false}, {"when": "2026-03-11", "time": null, "what": "consent calendar", "committee": "House", "venue": null, "video_id": "b9vTd1d8PuI", "watch": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9vTd1d8PuI&t=0s", "predicted": null, "start": null, "debate_end": null, "window_start": null, "motions": ["Ought to Pass"], "tallies": [], "state": "consent", "candidate": null}, {"when": "2026-04-07", "time": "13:30", "what": "hearing", "committee": "Finance", "body": "S", "venue": "SH 103", "video_id": "QqKkvIpInnQ", "watch": null, "predicted": 979.0, "start": null, "state": "approximate", "tolerance": null, "short": false, "end": null, "end_stated": false, "end_from": null, "candidate": null, "start_stated": false, "said_how": null, "end_stated_cluster": false, "reports": [{"committee": "Senate Finance Committee", "heard": "2026-04-07", "opened": "1:30 p.m.", "closed": "2:58 p.m.", "present": "Senators Gray, Innis, Birdsell, Lang, Rosenwald and Watters", "absent": "Senators Carson and Pearl", "positions": [["Who supports the bill", "Representative Hunt; Mayor Declan McEachern; Scott DeRoche; Jeanne Herrick; Margaret Byrnes; Scott Gross; Amy Scholes; Scott Butcher; Janice Pack; Jennifer Gaudette; Heidi Carlson; Rick Sawyer; Who supports Proposed Amendment #2026-1316s: No one;"], ["Who opposes the bill", "No one; Who opposes Proposed Amendment #2026-1316s: Mayor Declan McEachern; Scott DeRoche; Jeanne Herrick; Margaret Byrnes; Scott Gross;"], ["Who is neutral on the bill", "Eric Forcier; Hua Li; Who is neutral on Proposed Amendment #2026-1316s: Eric Forcier; Hua Li;"]], "completed": "2026-04-15", "sections": [{"label": "Summary of testimony presented in support of HB 1491", "side": "support", "speakers": [{"who": "Representative Hunt, Prime Sponsor", "points": ["HB 1491 is the exact bill the House Commerce Committee and the House of Representatives passed one year ago. At that time the Senate chose not to enter into a Committee of Conference with the House on the bill.", "The original Chapter 5-B risk pool legislation was passed the year prior to the year Representative Hunt first got elected. At that time because these risk pools were serving a community it was decided there was no need for any regulation. The financial reporting by these risk pools would be under the responsibility of the Secretary of State's Office. That responsibility has remained in place for 24 years.", "Later on some union firefighters were concerned the reserves were too high and could actually be lowered via a lower premium.", "Representative Hunt remembers asking way back then why the risk pools weren't regulated by the Insurance Department. The response he received was there was no need for regulation because these entities are communities. They're assessing and regulating themselves. There would be no body to oversee the reserves or oversee the financial situation.", "In 2010 the statute was changed to give the Secretary of State some authority over regulation of the financial status of these entities. Again, the concern was, are the reserves too high. It ended up the Secretary of State could take a risk pool to court and demand they refund some of their reserves.", "Representative Hunt believes we don't need any legislative bills if we simply repealed the 2010 requirement and kept the Secretary of State's Office out of the risk pool business. Let them be on their own.", "HB 1491, as presented, was the Senate version of the risk pool bill last year and includes regulation by the Insurance Department.", "Representative Hunt gave the example of Delta Dental and what happened during COVID when their reserves got whoopingly high. For the next 3-4 years, Delta Dental kept their premium flat and didn't give back any refunds. Then everyone started returning to the dentist. This year will be the first year they will actually increase the premium.", "Representative Hunt believes insurance regulation is absolutely the way to go. He is also very supportive of anything that allows the current 5-B regulation to continue.", "The hope is to have two bills with two solutions and a risk pool can choose whichever regulator they want.", "Representative Hunt stressed there needs to be good, workable transition language for any risk pool to easily transition from one form of regulation to the other."]}, {"who": "Scott DeRoche, Executive Director, and Jeanne Herrick, General Counsel, HealthTrust", "points": ["HealthTrust strongly supports HB 1491 as passed by the House of Representatives.", "RSA 420-R, drafted by the Insurance Department, uses nationally recognized standards to ensure solvency. The expertise offered by the Department resulted in a system that will ensure risk pool solvency, and will eliminate the concerns that have been raised in recent years. It protects municipal and school groups from threats of insolvency, ensures claims are paid for the protection of covered individuals, protects taxpayers against significant unexpected budget expenses, and importantly, it allows for fixed cost coverages like HealthTrust offers to remain available to the public sector entities that rely upon it.", "HealthTrust is the only health risk pool in New Hampshire to never deplete reserves, never issue assessments, and never threaten that medical claims will not be paid. They've done that with the use of sound, actuarial standards and a consistent focus on long-term solvency, which allowed them to successfully manage even the difficult years post COVID.", "HB 1491 requires much more rigorous regulation and oversight than HealthTrust has today. However, they fully support those standards.", "There are prudent requirements such as required rate approval to ensure rate sufficiency and if any issues occur, it requires the Department to step in to protect policyholders and taxpayers long before concerns about financial impairment become a reality.", "Risk pools are a critical tool in New Hampshire. HealthTrust is a nonprofit corporation that provides robust coverage for over four decades to the public sector at lower rates than the commercial market can provide.", "The regulatory model contained in HB 1491 ensures advanced premium risk pools remain financially strong with rigorous oversight by the state's experts at the Insurance Department. This means New Hampshire cities, towns, and school districts will have continued access to health coverage without the need for disruptive assessments to maintain solvency.", "HealthTrust cited three concerns with Amendment #2026-1316s. The first is reinsurance. The amendment requires reinsurance to be purchased at a 105 percent attachment point. This is an extremely rich attachment point for a health insurer the size of HealthTrust. They believe it may not be available on the marketplace. They understand it is a common attachment point for other lines of coverage and potentially for smaller entities. For organizations of their size, either aggregate reinsurance is unavailable or the attachment points start at 120 or 125 percent. Today, HealthTrust has 110 percent attachment but with a very small limit of a $5 million total payout on that aggregate coverage. That provision alone would require them to have reinsurance that they believe would not be available on the marketplace.", "Second, HealthTrust absolutely supports the risk-based capital methodology. Understanding the action points at all of the various levels is a key tool to prevent insolvency, and to make sure everything is done proactively to ensure these pools are financially stable. However, the deposit which is separate from reserves is a concern for HealthTrust. As an example, it would require a deposit equivalent to either one or two times the authorized control level. That is equivalent to roughly 5-10 percent of annual contributions for HealthTrust.", "SB 661-FN as passed by the Senate limits reserves to 20 percent of annual contributions. If HealthTrust is unable to purchase that very rich aggregate stop loss at 105, what that would mean is if they build up under SB 661-FN to the maximum they're allowed to hold, 20 percent, in the effort of trying to move over, 10 percent or half of its reserves would have to be taken out of their reserves and moved to a deposit. That would leave HealthTrust with 10 percent reserves remaining, which is right on the company action level, right on the brink of financial impairment. That is a very serious concern for HealthTrust. If they were able to purchase aggregate reinsurance at that 105 percent stop loss, it would still require 5 percent to move over, which is a real concern. To put it in real numbers, the amount they'd be required to put in deposit would equate to about $50 million, which is a very sizable deposit.", "The third concern is the 5-year look back required for rate building. HealthTrust has significant concerns on that from a medical standpoint. They understand other lines of coverage may use a 5-year look back, but that is inappropriate for a health line of coverage. The cost and exposure, the medical trend, and the utilization patterns change so much from year to year in the medical industry. They generally use the most recent 12 months of claims' experience to build rates. Looking back 5 years would result in low rates that are insufficient to cover the next year's costs just because the claims continue to go up year to year. As an example, for the rates that are starting July 1, 2026, if this provision were in place, it would require HealthTrust to use data from 2020 and 2021, the COVID years, which would be inappropriate and would result in rates that were too little and insufficient for the claims they are likely to incur. In fact, they don't believe an actuary based on the actuarial standards of practice would be able to use that data to build rates.", "HealthTrust absolutely supports the concept of greater regulation. They understand the Insurance Department's expertise with staff actuaries. They would love the opportunity to work together to understand what's available in the marketplace, and how they could potentially meet the proposed standards. They encourage the adoption of standards that are reasonable and based on sound, actuarial practice.", "There was a question about the $5 million coverage and whether that would increase the cost of the surety coverage they have in place today. HealthTrust has a $5 million limitation. They already meet the standard. It is the policy they have chosen. There would be no impact on cost.", "While they have not yet finalized March finances, HealthTrust is very close to the 12 percent referenced by Chairman Gray, the 12 percent of contributions in reserves.", "Because there has been some conversation about non-assessable risk pools, Mr. DeRoche confirmed there are non-assessable risk pools for health coverage and for property liability throughout the country. He has confirmed that with a number of his peers.", "Both GASB No. 10 and GASB No. 30 are government accounting standards that guide how HealthTrust has to handle and report their finances. GASB No. 10 is about a non-assessable risk pool that offers health coverage. It was superseded by GASB No. 30, which is also a health risk pool that does not have the ability to assess members for additional contributions. It does not have the ability to assess upon any sort of deficiency in a runout. These are clear standards for non-assessable risk pools that have been in place and continue to be in effect today,", "Senator Watters asked Director DeRoche to offer some thoughts about what would work for HealthTrust. Director DeRoche shared that last year they had some conversations with a gentleman who is no longer with the Insurance Department. It concerned the requirement to have a deposit or have aggregate reinsurance. This individual mentioned the idea of having aggregate coverage or deposit equivalent to $5 million. And that is the same level HealthTrust landed at as well. They secured aggregate reinsurance coverage January 1st of last year. The aggregate policy has a total payout of $5 million. It is at 110 percent attachment point. It was sort of an add-on to a specific insurance reinsurance policy at a $1 million attachment point. The carrier was willing to throw in a little aggregate coverage because they purchased the much more expensive specific coverage. HealthTrust would like to understand what level would be appropriate for an organization of their size with a health line of coverage, or putting a deposit in place that's sufficient in lieu of that. They are supportive of the idea. It's about the level that is put into it. Five million was passed by the House. This would equate to $50 million in this amendment. As a general concept, the larger you get, the less likely aggregate reinsurance is needed or available because your trends are more likely just law of averages to hold true as you kind of project forward. It is also a very large risk for these reinsurers to take on. When HealthTrust has about $500 million in claims annually, when they attach at 105 percent, that is basically saying you can be a little bit off and they can have a huge exposure as a reinsurer. There is a question as to whether reinsurance on the whole is needed today. HealthTrust purchased it because they believe it was prudent to protect the rebuild and reserves they've been going through over the last couple of years. But based on the size of their organization, it is very unlikely to pay aggregate. Specific is a different standpoint. HealthTrust fully supports specific reinsurance. It makes a lot of sense, especially with things like gene therapy.", "Senator Watters suggested Amendment #2026-1316s needs to provide some flexibility. Director DeRoche suggested if there is a concern relating to solvency, reserves are first and foremost the most important thing. These risk pools need to hold adequate reserves and RBC is the way to measure that, and ensure the Insurance Department steps in to have adequate plans or take stronger action, well before reserves are depleted in any way, shape or form. There is this mandatory action level at 70 percent of the authorized control level where effectively the regulator is stepping in and taking over that organization, trying to rehabilitate or potentially offload that risk to another organization, or potentially even liquidate the organization.", "It's important to have the rate approval, which is there to ensure that the rates are sufficient so you're not dipping into reserves. Your rates coming in are paying claims generally. If reserves are lowering, that's where the close monitoring by the Insurance Department is very important. They need to step in far before there is any serious, financial impairment.", "Right behind that is the idea of an additional deposit or reinsurance as a backstop. Specific reinsurance is very valuable and something that risk pools should hold.", "If HealthTrust had reserves that were dropping lower, the Department would step in and have a corrective action plan or potentially take over or liquidate the organization far before HealthTrust believes a reinsurance plan or that deposit would come into place. So, if it's intended to ensure there are adequate funds for a runout, that's when the IBMP reserves come into play, which is a separate reserve account HealthTrust has.", "HealthTrust would like to understand what level is appropriate for reinsurance or a deposit, so that they are not purchasing an overly rich plan that may not even be available on the marketplace, or putting 10 percent of contributions aside if they're never going to be tapped into. Other solvency standards would correct the ship before you get anywhere into that range.", "In general, HealthTrust is very supportive of adequate reserves, close monitoring, rate approval, and all of those mechanisms that would make sure you never go down that road.", "Director DeRoche thinks the complexity and the what-ifs are driving the kind of anxieties around the 5-year look back or the 1-year look back.", "Medical trends increase at such an astronomical rate. What they are experiencing now is much higher than 2023. Their rates are where they should be to cover the claims.", "Senator Gray noted in their testimony HealthTrust talked about other non-assessable risk pools, \"...there were no other non-assessable risk pools that weren't part of a guarantee fund...\" He asked if the funds Director DeRoche spoke about were members of a guarantee fund, or are there other guarantees to assure their continued solvency. Director DeRoche explained the ones he spoke of are not members of a guarantee fund. They hold adequate reserves and ensure they have the funds to be able to pay all obligations. Director DeRoche also had conversations with a number of risk pools that are also assessable, that do have the right to assess if the year is short and to raise the surplus. There were very few of those in a runout-type situation if there were any unpaid funds. They're holding reserves at 45 percent of contributions. Another one was at 85 percent of contributions. Both are health pools. Even though they are technically assessable, when you're holding 85 percent of annual contributions in a reserve, it is extraordinarily unlikely that an assessment would be needed. Typically, holding adequate reserves for both assessable and non-assessable is the solution.", "There was a desire in New Hampshire to have risk pools hold less in reserves going back to 2010. That is a real concern. HealthTrust did not follow the cap of 15 percent on reserves favored by the Secretary of State.", "With a non-assessable plan as HealthTrust has been for 41 years, it is important that you hold adequate reserves. That is consistent with what Director DeRoche has been stating and what they have done in targeting a higher level of reserves that have proven sufficient over these last couple of volatile years."]}, {"who": "Margaret Byrnes, New Hampshire Municipal Association", "points": ["The New Hampshire Municipal Association is in support of this bill for two primary reasons. First, it creates or enhances clarity and choice for members when deciding whether or not to join a risk pool by clarifying there are two types of risk pools that are allowed to operate in the state of New Hampshire, assessable and non-assessable pools.", "Over the past year, NHMA and local officials have testified on what potential mid-year assessments would do to cities and towns, school districts, and counties, especially in cases where members were not aware assessments were possible. NHMA members were not prepared or knowledgeable about the possibility of assessments for those who were members of pools.", "HB 1491 creates the opportunity for a pool to operate under either model. A municipality, school district, or county will have the ability to make the choice if they want to join a risk pool. Should they choose to do so, they may lean on predictability and an emphasis on upfront funding through premiums. Or they may choose to join a pool that may have more fluctuations in potential refunds, as well as mid-year assessments. They will also be able to plan accordingly knowing that is a possibility.", "The second reason NHMA supports HB 1491 is that it represents a compromise. It takes into account the Senate's position on amending RSA 5-B. It includes the House's position to allow the Department of Insurance to regulate risk pools that are not assessable. In doing so, it beefs up the standards both in RSA 5-B as well as creates new sections of the Insurance statute.", "One interesting provision in HB 1491 is the new RSA 420-R:3, which allows for the creation of new risk pools. As it stands today, it is unclear to Ms. Byrnes how a new risk pool could be formed. The bill allows for the creation of a new risk pool, which can enhance competition as well as enhance member choice.", "NHMA does have some concerns with Amendment #2026-1316s. Their primary concern is to ensure the process to transition to the Insurance Department needs to be one that can truly be implemented, is reasonable, and does not have unnecessary barriers to the transition.", "Ms. Byrnes flagged the definition of the advisory board on Page 3 of the amendment. She understands the role of the advisory board, appreciates the intent of same, and can see the value of having consumer protection represented. Ms. Byrnes suggested it may be more prudent for an advisory board to include members of risk pools as opposed to the prior regulator, the Secretary of State, and the proposed regulator, the Insurance Commissioner, in a case where a risk pool is being regulated by the Insurance Department.", "Chairman Gray requested Ms. Byrnes forward their list of detailed concerns. Ms. Byrnes agreed to do so. Senator Watters requested Chairman Gray forward any concerns he receives to all Senate Finance Committee members."]}, {"who": "Scott Gross, Former Goffstown SAU 19 Business Administrator", "points": ["Mr. Gross was a select board member for 6 years, a school board member for 7 years, and he has worked in the insurance industry for 25 years. He appreciated how comprehensive the testimony provided by the Insurance Department was.", "The stability of rates is paramount. Having to pay an assessment is very volatile for the taxpayers.", "It is important to have an efficient regulatory framework.", "Mr. Gross believes these pools should be regulated by the Insurance Department. As he has worked in that industry for a long time he knows they have the staff and the expertise to deal with insurance matters.", "He appreciates the fact there appears to be a compromise where you could be regulated by either the Insurance Department or the Secretary of State's Office. Most people in New Hampshire like the ability to choose.", "There have been concerns expressed about reserves being too high and being required to return those reserves to the municipalities or the school districts. That creates its own challenges because those surplus premiums must be returned to not only your current employees, but also to retirees. You have to find them, and they could be all over the country. You're issuing checks and some of them get returned back to you. You also have to negotiate with unions. That is a large task for communities like Goffstown and New Boston.", "As someone who was a former business administrator, you want stability in terms of your premiums so that you're not having your budgets fluctuate.", "Mr. Gross expressed he is encouraged with the progress made with legislation from last year to this year. A lot of compromise that has been done, which is a credit to the Senate Finance Committee and its Chairman, Senator Gray, for looking to create compromise and attempt to involve all of the stakeholders. This is pretty close to getting across the finish line."]}]}, {"label": "Neutral Information Presented", "side": "neutral", "speakers": [{"who": "DJ Bettencourt, Commissioner; Ned Cataldo, Financial Examiner; Christian Citarella, Chief Property and Casualty Actuary, New Hampshire Insurance Department", "points": ["Senator Gray had asked the Insurance Department several weeks ago to take a look at his proposed Amendment #2026-1316s, which was in the conceptual phase of drafting. The Department added a good deal of detail to that amendment.", "Commissioner Bettencourt believes Amendment #2026-1316s reflects a clear effort to modernize risk management for political subdivisions and to respond to the real pressures in today's insurance markets. It establishes a dual framework for pooled risk management programs, formally recognizing both assessable and non-assessable models, including the creation of a new statutory framework specifically governing advanced premium otherwise known as non-assessable pools.", "With regard to the assessable structure, it reinforces responsibility for deficits by embedding mandatory assessment triggers and strengthening reserve and solvency requirements.", "Amendment #2026-1316s also imposes defined reserve thresholds, requires actuarial and audit oversight, and introduces mechanisms such as restricted surplus accounts and corrective action triggers to promote financial stability and transparency.", "In parallel, the amendment reflects a deliberate regulatory compromise by establishing a clear jurisdictional split. Assessable pools remain under the oversight of the Secretary of State, while non-assessable pools fall under the authority of the Insurance Department. This bifurcated approach aligns regulatory oversight with the underlying risk structure.", "Different risk pool models are paired with different regulatory frameworks, while preserving optionality between models in prioritizing solvency, accountability, and operational clarity.", "With respect to the non-assessable structure, at its core, the amendment seeks to create an opportunity to move toward a more predictable, transparent, and financially disciplined model. It is a model that does not rely on retrospective assessments, which has been a pain point for many municipalities and school districts. Rather, it places a greater emphasis on upfront pricing, capital management, and risk mitigation.", "If implemented effectively, such a model can improve budget stability for municipalities, strengthen incentives for loss prevention, and better align costs with actuarial experience over time. The Insurance Department supports that direction.", "At the same time, however, this transition represents a fundamental structural shift in solvency regulation. By moving to a non-assessable model, the proposal would remove the back-end risk sharing mechanism, which has served as the financial back stop for the pools in placing nearly complete reliance on front-end solvency disciplines, such as strong capital reserves, loss ratio sustainable pricing, strong governance and reinsurance mitigation strategies.", "That model can work, but it requires careful calibration in a recognition that because the front-end process is expected to carry the full weight of solvency, initial participants must be prepared for higher costs to start, and to build up the necessary reserves to stabilize the pool and ultimately, the premiums over time.", "There are several areas where the Department believes additional refinement and consideration will help ensure the framework is as strong in practice as it is in concept.", "First, solvency and capital standards. The bill appropriately incorporates risk-based capital concepts, but these entities are not traditional insurers. A more tailored approach potentially incorporating stress testing or surplus-based metrics may better reflect their risk profile.", "Second, scale and diversification. Pool models rely on credible exposure. Ensuring sufficient scale at formation will be important to support stability and effective pricing.", "Third, risk transfer and backstop. In the absence of assessments, the model depends heavily on reinsurance and excess coverage. It will be important to ensure those protections are available and sustainable at scale.", "Fourth, rate setting and governance. The inclusion of actuarial standards and rate review is a strong step forward. Ensuring those standards have durability and that the Department has clear authority to address inadequate rates will be critical.", "Next, transition from existing programs. The transition framework is thoughtful, but it is admittedly operationally complex. Additional clarity and standardization, particularly around valuation and actuarial review, could help reduce some of that friction.", "Enhanced due diligence is needed on anti-selection safeguards to prevent high-risk entrants from adversely affecting the risk profile receiving pools upon transition.", "Finally, regulatory oversight. This framework appropriately contemplates ongoing rate review, solvency monitoring, and examination that is essential to maintaining confidence in the system. The Department believes it is manageable with appropriate alignment of resources.", "As the Department works to operationalize this framework, there are several targeted areas where additional clarity or direction from the Legislature would be helpful. First, regulatory classification. The bill creates an entity that functions in many respects like an insurer while also stating it is not engaging in the business of insurance. Clarifying that intent, whether explicitly or by omission, would help ensure consistency in how the Department would apply core solvency and oversight statutes.", "Next, federal implications. While these are governmental plans certain ACA requirements may still apply. Clarifying whether the Department is expected to assume full enforcement responsibility or whether that authority remains shared or limited will be important to avoid regulatory gaps.", "Next, the advisory board role. The advisory structure is well intended but its practical function and value in the process could benefit from further definition, particularly in relation to technical, financial and actuarial review.", "Next, rulemaking and scope. The bill appropriately relies on rulemaking for key standards given the July 2027 effective date. Confirming expectations around timing and scope will be important, as this will be a substantial undertaking.", "Next, governance structure. The prescribed board composition raises some questions that require some clarity about operational flexibility and expertise. Additional direction on whether the structure is intended to be prescriptive or adaptable could help ensure effective governance.", "Lastly, market structure and legal fit. These programs do not fit neatly into existing insurance categories. Clarifying their intended legal and regulatory posture will help ensure they are integrated cleanly into the Department's broader system.", "This proposal is constructive and a forward-looking effort to create a real opportunity to strengthen risk management opportunities for political subdivisions. That being said, because the model relies so heavily on front-end discipline, capital, pricing, governance, and oversight, it is important to continue to refine these elements to ensure long-term sustainability and ultimately success.", "Senator Rosenwald referenced Page 6 of Amendment #2026-1316s, Line 28. There is a description of the bond the program requires. It has to be between $1-$5 million. Senator Rosenwald inquired if that is high versus the industry standard, if there is one. If so, would that work to raise the contribution cost for communities? Mr. Cataldo explained the entities the Insurance Department primarily regulate are insurers as well as companies like Delta Dental. They do not impose limitations like that on them. The idea in this particular section is to create some type of coverage for the actors that are essentially governing this entity. That is the primary purpose. It is in line with what they've seen with fidelity bonds, etc. Normally, there is a market discipline that's enforces that. So the shareholders, etc. would be governing this. In this instance, the idea is to protect the cities and towns.", "Senator Rosenwald continued. As this is new from what they have to do now, would that increase the contributions from the member communities? Mr. Cataldo responded possibly. This is a fidelity bond so it is not always dollar for dollar. You can go to a third party that could provide a surety or a bond in that capacity and it's definitely not dollar for dollar. They assess the risk and there are parties that provide. It is similar to posting a bond in construction. It is not dollar for dollar. It is whatever the cost is of that surety or bond.", "Mr. Cataldo continued there are going to be initial setup costs for all of this. And again, we're changing the framework here. We're taking away the back end unknown in exchange for the front end. It is much more heavy-handed on the front end of this, the way this is constructed. But that's the way an arrangement like this would need to be created. It doesn't have massive established reserves, or the ability to go back and pull its members to the extent that their loss was greater than expected. The way you deal with that is to set aside more capital or premiums pulled aside at the front end to make the math work. If you get disparities that is how it will ultimately cover those peaks and valleys.", "Senator Rosenwald interjected it is malfeasance Mr. Cataldo agreed. There is some protection in place for the ultimate taxpayers that are getting the benefits. Mr. Cataldo thought Senator Rosenwald's broader question was will this increase be an increase in cost to the members? The answer is yes. as will many other things due to the construction of this non-assessable arrangement.", "Senator Watters referenced the same section Senator Rosenwald had questioned. Primex had asked instead of a bond could it be a surety or cash account. The Senator wondered if Mr. Cataldo had an opinion on that method. Mr. Cataldo agreed it was a great point. What we're ultimately trying to do is ensure we limit as many potential exposures and risks as possible. The Insurance Department is going to continue to provide flexibility, provided that it achieves the same result. In the example Senator Watters gave with Primex developing an alternate plan to provide protection, the Department would be open to such an arrangement. Senator Watters inquired if the statute would have to be amended to give the Department that flexibility. Mr. Cataldo indicated some of that flexibility would probably be written into the rules.", "Senator Gray noted the reason Senate Finance is holding this hearing early is to allow the opportunity for these iterations to occur. Ideas can be passed directly to Senator Gray, the Secretary of State's Office or the Insurance Department. Going forward we'll try to work out all the issues listed by Commissioner Bettencourt. And we'll indicate whether they can be handled in the rulemaking process or handled in the legislation.", "Senator Rosenwald referenced Page 6, Line 4 of the amendment, which describes the process of a program transitioning from the assessable to the non-assessable arrangement. The way she reads \"obtain approval from the governing body of each member\" sounds like any one member of a non-assessable risk pool could have a veto over the plan transitioning because it says obtain approval from the governing body of each member. Senator Gray explained the plan was if a risk pool decides to do the transition, and the members of that risk pool say yes, the non-assessable risk pool would be under the 420 statutes. But if they did not, they would be able to take out any cash. In SB 661-FN we developed the Members Equity Stabilization Fund. They would be able to take that with them, but then would not be a member of that next pool. Commissioner Bettencourt stated the section was not intended to imply there would be a single member veto over any of the other political subdivisions that wanted to make a different choice.", "Senator Gray reiterated right now, we don't have the Member Equity Stabilization Fund. So, presently, there wouldn't be any money to take with them. One of the questions concerning SB 661-FN is if a group is going to transition, whether or not they need to establish that fund in the first year. Right now it is more important they get to the 12 percent in the SB 661-FN assessable plan, than it is to establish the other 4 percent.", "Senator Rosenwald referenced Page 8, Lines 12-15 of Amendment #2026-1316s. The Board of Directors for the two types of risk pools have very different compositions. The non-assessable risk pools have members, employees, and public representatives. The assessable risk pools have members but no employees. Why wouldn't we want employees to be represented in all of the risk pools? Senator Gray suggested perhaps we might have a risk pool that would be able to answer that question.", "Senator Rosenwald referenced Page 11, Lines 16 and 18 of the amendment, using the word \"product.\" The Senator has never seen multiplying factor written as \"product.\" Clarifying, the product of one is the basic number. If the product is two, it means twice that number. Commissioner Bettencourt agreed. Mr. Cataldo explained there is not a one size fits all amount of surplus or capital that should be held in these vehicles. It should be an assessment of the underlying risk of the pool, or the underlying risk of whatever type of activity is being insured, as well as any assets that are being held in reserve to support those potential future claims. The approach is to create what the Department does in their traditional insurance companies, as well as what they do for organizations like Delta Dental. They make an assessment based on a series of risk factors on the underlying pool, and then the assets, and attempt to make an assessment of how much capital should be in place to support it. What this specifically speaks to is if there is stop-loss or excess of loss insurance in place. You can hold less capital against it because a third party will step in at some point. The Department is trying to incentivize obtaining stop-loss coverage that it thinks is appropriate. If you purchase excess of loss coverage the Department thinks is appropriate, you have to hold less reserves or less capital against it. A series of triggers are developed whereby the Commissioner has the authority to step in at different levels as time goes by and losses occur. There are statutory levels whereby the Department can step in and require a plan to remedy the situation. It is difficult to mandate X amount of capital across the board. It doesn't work, as all of these entities are so different. Hold 100 percent of the capital the Department thinks you need if you have excess of loss insurance, stop loss insurance. Or, hold twice that number if you don't. Mr. Citarella added it is the different factors that you might need to multiply against to find an appropriate level of capital. It is the risks associated with the type of exposures that you have, the type of insurance risk you have, the type of financial risks you might have, and how you are investing your assets.", "Commissioner Bettencourt stated the name of the game is solvency. That's the endgame all of us are focused on. All of the factors are warning lights. When one of these warning lights begins to flash, it is the responsibility of the Insurance Department as the regulator to step in at that point, and try to understand what's going on. We don't want multiple warning lights to all be flashing at the same time, signaling the entity is headed at a brisk pace towards insolvency. We put these warning lights in place to stop from ever getting to that point. The Department will intervene before it reaches the point at which it's a full-blown solvency crisis.", "Senator Rosenwald referenced Page 14, Lines 4-6 of the amendment, which gives the Commissioner, with court approval, the ability to transfer all or part of a presumably insolvent program to another program. What if there is no other", "program that is able to absorb that insolvent program? Mr. Cataldo explained statutorily today, for a traditional insurance company, there are a number of different avenues the Department can pursue such as rehabilitation, liquidation and receivership. The idea is to begin a framework that mimics what we do today. What we would need to do is find a third party administrator. We do work with them frequently. They specialize in running down programs like this. The Insurance Department does not have that expertise in house, but it does have relationships with third parties that could come in and oversee something like this. The reason for the framework is because these entities would not be subject to the guarantee fund protections that are currently in place.", "Commissioner Bettencourt stated typically what happens when you have an insurer that goes insolvent is the guarantee association would step in very quickly. Any carrier that is licensed to sell product in any given state must be a member of the guarantee association. A guarantee association is an entity created to step in when the insurer goes insolvent, to front some money to cover the claims of that insolvent insurer so that the consumer is not left high and dry. We don't have that factor at play here because they're not going to be members of the guarantee association. The Department is thinking of other backstops and protections that should be put in place.", "Senator Gray referenced the apparent discrepancy in the amended analysis of Amendment #2026-1316s on Page 15, III, and the Member Equity Guaranty Funds Authorized section on Page 10, starting on Line 19. He pointed out this section was one of the ways that a guarantee could be established. Such a provision is similar to SB 661-FN. He indicated there may be some language tweaking needed. Commissioner Bettencourt agreed to work with the Office of Legislative Services (OLS) to ensure the accuracy of what the amendment actually sets forth. He agreed that starting with Line 19 on Page 10 a bit of cleanup needs to be done. Senator Gray added it is the fund requesting the ability. If they do request it and it gets established, we need to either continue it or get permission to discontinue it.", "Senator Watters referenced Page 5, VI, the necessary bifurcation of what products are offered. He asked Commissioner Bettencourt if it would be in the rulemaking process where they would determine how to implement that. Commissioner Bettencourt indicated to the extent the parties can't deal with any of the outstanding issues directly in the statute, then it would fall to the rulemaking process for that and any additional details required for this to run well."]}, {"who": "Eric Forcier, Director, Bureau of Securities Regulation, New Hampshire Secretary of State's Office and Hua Li, Complete Actuarial Solutions Company", "points": ["The Secretary of State's Office takes a neutral position on both HB 1491 and Amendment #2026-1316s. They consider this a policy decision by the Legislature. They have, however, lent their experience and expertise on some of the language.", "Mr. Li sought to explain why the amendment that is being proposed is so necessary to the bill. Lawmakers need to understand how large an undertaking it is to create a non-assessable health insurance pool.", "A non-assessable pool means they cannot be assessed and that means they cannot be assessed by management. Just as importantly, they cannot be assessed by a receiver during runoff. That means there is no backstop. If the reserves run out, health insurance claims are likely to be denied.", "Health insurance is more impacted by being non-assessable than property casualty. It's because health claims are paid much more quickly. It takes longer to raise additional funds than property casualty.", "According to Mr. Li's firm's research, there are no non-assessable health pools in the nation that are not fully reinsured. There exists some that have backups such as full reinsurance. Other ones can only assess during runoff, but that would still make them an assessable pool and not a non-assessable pool.", "Mr. Li has not found any examples of a legal provision such as HB 1491 creating a legally non-assessable pool where the receiver cannot assess during runoff. It will result in claims not being paid.", "Mr. Li would like to find some examples of legally non-assessable health pools who cannot even assess during runoff, other than those that are fully reinsured. If you're fully reinsured, most of this is irrelevant. That's essentially an insurance program. But if there are actual examples out there of legally non-assessable health pools, that would be tremendously useful to lawmakers and to the Insurance Department in trying to narrow down this language.", "The question of whether the three New Hampshire health pools are historically non-assessable or not is very important. If they were historically non-assessable, this just continues their business model. And if they weren't, this is brand new.", "Mr. Li has heard some claims made throughout the legislative process that if a pool has never issued an assessment before, then they're non-assessable. That is not true because if a pool has never made an assessment, that doesn't mean they couldn't have. And if it were true, no pool would ever be able to make an assessment because at some point every pool has not made an assessment.", "Mr. Li has also heard it said that if management has a policy of not assessing members, then the pool is non-assessable. This is also not true. Essentially, if reserves fully run out, if management has a policy of not assessing, what that means is they would choose to let the pool go into runoff rather than making an assessment to continue and to save the pool. But that just means they're letting the receiver issue any needed assessments rather than management doing that. That was very clearly illustrated by NHIT here in New Hampshire. With NHIT, the receiver came in after the management put the pool into runoff, determined there were not enough assets to pay unpaid claims, and issued an assessment despite any sort of policies or promises that management had made previously about whether the pool was assessable or not. Management policies are not relevant.", "The first time HealthTrust actually claimed either publicly or in board meetings that they've always been non-assessable occurred after the legislation was proposed or introduced last year to specify when the assessments can be made. Just months before that in 2024, HealthTrust meeting minutes showed they actually considered making a mid-year assessment of members to rebuild their reserves. That clearly shows they knew they could make assessments regardless of whether management ultimately did or not.", "Essentially, the initial version of the bill, without the assessment, much of the regulation was for pools that have a backstop; namely, assessable pools or insurance companies. HealthTrust stated that original version of the bill used nationwide standards for solvency. That is very true for insurance companies that are backed by guaranteed funds. It is not a nationwide standard for pools that are not backed by any backstop at all.", "In terms of the specific amounts in the bill, requiring a deposit of $50 million as essentially their backstop is too much. That is 10 percent of their annual contributions. At one time they lost approximately $37 million in 3 months, perhaps in 2023. To say for a pool with no backstops whatsoever to require $50 million is excessive, Mr. Li was not sure the actuarial analysis would suggest that.", "Additionally, HealthTrust may have misinterpreted the 5-year look back. This 5-year look back is not saying you have to use equal weight data for 5 years. It means you have to look at least 5 years of data. If you determine the first 4 years are not relevant for some reason, then you can just use one year. You cannot look back for 2 years and ignore what happened before that. You simply have to look at the 5 years. There is no requirement to give equal weighting for the 5 years.", "HealthTrust mentioned GASB No. 10 and GASB No. 30 provide some sort of standards for non-assessable health pools. Those are accounting standards. That has nothing to do with regulation of a risk pool that has no backstops, where if you run out of money it will result in health claims being denied.", "Mr. Li repeated if anyone finds an example of a non-assessable health pool, it would be tremendously useful. His firm has not found any. Even among the property casualty side they have only found 4, all of which are located in Ohio and Florida. Other examples might have full reinsurance or some other backstop. It is very rare. If someone can find an example it would help both the Insurance Department and legislators."]}]}]}]}, {"when": "2026-05-14", "time": null, "what": "consent calendar", "committee": "Senate", "venue": null, "video_id": "xkUhsgh3skk", "watch": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkUhsgh3skk&t=0s", "predicted": null, "start": null, "debate_end": null, "window_start": null, "motions": ["Ought to Pass with Amendment # 2026-1924s"], "tallies": [], "state": "consent", "candidate": null}, {"when": "2026-05-21", "time": null, "what": "floor debate", "committee": "House", "venue": null, "video_id": "6oCT6ls3uDk", "watch": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oCT6ls3uDk&t=0s", "predicted": null, "start": null, "debate_end": null, "window_start": null, "motions": ["House Concurs with Senate Amendment 2026-131s and 2026-1924s"], "tallies": [], "state": "floor_dated", "candidate": null}, {"when": "2026-08-19", "time": null, "what": "floor debate", "committee": "House", "venue": null, "video_id": "waDXsnFGDgc", "watch": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waDXsnFGDgc&t=14624s", "predicted": null, "start": 14684.0, "debate_end": 14855.0, "window_start": 14684.0, "motions": ["Veto Override"], "tallies": ["160-148"], "state": "floor_precise", "candidate": null}], "reports": [{"bill": "HB1491", "title": "relative to pooled risk management programs", "majority_recommendation": "OUGHT TO PASS", "minority_recommendation": null, "reports": [{"side": "Committee", "author": "Rep. John Hunt", "committee": "Commerce and Consumer Affairs", "vote_yeas": 14, "vote_nays": 0, "text": "This legislation is the exact bill that passed unanimously out of the Commerce and Consumer Affairs Committee last year but the Senate refused to concur without a committee of conference. In the meantime, several schools and municipalities have been hit with a huge back billing due to the current law."}], "source": "House Calendar 10, 2026", "date": "2026-03-03", "dated": "signed", "cite": "HC 10", "cite_url": "https://gc.nh.gov/house/calendars_journals/viewer.aspx?fileName=calendars%5C2026%5CNo10%20March%206%202026.pdf"}, {"bill": "HB1491", "body": "S", "title": "AN ACT relative to pooled risk management programs.", "source": "Senate committee report, released 2026-05-12", "date": "2026-05-14", "dated": "signed", "calendar": "Consent Calendar", "majority_recommendation": "OUGHT TO PASS WITH AMENDMENT", "minority_recommendation": "", "reports": [{"side": "Committee", "author": "Senator James Gray", "committee": "Finance", "vote_yeas": 7, "vote_nays": 0, "amendment": "2026-1924s", "text": "This bill provides an insurance alternative to the RSA 5-B risk pool program. HB 1491 provides for a non-assessable program using Risk Based Capital (RBC) to determine the member rates."}], "cite": "SC 18A", "cite_url": "https://gc.nh.gov/senate/calendars_journals/viewer.aspx?fileName=Calendars%5C2026%5CNo%2018A%20May%207%202026.pdf"}], "docket_reports": [], "report_actions": [], "veto_message": {"bill": "HB1491", "text": ["Risk pools are cooperative self-insurance organizations that allow our municipalities, counties, and school districts to manage health care costs and other risks instead of utilizing commercial insurance. Predictability is essential to deliver on this goal, which means reserves driven by actuarial expertise and operations following industry best practices. Unfortunately, both bills reforming risk pool operations fail to deliver on these needs. HB 1491 creates a \"choose-your-own-regulator\" model that dilutes necessary oversight. SB 661 arbitrarily caps reserves to manage liabilities as well as mandating an immediate policy change impacting current health care policies for hundreds of municipalities and school districts across the state. As we have seen from recent risk pool failures, this is an important policy area to get right and these proposals need more work. For those reasons I am vetoing HB 1491 and SB 661."], "governor": "Kelly A. Ayotte, Governor", "date": "2026-07-07", "source": {"calendar": "HC026", "year": "2026", "name": "HC 26", "url": "https://gc.nh.gov/house/calendars_journals/viewer.aspx?fileName=calendars%5C2026%5CNo26%20July%2001%202026.pdf"}}, "bill_note": null, "subject": "Insurance", "subject_source": "general court", "house_committee": "Commerce and Consumer Affairs", "senate_committee": "Finance", "lsr": "2026-2397", "docket_url": "https://gc.nh.gov/bill_status/legacy/bs2016/bill_docket.aspx?lsr=2397&sy=2026&txtsessionyear=2026&txtbillnumber=hb1491&sortoption=billnumber", "documents": [{"label": "Bill text", "url": "https://gc.nh.gov/bill_status/legacy/bs2016/billText.aspx?id=1598&txtFormat=html&sy=2026", "kind": "text"}, {"label": "Bill status page", "url": "https://gc.nh.gov/bill_status/legacy/bs2016/Bill_status.aspx?lsr=2397&sy=2026&txtsessionyear=2026&txtbillnumber=hb1491&sortoption=billnumber", "kind": "status"}, {"label": "Docket", "url": "https://gc.nh.gov/bill_status/legacy/bs2016/bill_docket.aspx?lsr=2397&sy=2026&txtsessionyear=2026&txtbillnumber=hb1491&sortoption=billnumber", "kind": "docket"}, {"label": "HJ 1, page 22", "url": "https://gc.nh.gov/house/calendars_journals/viewer.aspx?fileName=journals%5C2026%5CHJ%2001%20January%207%2C%202026.pdf", "kind": "record"}, {"label": "HC 10, page 8", "url": "https://gc.nh.gov/house/calendars_journals/viewer.aspx?fileName=calendars%5C2026%5CNo10%20March%206%202026.pdf", "kind": "record"}, {"label": "HJ 7, page 12", "url": "https://gc.nh.gov/house/calendars_journals/viewer.aspx?fileName=journals%5C2026%5CHJ%2007%20March%2011%2C%202026.pdf", "kind": "record"}, {"label": "SJ 7", "url": "https://gc.nh.gov/senate/calendars_journals/Journals/2026/SJ%2007%20March%2026%2C%202026.PDF", "kind": "record"}, {"label": "SC 13", "url": "https://gc.nh.gov/senate/calendars_journals/viewer.aspx?fileName=Calendars%5C2026%5CNo%2013%20April%202%202026.pdf", "kind": "record"}, {"label": "SC 18A", "url": "https://gc.nh.gov/senate/calendars_journals/viewer.aspx?fileName=Calendars%5C2026%5CNo%2018A%20May%207%202026.pdf", "kind": "record"}, {"label": "SJ 12", "url": "https://gc.nh.gov/senate/calendars_journals/Journals/2026/SJ%2012%20May%2014%2C%202026.PDF", "kind": "record"}, {"label": "HJ 14, page 2", "url": "https://gc.nh.gov/house/calendars_journals/viewer.aspx?fileName=journals%5C2026%5CHJ%2014%20May%2021%2C%202026.pdf", "kind": "record"}, {"label": "SJ 14", "url": "https://gc.nh.gov/senate/calendars_journals/Journals/2026/SJ%2014%20June%204%2C%202026.PDF", "kind": "record"}, {"label": "HJ 15, page 45", "url": "https://gc.nh.gov/house/calendars_journals/viewer.aspx?fileName=journals%5C2026%5CHJ%2015%20June%204%2C%202026.pdf", "kind": "record"}, {"label": "HJ 16, pages 44 and 48", "url": "https://gc.nh.gov/house/calendars_journals/viewer.aspx?fileName=journals%5C2026%5CHJ%2016%20August%2019%2C%202026.pdf", "kind": "record"}], "amendments": [{"num": "2026-1924s", "kind": "Committee Amendment", "where": "committee", "date": "2026-05-14", "body": "S", "adopted": true, "vote_kind": "VV", "mover": "", "proposed_by": "", "text": "", "source": "", "targets": [], "supersedes": []}], "billtext": {"version": "FINAL VERSION", "title": "AN ACT relative to pooled risk management programs.", "analysis": "This bill establishes and regulates political subdivision risk management programs, sets eligibility and reporting requirements, defines oversight and enforcement authority, outlines financial, investment, and solvency standards, and affirms tax exemptions and confidentiality provisions for such programs.", "body": "05/14/2026 1924s 26-2397\n05/08\nBe it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:\n1 New Chapter; Political Subdivision Risk Management Programs. Amend RSA by inserting after chapter 420-Q the following new chapter:\nCHAPTER 420-R\nPOLITICAL SUBDIVISION RISK MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS\n420-R:1 Purpose. The purpose of this chapter is to provide for the establishment of political subdivision risk management programs and to affirm the status of such programs established for the benefit of political subdivisions of the state. The legislature finds and determines that insurance and risk management are essential to the proper functioning of political subdivisions; that risk management can be achieved through the purchase of traditional insurance or by participation in pooled risk management programs established for the benefit of political subdivisions; that pooled risk management is an essential governmental function by providing focused public sector loss prevention programs, accrual of interest and dividend earnings, which may be returned to the public benefit, and establishment of costs predicated solely on the actual experience of political subdivisions within the state; that the resources of political subdivisions are presently burdened by the securing of insurance protection through standard carriers; and that risk management programs that meet the standards established by this chapter should not be subject to taxation by the state and, except as specifically set forth in this chapter, should not be subject to insurance regulation.\n420-R:2 Definitions; Scope of Chapter. In this chapter:\nI. \"Authorized control level event\" means any of the following events:\n(a) The filing of a Risk-Based Capital \u201cRBC\u201d report by the program indicating that the program's total adjusted capital is greater than or equal to its mandatory control level RBC but less than its authorized control level RBC;\n(b) The notification by the commissioner to the program of an adjusted RBC report that indicates the event in subparagraph (a); or\n(c) The failure of the program to respond to a corrective order in a manner satisfactory to the commissioner.\nII. \u201cCommissioner\u201d means the commissioner of the department of insurance.\nIII. \"Company action level event\" means the filing of an RBC report by a program indicating that:\n(a) The program's total adjusted capital is greater than or equal to its regulatory action level RBC but less than its company action level RBC;\n(b) For life and/or ancillary health coverages, the political subdivision risk management program has total adjusted capital that is greater than or equal to its company action level RBC but less than the product of its authorized control level RBC and 3.0 and has a negative trend; or\n(c) For property and casualty or employee health plan coverages, the program has total adjusted capital that is greater than or equal to its company action level RBC but less than the product of its authorized control level RBC and 3.0 and triggers the trend test determined in accordance with the trend test calculation included in the property and casualty RBC instructions.\nIV. \u201cDepartment\u201d means the department of insurance.\nV. \u201cExcess insurance\u201d means stop-loss insurance for health insurance claims and high-dollar value coverage above a primary layer for property and casualty insurance claims.\nVI. \"Mandatory control level event\" means any of the following events:\n(a) The filing of an RBC report that indicates that the program's total adjusted capital is less than its mandatory control level RBC; or\n(b) Notification by the commissioner to the program of an adjusted RBC report that indicates the event in subparagraph (a).\nVII. \u201cMember\u201d means any political subdivision that participates in a risk management program under this chapter.\nVIII. \u201cNAIC\u201d means the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.\nIX. \u201cNonprofit organization\u201d means any entity that is exempt from taxation under Section 501(c)(3), 501(c)(4), 501(c)(6), or 501(c)(12) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or any subsequent corresponding Internal Revenue Code of the United States, as amended.\nX. \"Political subdivision\" means any city, town, county, school district, chartered public school, village district, school administrative unit, or any district or entity created for a special purpose administered or funded by any of the above-named governmental units.\nXI. \u201cPolitical Subdivision Risk Management Program\u201d or \u201cprogram\u201d means any formal arrangement established or maintained by 2 or more political subdivisions for the purpose of jointly covering risk that is not organized and operated as an assessable risk pool regulated in accordance with the requirements of RSA 5-B.\nXII. \"RBC instructions\" means the RBC report including risk-based capital instructions adopted by the NAIC, as such RBC instructions may be amended by the NAIC from time to time in accordance with the procedures adopted by the NAIC.\nXIII. \"RBC level\" means a program's company action level RBC, regulatory action level RBC, authorized control level RBC, or mandatory control level RBC where:\n(a) \"Company action level RBC\" means the product of 2.0 and its authorized control level RBC.\n(b) \"Regulatory action level RBC\" means the product of 1.5 and its authorized control level RBC.\n(c) \"Authorized control level RBC\" means the number determined under the risk-based capital formula in accordance with the RBC instructions.\n(d) \"Mandatory control level RBC\" means the product of .70 and the authorized control level RBC.\nXIV. \"RBC plan\" means a comprehensive financial plan containing the following elements:\n(a) Conditions that contribute to the company action level event;\n(b) Proposals of corrective actions that the program intends to take and would be expected to result in the elimination of the company action level event;\n(c) Projections of the program\u2019s financial results in the current year and at least the 4 succeeding years, both in the absence of proposed corrective actions and giving effect to the proposed corrective actions, including projections of statutory operating income, net income, capital, and/or surplus. The projections for both new and renewal business might include separate projections for each major line of business and separately identify each significant income, expense, and benefit component;\n(d) Key assumptions impacting the program's projections and the sensitivity of the projections to the assumptions; and\n(e) The quality of, and problems associated with, the program's business, including but not limited to its assets, anticipated business growth and associated surplus strain, extraordinary exposure to risk, mix of business, and use of reinsurance, if any, in each case. If the commissioner rejects the RBC plan, and it is revised by the political subdivision risk management program, with or without the commissioner's recommendation, the plan shall be called the \"revised RBC plan.\"\nXV. \"Regulatory action level event\" means any of the following events:\n(a) The filing of an RBC report by the program that indicates that the program's total adjusted capital is greater than or equal to its authorized control level RBC but less than its regulatory action level RBC;\n(b) The failure of the program to file an RBC report by the filing date, unless the program has provided an explanation for such failure which is satisfactory to the commissioner and has cured the failure within 10 days after the filing date;\n(c) Notification by the commissioner to the program that the RBC plan or revised RBC plan submitted by the program is, in the judgment of the commissioner, unsatisfactory; or\n(d) Notification by the commissioner to the program that the program has failed to adhere to its RBC plan or revised RBC plan, but only if such failure has a substantial adverse effect on the ability of the program to eliminate the company action level event in accordance with its RBC plan or revised RBC plan and the commissioner has so stated in the notification.\n420-R:3 Declaration of Status; Tax Exemption.\nI. Any arrangement authorized and meeting the standards required under this chapter is not an insurance company, reciprocal insurer, or insurer under the laws of this state, and administration of any activities of the arrangement shall not constitute doing an insurance business for purposes of regulation or taxation. Such self-insurance arrangements shall not be subject to the premium tax under RSA 400-A:32 and shall not be subject to assessment with respect to the administration fund under RSA 400-A:39.\nII. Any such arrangement operating under this chapter, whether or not a body corporate, trust, or charter, may sue or be sued, make contracts, hold and dispose of real property, borrow money, contract debts, and pledge assets in its name.\nIII. Political subdivision risk management programs shall be governed by this chapter and shall be exempt from this title, except for the provisions of:\n(a) RSA 400-A:16, relative to investigations;\n(b) RSA 400-A:17 through RSA 400-A:24, relative to hearings and appeals;\n(c) RSA 400-A:37, relative to examinations;\n(d) RSA 402-B, relative to insurance claims adjusters;\n(e) RSA 402-J, relative to producer licensing;\n(f) RSA 417:1 through 417:31, relative to unfair trade practices and fraud investigations; and\n(g) RSA 420-G:11, II, II-a, and IV, relative to the submission of claims data to the department.\nIV. This section does not apply to or provide exemptions for insurance companies issuing policies to cover the arrangement, third-party administrators, insurance producers, or other licensees subject to RSA Title XXXVII servicing the political subdivision risk management program.\nV. RSA 5-B shall not apply to political subdivision risk management programs.\n420-R:4 Agreement to Form; Authorized Activities.\nI. To accomplish the purposes of this chapter, any 2 or more political subdivisions of this state may, by resolution of their governing bodies, establish and enter into agreements to form a nonprofit organization, association, or trust under the laws of this state to carry out the activities of a political subdivision risk management program.\nII. RSA 53-A shall not apply to an association formed or affirmed under this chapter, nor to the participation in such an association by a political subdivision.\nIII. Political subdivision risk management programs established for the benefit of political subdivisions may provide any or all of the following coverages:\n(a) Casualty, including general and professional liability; errors and omissions; workers' compensation and employer's liability; medical payments; or unemployment compensation as authorized under federal law.\n(b) Property, including marine and inland navigation; transportation; boiler and machinery; fire; theft; or natural hazards.\n(c) Vehicle, including any liability or loss arising from the ownership or operation of vehicles.\n(d) Surety and fidelity.\n(e) Environmental impairment.\n(f) Hospital, medical, surgical, or dental benefits for employees and retirees and their dependents.\n(g) Life, income maintenance, accidental death and dismemberment, vision loss or impairment, or legal benefits for employees and their dependents.\nIV. Any political subdivision risk management program that provides coverage described in subparagraphs III (a) through (e) shall not also provide coverages described in subparagraphs (f) or (g).\nV. If provided for in the organizational documents, a political subdivision risk management program may, in conformance with this chapter:\n(a) Contract or otherwise provide for risk management and loss control services;\n(b) Contract or otherwise provide legal counsel for the defense of claims and other legal services;\n(c) Jointly purchase insurance and reinsurance coverage in a form and amount as provided for in the organizational documents;\n(d) Obligate the participants to pledge funds or revenues to secure the obligations or pay the expenses of the arrangement, including the establishment of a reserve fund for coverage and any other financial arrangements if the reserve fund or the arrangement's revenue or assets are insufficient to cover the liabilities; and\n(e) Possess any other powers and perform all other functions reasonably necessary to carry out the purposes of this chapter.\nVI. Any program operating under this chapter, whether or not body corporate, may sue or be sued; make contracts; hold and dispose of real property; and borrow money, contract debts, and pledge assets in its name.\nVII. Participation by a political subdivision in a political subdivision risk management program formed and affirmed under this chapter shall not subject any such political subdivision to any liability to any third party for the acts or omissions of the political subdivision risk management program or any other political subdivision participating in the program.\n420-R:5 Formation.\nI. Before the establishment of a political subdivision risk management program, the program shall obtain the approval of the commissioner. The political subdivisions proposing the creation of the program shall submit a plan of management and operation to the commissioner that provides, at a minimum, the following information:\n(a) The risk or risks to be covered, including any coverage definitions, terms, conditions, and limitations;\n(b) The amount and method of funding the covered risks, including the initial capital and proposed rates and projected premiums. The commissioner shall require deposits, surplus requirements, or other financial security reasonably necessary to ensure the solvency and financial integrity of the program, including deposits of not less than $300,000 for property and casualty lines and $500,000 for health-related coverages, in cash, securities authorized for savings banks, or such other investments as approved by the commissioner;\n(c) The proposed claim reserving practices;\n(d) The proposed purchase and maintenance of insurance, or excess insurance in excess of the amounts retained by the joint self-insurance arrangement;\n(e) The legal form of the program, including, but not limited to, any constitution, articles of incorporation, bylaws, charter, trust, or other agreement among the participating entities;\n(f) The agreements with participants in the arrangement defining the responsibilities and benefits of each participant and management;\n(g) The proposed accounting, depositing, and investment practices of the arrangement;\n(h) Evidence satisfactory to the commissioner showing that the arrangement will be operated in accordance with sound actuarial principles;\n(i) A designation of the individual to whom service of process must be forwarded by the commissioner on behalf of the arrangement, including that individual\u2019s name and address;\n(j) All contracts between the program and private persons providing risk management, claims, or other administrative services;\n(k) A professional analysis of the feasibility of the creation and maintenance of the program;\n(l) A legal analysis or an Internal Revenue Service opinion on the federal income tax exposure or liability of the program;\n(m) The names and addresses of the directors of the arrangement, who are subject to approval by the commissioner upon the presentation of sufficient evidence to:\n(1) Be competent;\n(2) Have not been found to be guilty of, or to have pled guilty or no contest to, a felony or a crime involving moral turpitude;\n(3) Have not had any type of professional license revoked in this or any other state; and\n(4) Have not improperly manipulated assets, accounts, or specific excess insurance or otherwise acted in bad faith;\n(n) A copy of a fidelity bond in an amount equal to not less than 12 percent of the funds handled annually and issued in the name of the arrangement covering its officers, trustees, employees, administrator, or other individuals managing or handling the funds or assets of the arrangement. In no case may such bond be less than $1,000,000 or more than $5,000,000, except that the commissioner may prescribe an amount more than $5,000,000 following a hearing. In lieu of a surety bond, the posting of the requisite surety in cash in an account where investment or interest earnings on the surety funds may be swept by the pool and allocated to operations, reserves, or surplus, as the case may be;\n(o) A statement from legal counsel attesting that there are no pending regulatory enforcement actions against the entity; and\n(p) Such additional information as the commissioner may reasonably require to determine compliance with this chapter.\nII. The commissioner shall not approve the arrangement unless the commissioner determines the following:\n(a) The plan is designed to provide sufficient revenues to pay current and future liabilities, as determined in accordance with sound actuarial principles; and\n(b) The program meets the requirements of RSA 420-R:6.\nIII. Any pooled risk entity operating in accordance with RSA 5-B as of July 1, 2026, may seek conditional approval. The commissioner may authorize such a program that does not currently meet the requirements of this chapter to operate as a political subdivision risk management program under a conditional approval for a period not to exceed 2 years while the organization works to meet all the requirements of this chapter.\nIV. Any entity that does not meet the requirements of RSA 5-B and has been found to be operating without the commissioner\u2019s approval shall be subject to an administrative fine not to exceed $10,000 for each day it has operated without the commissioner\u2019s approval.\n420-R:6 Requirements of Organization and Operation.\nI. A political subdivision risk management program shall meet the following minimum eligibility requirements and any additional requirements that the commissioner may require:\n(a) The arrangement shall qualify as a non-profit entity or not-for-profit trust;\n(b) Operated pursuant to an agreement by a board of directors, which shall have complete fiscal control over the arrangement and which shall be responsible for all operations of the arrangement. The directors shall be elected officials or employees of one or more political subdivisions in the arrangement. A director may not be an owner, officer, or employee of the administrator or service company of the arrangement. The directors shall have the authority to approve applications of association members for participation in the arrangement and to contract with an authorized administrator or service company to administer the day-to-day affairs of the arrangement.\n(c) Neither offered nor advertised to the public generally.\n(d) Operated in accordance with sound actuarial principles.\nII. The following activities shall be prohibited:\n(a) An employee or official of a participating political subdivision shall not directly or indirectly receive anything of value for services rendered in connection with the operation and management of the arrangement other than the salary and benefits provided by his or her employer or the reimbursement of expenses reasonably incurred in furtherance of the operation or management of the arrangement.\n(b) An employee or official of a participating political subdivision shall not accept or solicit anything of value for personal benefit or for the benefit of others under circumstances in which it can be reasonably inferred that the employee's or official's independence of judgment is impaired with respect to the management and operation of the arrangement.\nIII. The commissioner shall not grant or continue approval of a program until such time as the program replaces any director found by the commissioner, upon the presentation of sufficient evidence:\n(a) To be incompetent;\n(b) To be guilty of, or to have pleaded guilty or no contest to, a felony or a crime involving moral turpitude;\n(c) To have had any type of insurance license revoked in this or any other state;\n(d) To have improperly manipulated assets, accounts, or specific excess insurance or to have otherwise acted in bad faith.\nIV. Directors shall comply with the provisions of RSA 15-A. Directors shall have a fiduciary responsibility to act in the best interest of the political subdivision risk management program, which shall include a duty of care to ensure prudent investment and use of assets, a duty of loyalty to act to further the purposes and mission of the program, and a duty of obedience to comply with organizational bylaws and applicable law.\n420-R:7 Termination of Arrangement. If an arrangement is terminated for any reason, it shall pay all outstanding claims, debts, and obligations. The arrangement may retain sufficient funds to provide coverage for such additional period as the board of the arrangement considers prudent. In addition, the program may purchase such additional insurance as they consider necessary for protection against potential future claims. Any funds remaining in the arrangement after satisfaction of all obligations upon termination shall be paid to participating entities as of the termination date in some equitable manner meeting with the approval of the commissioner, including, without ruling out other alternatives, equally on a per capita basis to each participating entity that is covered under the arrangement as of the effective date of termination.\n420-R:8 Approval of Rates.\nI. Each political subdivision risk management program shall file with the insurance commissioner a full schedule of the rates to be paid by participating members and shall obtain the commissioner\u2019s approval prior to implementing any rate changes. Rates, rating factors, and all rules necessary for the calculation of members\u2019 contributions shall be filed with the commissioner at least 60 days prior to implementation along with all relevant actuarial support that justifies the selection of rates. The commissioner may refuse such approval if he or she finds the rates are excessive, inadequate, or unfairly discriminatory.\nII. All underlying information submitted to justify the rates to the extent the information therein is not otherwise required to be publicly available, which is filed with the commissioner, constitutes information that might be damaging to the risk pool management program if made available to competitors and therefore shall be kept confidential by the commissioner. This information shall not be made public or be subject to subpoena, other than by the commissioner and then only for the purpose of enforcement actions taken by the commissioner pursuant to this chapter or the applicable provisions of Title XXXVII.\nIII. All approved rates and rating manuals shall be publicly available.\n420-R:9 Financial Reporting.\nI. Each political subdivision risk management program shall prepare and file or transmit to the commissioner an annual statement and subsequent quarterly statements under oath, in accordance with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners Annual Statement Blank following the National Association of Insurance Commissioners Annual Statement Instructions and those accounting procedures and practices prescribed by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners Accounting Practices and Procedure Manual or allowed as a permitted accounting practice as provided in the manual.\nII. The annual statement shall be due on or before March 1 each year. The commissioner may extend the time for filing or transmitting such statement for cause shown and may approve an alternative submission date. The commissioner may refuse to continue, or may suspend or revoke, the approval for any political subdivision risk management program that fails to file or transmit its annual statement when due.\nIII. In addition to the above, the commissioner may require from any person or entity subject to this title:\n(a) Statements, reports, including reports audited by independent public accountants, answers to questionnaires, and other information and evidence thereof, in whatever reasonable form the commissioner designates and at such reasonable intervals as the commissioner may choose, or from time to time;\n(b) Full explanation of the programming of any data storage or communications systems in use; and\n(c) That information from any books, records, electronic data processing systems, computers, or any other information storage system be made available to him at any reasonable time and in any reasonable manner.\nIV. Any officer, manager, or general agent; any person with executive authority over or in charge of any segment of such political subdivision risk management program\u2019s affairs; and any insurance agent or other person licensed under the insurance code shall reply promptly in writing or in other designated form to any written inquiry from the commissioner requesting a reply.\nV. The commissioner may require that any communication made to him under this section be verified.\nVI. In the absence of actual malice, no communication required by the commissioner under this section shall subject the person making it to an action for damages for defamation.\nVII. The information obtained pursuant to this section shall be privileged.\nVIII. Any director, officer, agent, or employee of a political subdivision risk management program who subscribes to, makes, or concurs in making or publishing any annual or other statement required by law, having actual knowledge that the same contains any material statement that is false, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor if a natural person or guilty of a felony if any other person.\nIX. The commissioner may retain, without appropriation under RSA 9 and without qualifying as a department expenditure under RSA 4:15, attorneys, independent actuaries, independent certified public accountants, or other professionals or specialists to review financial statements, the cost of which shall be borne by the company that is the subject of the financial analysis. The political subdivision risk management program shall pay the retained professionals or specialists directly for their costs. The commissioner shall conduct oversight of such independent reviewers in a manner that is consistent with standards for the use of independent reviewers established by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners in its Financial Condition Examiners Handbook and shall ensure that costs are reasonable for the work performed.\n420-R:10 Risk-Based Capital.\nI. Every political subdivision risk management program shall, on or prior to each March 1, prepare and submit to the commissioner a report of its RBC levels as of the end of the calendar year just ended, in a form and containing such information as is required by the RBC instructions for programs.\nII. For life and/or ancillary health coverages, RBC shall be determined in accordance with the formula set forth in the RBC instructions. The formula shall take into account, and may adjust for, the covariance between:\n(a) The risk with respect to the program's assets;\n(b) The risk of adverse insurance experience with respect to the program's liabilities and obligations;\n(c) The interest rate risk with respect to the program's business; and\n(d) All other business risks and such other relevant risks as are set forth in the RBC instructions.\nIII. For property and casualty coverages, RBC shall be determined in accordance with the formula set forth in the RBC instructions. The formula shall take into account and may adjust for the covariance between:\n(a) Asset risk;\n(b) Credit risk;\n(c) Underwriting risk; and\n(d) All other business risks and such other relevant risks as are set forth in the RBC instructions, determined in each case by applying the factors in the manner set forth in the RBC instructions.\nIV. For employee health plan coverages, RBC shall be determined in accordance with the formula set forth in the RBC instructions. The formula shall take into account and may adjust for the covariance between:\n(a) Asset risk;\n(b) Credit risk;\n(c) Underwriting risk; and\n(d) All other business risks and such other relevant risks as are set forth in the RBC instructions.\nV.(a) In the event of a company action level event, the program shall, within 45 days of the event, prepare and submit to the commissioner an RBC plan. Within 60 days after the submission of an RBC plan to the commissioner, the commissioner shall notify the program whether the RBC plan shall be implemented or is, in the judgment of the commissioner, unsatisfactory. If the commissioner determines the RBC plan is unsatisfactory, the notification to the program shall set forth the reasons for the determination and may set forth proposed revisions that will render the RBC plan satisfactory, in the judgment of the commissioner. Upon notification from the commissioner, the program shall prepare a revised RBC plan, which may incorporate by reference any revisions proposed by the commissioner.\n(b) In the event of a regulatory action level event, the commissioner shall:\n(1) Require the program to prepare and submit an RBC plan or, if applicable, a revised RBC plan;\n(2) Perform such examination or analysis as the commissioner deems necessary of the assets, liabilities, and operations of the program, including a review of its RBC plan or revised RBC plan; and\n(3) Subsequent to the examination or analysis, issue an order specifying such corrective actions as the commissioner shall determine are required.\n(c) In the event of an authorized control level event, the commissioner shall:\n(1) Take such actions as are required with respect to which a regulatory action level event has occurred; or\n(2) If the commissioner deems it to be in the best interests of the policyholders and creditors of the political subdivision risk management program and of the public, take such actions as are necessary to cause the political subdivision risk management program to be placed under regulatory control.\n(d) In the event of a mandatory control level event, the commissioner shall take such actions as are necessary to place the political subdivision risk management program under regulatory control. Notwithstanding any of the foregoing, the commissioner may forego action for up to 90 days after the mandatory control level event if the commissioner finds there is a reasonable expectation that the mandatory control level event may be eliminated within the 90-day period.\nVI. Any action by the commissioner related to RBC shall be a basis for requesting a hearing pursuant to RSA 400-A:17, II(b). The program shall have the right to request a confidential departmental hearing, on the record, at which the program may challenge any determination or action by the commissioner. The program shall notify the commissioner of its request for a hearing within 5 days after the notification by the commissioner. Upon receipt of the program's request for a hearing, the commissioner shall set a date for the hearing, which date shall be no less than 10 and no more than 30 days after the date of the program's request.\nVII.(a) The commissioner may apply by verified petition to the superior court for Merrimack county or for the county in which the principal office of the program is located for an order directing him or her to take control of the program on any one or more of the following grounds:\n(1) The program has encountered an authorized or mandatory control event;\n(2) The commissioner has reasonable cause to believe that there has been embezzlement from the program, wrongful sequestration or diversion of the program's assets, forgery or fraud affecting the program, or other illegal conduct in, by, or with respect to the program that, if established, would endanger assets in an amount threatening the solvency of the program;\n(3) That information coming into the commissioner's possession has disclosed substantial and not adequately explained discrepancies between the program's records and the most recent annual report or other official program reports;\n(4) That the program has failed to remove any person who in fact has executive authority in the political subdivision risk management program, whether an officer, manager, general agent, employee, or other person, if the person has been found by the commissioner after notice and hearing to be dishonest or untrustworthy in a way affecting the program's business;\n(5) That any person who in fact has executive authority in the program, whether an officer, manager, general agent, employee, or other person, has refused to be examined under oath by the commissioner concerning its affairs, whether in this state or elsewhere, and after reasonable notice of the fact the program has failed promptly and effectively to terminate the employment and status of the person and all his influence on management;\n(6) That after demand by the commissioner the program has failed to submit promptly any of its own property, books, accounts, documents, or other records, or those of any company contracted to provide services to the program, or those of any person having executive authority in the program so far as they pertain to the program, to reasonable inspection or examination by the commissioner or an authorized representative. If the program is unable to submit the property, books, accounts, documents, or other records of a person having executive authority in the program, it shall be excused from doing so if it promptly and effectively terminates the relationship of the person to the program;\n(7) That without first obtaining the written consent of the commissioner, the political subdivision risk management program has transferred, or attempted to transfer, substantially its entire property or business, or has entered into any transaction the effect of which is to merge, consolidate, or reinsure substantially its entire property or business in or with the property or business of any other person;\n(8) That the directors of the program are deadlocked in the management of the political subdivision risk management program's affairs and that the members or shareholders are unable to break the deadlock and that irreparable injury to the political subdivision risk management program, its creditors, its policyholders, or the public is threatened by reason thereof;\n(9) That the program has failed to pay for 60 days after the due date any obligation to this state or any political subdivision thereof or any judgment entered in this state, except that such nonpayment shall not be a ground until 60 days after any good faith effort by the program to contest the obligation has been terminated, whether it is before the commissioner or in the courts;\n(10) That the program has failed to file its annual report or other report within the time allowed by law and, after written demand by the commissioner, has failed to give an adequate explanation immediately;\n(11) That 2/3 of the board of directors consent to regulatory control under this chapter.\n(b) An order for regulatory control shall appoint the commissioner and successors in office as the controlling authority and shall direct the controlling authority forthwith to take possession of the assets of the program and to administer them under the orders of the court. The filing or recording of the order with any register of deeds in the state imparts the same notice as a deed, bill of sale, or other evidence of title duly filed or recorded with that register of deeds. Any order issued under this section shall require accountings to the court by the controlling authority. Accountings shall be at such intervals as the court specifies in its order, but no less frequently than semi-annually.\n(c) The commissioner as the controlling authority shall make every reasonable effort to employ a qualified expert to serve as special deputy commissioner to correct the issue that led to regulatory control. The special deputy shall have all of the powers of the controlling authority granted under this section. Subject to court approval, the commissioner shall make such arrangements for compensation as are necessary to obtain a special deputy of proven ability. The special deputy shall serve at the pleasure of the commissioner.\n(d) Subject to court approval, the controlling authority may take such action as is deemed necessary or expedient to reform and revitalize the program. The controlling authority shall have all the powers of the directors, whose authority shall be suspended, except as they are redelegated by the controlling authority. The controlling authority shall have full power to direct and manage, hire and discharge employees subject to any contract rights they may have, require the collection of funds from political subdivisions comprising the program, and deal with the property and business of the program.\n(e) If the controlling authority finds that there has been criminal or tortious conduct or breach of any contractual or fiduciary obligation detrimental to the controlling authority by any officer, manager, agent, broker, employee, or other person, they may pursue all appropriate legal remedies on behalf of the program.\n(f) The controlling authority may at any time petition the court for an order terminating the regulatory control of the program. If the court finds that grounds for regulatory control no longer exist, it shall order that the program be restored to possession of its property and the control of its business. The court may also make that finding and issue that order at any time upon its own motion.\nVIII. Regardless of its RBC level, any dividend, return of capital, or return of premium proposed by the board of a program shall be reviewed and approved prior to distribution by the commissioner under such terms as outlined in RSA 401-B:5, II, as are applicable to political subdivision risk management programs as determined by the commissioner.\n420-R:11 Investments.\nI. The assets of any political subdivision risk management program shall invest and keep invested all its funds only in the following U.S. dollar-denominated, high-quality instruments, except such cash as may be required in the transaction of its business:\n(a) Cash and Cash Equivalents. Cash on deposit; FDIC-insured deposits pursuant to the criteria set forth in RSA 6:8; high-quality certificates of deposit; SEC Rule 2a7 compliant money market funds; and short-dated U.S. Treasury bills and notes.\n(b) U.S. Government Obligations. Obligations issued or fully guaranteed by the United States, including full-faith-and-credit agencies such as GNMA (Ginnie Mae \u2013 Government National Mortgage Association).\n(c) U.S. Agency Obligations. Obligations issued by U.S. Government Sponsored Enterprises including FHLB (Federal Home Loan Bank), FNMA (Fannie Mae \u2013 Federal National Mortgage Association), and FHLMC (Freddie Mac \u2013 Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation), rated NAIC 1 or NAIC 2 (or A/A3 or better).\n(d) Municipal Obligations. General obligation or essential service revenue bonds of U.S. states and political subdivisions rated NAIC 1 or NAIC 2 (or A/A3 or better), including pre-refunded obligations backed by U.S. Treasury or agency collateral.\n(e) Corporate Bonds. Senior unsecured or secured corporate debt, nonconvertible and without payment-in-kind features, rated NAIC 1 or NAIC 2 (or A/A3 or better).\n(f) Mortgage-Backed Securities.\n(1) Agency mortgage-backed securities issued or guaranteed by FNMA (Fannie Mae \u2013 Federal National Mortgage Association), FHLMC (Freddie Mac \u2013 Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation), or GNMA (Ginnie Mae \u2013 Government National Mortgage Association), including passthroughs and CMOs (Collateralized Mortgage Obligations), limited to senior tranches rated NAIC 1.\n(2) Private label mortgage-backed securities limited to senior tranches rated NAIC 1, with no synthetic, reREMIC, or complex structures.\n(g) Asset-Backed Securities (\u201cABS\u201d). Prime auto, credit card, and equipment ABS backed by granular collateral and limited to senior NAIC 1 tranches. CLOs, CDOs, resecuritizations, and synthetic structures are prohibited.\n(h) Bank Obligations. Bankers\u2019 acceptances and certificates of deposit issued by U.S. institutions rated A/A3 or better, nonstructured, U.S. dollar denominated, and with a maturity not exceeding 5 years.\n(i) Repurchase Agreements. Triparty or centrally cleared repurchase agreements collateralized solely by U.S. Treasury or U.S. agency securities, with daily margining and customary haircuts. Counterparties must be rated A/A3 or better.\n(j) Real Estate for the Accommodation of Business. Real estate used for the political subdivision risk management program\u2019s operational accommodation, subject to RSA 402:29-d, V. Excess rentable space must meet investment-grade tenancy standards. Exposure to real estate shall not exceed 5 percent of admitted assets.\n(k) Securities Lending. Permitted only if: collateral is cash or U.S. Treasury or agency securities; collateral is maintained at a minimum of 102 percent and marked to market daily; aggregate exposure does not exceed 10 percent of admitted assets; per counterparty exposure does not exceed 2 percent; and collateral securities may not be reused other than to acquire equivalent securities.\n(l) Mutual Funds. Shares of open-ended investment companies registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, limited to SEC Rule 2a7 money market funds or funds investing only in U.S. Treasury and U.S. agency securities.\n(m) Supranational Obligations. U.S. dollar-denominated obligations of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, InterAmerican Development Bank, African Development Bank, or Asian Development Bank, rated NAIC 1.\n(n) Basket Provision. Up to 2 percent of admitted assets may be invested in instruments not otherwise listed, provided such instruments are NAIC 1 and U.S. dollar denominated.\nII. Common or preferred stock; equity rights or warrants; convertible securities; private equity; hedge funds; commodities; cryptocurrencies or digital assets; below-investment-grade fixed income; structured credit, including CLOs and CDOs; synthetic securities; foreign-currency-denominated assets; and all derivative instruments of any type are prohibited.\nIII. At least 20 percent of admitted assets shall be held in cash and cash equivalents as defined in subsection I(a).\nIV. \u201cHighly rated\u201d means Securities Valuation Office of the NAIC designation 1 or 2, or NRSRO (Nationally Recognized Statistical Ratings Organization) rating of A/A3 or better. NAIC designations govern statutory purposes.\nV. The political subdivision risk management program shall maintain procedures to monitor credit quality and shall implement documented remediation actions for any security that falls below NAIC 2/A-.\nVI.(a) The political subdivision risk management program\u2019s portfolio of fixed-income investments, excluding cash and cash equivalents, shall maintain a weighted average life not to exceed 3 years.\n(b) No individual fixed-income instrument shall have a final contractual maturity greater than 12 years.\n(c) For amortizing securities, weighted average life shall be calculated using reasonable, supportable expectations of prepayment and default.\n(d) The political subdivision risk management program shall not acquire securities whose stated maturity exceeds 12 years, securities whose weighted average life cannot be reasonably estimated, or instruments designed to produce extension risk inconsistent with these limits.\n(e) Securities held as admitted assets on the effective date of this subsection that exceed these limits may be retained but not added to or replaced with instruments of similar structure or maturity.\n420-R:12 Examinations and Investigations.\nI. The commissioner shall make an examination of each political subdivision risk management program under the terms of RSA 400-A:37 as often as deemed necessary, but not less frequently than once in every 5 years. All examinations shall be conducted at the expense of the program.\nII. Each program shall submit its books and records relating to its operations to such examinations and in every way facilitate them. For the purpose of examinations, the commissioner may issue subpoenas, administer oaths to, and examine the officers and agents of the program.\nIII. The commissioner may investigate the acts of a political subdivision risk management program pursuant to RSA 400-A:16.\n420-R:13 Enforcement Authority.\nI. The commissioner may suspend or revoke the approval, issue an order requiring a specific action, or assess an administrative fine for any program for any of the following causes:\n(a) The approval of the arrangement was obtained by fraud;\n(b) There were one or more material misrepresentations in the materials submitted to gain the approval;\n(c) The program has shown itself untrustworthy or incompetent relative to the management or operation of the arrangement;\n(d) The program has failed to meet the financial requirements of this chapter or has violated any lawful order or rules;\n(e) The program has refused to be examined or to produce its accounts, records, and files for examination or has refused to give information with respect to its affairs or to perform any other legal obligation as to such examination when so required by the commissioner;\n(f) The program has failed to pay any final judgment rendered against it in this state within 60 days after the judgment became final;\n(g) The program no longer meets the requirements for the authority originally granted;\n(h) The program has violated any lawful order or rule of the commissioner, provision of this chapter, or other applicable law;\n(i) The program is not fulfilling its contracts in good faith;\n(j) The program is conducting business fraudulently or in a manner hazardous to its covered persons, members, creditors, the public, or the business; or\n(k) The program is acting outside its authority.\nII. Prior to suspending or revoking the program\u2019s approval, the commissioner shall provide written notification to the program specifying the basis of the noncompliance and requiring that the deficiency or deficiencies which exist be corrected.\nIII. After such notice, the program shall have a 30-day period in which to comply with the commissioner's request for correction or the submission of a corrective action plan. If the program fails to comply, the commissioner shall issue a notice of hearing pursuant to RSA 400-A:18.\n420-R:14 Appeals. All orders and decisions of the commissioner concerning matters within the commissioner\u2019s jurisdiction under this chapter shall be subject to hearing and appeal as provided in RSA 400-A:15 through 24 and RSA 541. RSA 541:18 shall apply to orders and decisions of the commissioner affecting the rates of the program.\n420-R:15 Rulemaking Authority. The commissioner may adopt rules in accordance with RSA 541-A, which are reasonable and necessary to administer and enforce the provisions of this chapter.\n420-R:16 Confidentiality and Transparency.\nI. Notwithstanding any provision of the law to the contrary, any information of any political subdivision risk management program formed or affirmed under this chapter pertaining to claims analysis or claims management shall be privileged and confidential and not subject to disclosure to any third party.\nII. Except as provided in paragraph I, political subdivision risk management programs formed or affirmed under this chapter are subject to the requirements of RSA 91-A.\nIII. Political subdivision risk management programs' annual financial statements shall be made public.\n420-R:17 Severability. If any provision of this chapter, or the application thereof to any person or circumstance, is held invalid, such determination shall not affect the provisions or applications of this chapter, which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to that end, the provisions of this chapter are severable.\n2 Repeal. RSA 420-R:5, III, relative to the formation of political subdivision risk management programs, is repealed.\n3 Effective Date.\nI. Section 2 of this act shall take effect July 1, 2029.\nII. The remainder of this act shall take effect July 1, 2026.\nVETOED June 19, 2026 / Veto Sustained August 19, 2026", "in_text": [{"date": "05/14/2026", "short": "1924s", "num": "2026-1924s"}], "chars": 49051}, "nver": 4, "namd": 2, "rsa": {"RSA 5-B": "/laws/5-b", "RSA 400-A:32": "/laws/400-a#s32", "RSA 400-A:39": "/laws/400-a#s39", "RSA 400-A:16": "/laws/400-a#s16", "RSA 400-A:17": "/laws/400-a#s17", "RSA 400-A:24": "/laws/400-a#s24", "RSA 400-A:37": "/laws/400-a#s37", "RSA 402-B": "/laws/402-b", "RSA 402-J": "/laws/402-j", "RSA 417:1": "/laws/417#s1", "RSA 420-G:11": "/laws/420-g#s11", "RSA 53-A": "/laws/53-a", "RSA 15-A": "/laws/15-a", "RSA 9": "/laws/9", "RSA 4:15": "/laws/4#s15", "RSA 401-B:5": "/laws/401-b#s5", "RSA 6:8": "/laws/6#s8", "RSA 402:29-d": "/laws/402#s29-d", "RSA 400-A:18": "/laws/400-a#s18", "RSA 400-A:15": "/laws/400-a#s15", "RSA 541": "/laws/541", "RSA 541:18": "/laws/541#s18", "RSA 541-A": "/laws/541-a", "RSA 91-A": "/laws/91-a"}, "amends": {}}