{"id": "SB661", "year": 2026, "term": "2025-2026", "title": "relative to pooled risk management programs.", "narrative": "It was introduced on January 29, 2026 and referred to the Senate Finance committee. The committee held a public hearing on February 10, 2026. The committee voted unanimously, 5\u20130, to recommend that the Senate pass it with changes (amendment 2026-1208s), and the report was placed on the consent calendar. The bill was taken off the consent calendar on March 26, 2026. The committee's amendment (2026-1208s) was adopted on a voice vote on March 26, 2026, changing the text of the bill. On March 26, 2026 the Senate voted to pass it with changes on a voice vote and ordered it to a third reading. It crossed to the House on March 26, 2026 and was referred to the House Commerce and Consumer Affairs committee. The committee held a public hearing on April 14, 2026, with 5 people signed in online: 3 in support and 2 in opposition. The committee held a work session on April 22, 2026. The committee met in executive session on May 6, 2026 to vote on its recommendation. The committee held a work session on May 6, 2026. The committee voted unanimously, 18\u20130, to recommend that the House pass it, and the report was placed on the consent calendar. On May 14, 2026 the House voted to pass it on a voice vote. 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 Senate voted 23\u20131 to override the governor's veto on a roll call, meeting the two thirds threshold. On August 19, 2026 the House voted 84\u2013216 on overriding the governor's veto on a roll call, and the veto was sustained, failing to meet the two thirds threshold.", "stages": [{"label": "Senate Committee (Finance)", "hand": "S:committee", "text": "It was introduced on January 29, 2026 and referred to the Senate Finance committee. The committee held a public hearing on February 10, 2026. The committee voted unanimously, 5\u20130, to recommend that the Senate pass it with changes (amendment 2026-1208s), and the report was placed on the consent calendar. The bill was taken off the consent calendar on March 26, 2026.", "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.", "The Senate took this bill off its consent calendar."]}, {"label": "On the Senate Floor", "hand": "S:floor", "text": "The committee's amendment (2026-1208s) was adopted on a voice vote on March 26, 2026, changing the text of the bill. On March 26, 2026 the Senate voted to pass it with changes on a voice vote and ordered it to a third reading.", "notes": []}, {"label": "House Committee (Commerce and Consumer Affairs)", "hand": "H:committee", "text": "It crossed to the House on March 26, 2026 and was referred to the House Commerce and Consumer Affairs committee. The committee held a public hearing on April 14, 2026, with 5 people signed in online: 3 in support and 2 in opposition. The committee held a work session on April 22, 2026. The committee met in executive session on May 6, 2026 to vote on its recommendation. The committee held a work session on May 6, 2026. The committee voted unanimously, 18\u20130, to recommend that the House pass it, and the report was placed on the consent calendar.", "notes": []}, {"label": "On the House Floor", "hand": "H:floor", "text": "On May 14, 2026 the House voted to pass it on a voice vote.", "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 Senate Floor", "hand": "S:floor", "text": "On August 19, 2026 the Senate voted 23\u20131 to override the governor's veto on a roll call, meeting the two thirds threshold.", "notes": []}, {"label": "On the House Floor", "hand": "H:floor", "text": "On August 19, 2026 the House voted 84\u2013216 on overriding the governor's veto on a roll call, and the veto was sustained, failing to meet the two thirds threshold.", "notes": []}], "notes": [], "vote_note": "", "events": [{"date": "2026-01-29", "text": "Introduced 01/29/2026 and Referred to Finance", "routine": false, "cite": "SJ 3", "plain": "Introduced and referred to Finance"}, {"date": "2026-02-10", "text": "Hearing: 02/10/2026, Room 103, SH, 02:30 pm", "routine": false, "cite": "SC 5", "cite_url": "https://gc.nh.gov/senate/calendars_journals/viewer.aspx?fileName=Calendars%5C2026%5CNo%2005%20February%205%202026.pdf", "plain": "Public hearing, 2:30 p.m., Room 103, State House"}, {"date": "2026-03-26", "text": "Committee Report: Ought to Pass with Amendment # 2026-1208s, 03/26/2026; Vote 5-0; CC", "routine": false, "cite": "SC 11", "cite_url": "https://gc.nh.gov/senate/calendars_journals/viewer.aspx?fileName=Calendars%5C2026%5CNo%2011%20March%2019%202026.pdf", "plain": "Committee report: pass the bill with changes (amendment 2026-1208s), 5\u20130, for the consent calendar"}, {"date": "2026-03-26", "text": "SB 661 was Removed from the Consent Calendar; 03/26/2026", "routine": false, "cite": "SJ 7", "cite_url": "https://gc.nh.gov/senate/calendars_journals/Journals/2026/SJ%2007%20March%2026%2C%202026.PDF", "plain": "Removed from the consent calendar, to be debated"}, {"date": "2026-03-26", "text": "Committee Amendment # 2026-1208s, AA, VV; 03/26/2026", "routine": false, "cite": "SJ 7", "cite_url": "https://gc.nh.gov/senate/calendars_journals/Journals/2026/SJ%2007%20March%2026%2C%202026.PDF", "plain": "Committee amendment 2026-1208s adopted, on a voice vote"}, {"date": "2026-03-26", "text": "Ought to Pass with Amendment #2026-1208s, MA, VV; OT3rdg; 03/26/2026", "routine": false, "cite": "SJ 7", "cite_url": "https://gc.nh.gov/senate/calendars_journals/Journals/2026/SJ%2007%20March%2026%2C%202026.PDF", "plain": "Bill passed with changes, on a voice vote"}, {"date": "2026-03-26", "text": "Introduced (in recess of) 03/26/2026 and referred to Commerce and Consumer Affairs", "routine": false, "cite": "HJ 9, page 55", "cite_url": "https://gc.nh.gov/house/calendars_journals/viewer.aspx?fileName=journals%5C2026%5CHJ%2009%20March%2026%2C%202026.pdf", "plain": "Introduced and referred to Commerce and Consumer Affairs"}, {"date": "2026-04-14", "text": "Public Hearing: 04/14/2026 01:15 pm GP 229", "routine": false, "testimony": {"date": "2026-04-14", "total": 5, "support": 3, "oppose": 2, "neutral": 0, "dated": true}}, {"date": "2026-04-22", "text": "Subcommittee Work Session: 04/22/2026 10:00 am GP 229", "routine": false}, {"date": "2026-05-06", "text": "Executive Session: 05/06/2026 10:30 am GP 229", "routine": false}, {"date": "2026-05-06", "text": "Subcommittee Work Session: 05/06/2026 10:00 am GP 229", "routine": false}, {"date": "2026-05-06", "text": "Committee Report: Ought to Pass 05/06/2026 (Vote 18-0; CC)", "routine": false, "cite": "HC 19, page 11", "cite_url": "https://gc.nh.gov/house/calendars_journals/viewer.aspx?fileName=calendars%5C2026%5CNo19%20May%2008%202026.pdf", "plain": "Committee report: pass the bill, 18\u20130, for the consent calendar"}, {"date": "2026-05-14", "text": "Ought to Pass: MA VV 05/14/2026", "routine": false, "cite": "HJ 13, page 11", "cite_url": "https://gc.nh.gov/house/calendars_journals/viewer.aspx?fileName=journals%5C2026%5CHJ%2013%20May%2014%2C%202026.pdf", "plain": "Bill passed, 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 43", "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 06/19/2026", "routine": false}, {"date": "2026-08-19", "text": "Notwithstanding the Governor's Veto, Shall SB 661 Become Law: RC 23Y-1N, Veto Overridden by necessary two-thirds vote; 08/19/2026", "routine": false, "cite": "SJ 15", "cite_url": "https://gc.nh.gov/senate/calendars_journals/Journals/2026/SJ%2015.pdf", "plain": "Veto overridden, 23\u20131 on a roll call"}, {"date": "2026-08-19", "text": "Veto Sustained 08/19/2026: RC 84-216 Lacking Necessary Two-Thirds Vote", "routine": false, "cite": "HJ 16, page 62", "cite_url": "https://gc.nh.gov/house/calendars_journals/viewer.aspx?fileName=journals%5C2026%5CHJ%2016%20August%2019%2C%202026.pdf", "plain": "Veto sustained, 84\u2013216 to override on a roll call, short of two thirds"}], "next_step": "Vetoed. The override failed and the bill is dead", "status_source": "General Court docket", "chapter": "", "journey": {"steps": [{"date": "2026-03-26", "body": "S", "act": "passed", "mark": "p", "text": "Passed with an amendment on a voice vote"}, {"date": "2026-05-14", "body": "H", "act": "passed", "mark": "p", "text": "Passed on a voice vote"}, {"date": "2026-06-19", "body": "G", "act": "vetoed", "mark": "x", "text": "Vetoed"}, {"date": "2026-08-19", "body": "S", "act": "override", "mark": "p", "text": "Veto overridden, 23\u20131"}, {"date": "2026-08-19", "body": "H", "act": "sustained", "mark": "x", "text": "Veto sustained, 84\u2013216 to override"}], "rail": [{"stop": "Introduced", "mark": "p", "date": "2026-01-29", "say": "Introduced"}, {"stop": "Senate", "mark": "p", "date": "2026-03-26", "say": "Passed with an amendment on a voice vote"}, {"stop": "House", "mark": "p", "date": "2026-05-14", "say": "Passed 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=2475&txtFormat=html&sy=2026", "facts": {"lsr": "3262", "body": "S", "local": "N", "gen_status": "VETOED BY GOVERNOR", "house_status": "VETO SUSTAINED", "senate_status": "VETO OVERRIDDEN", "date_introduced": "1/29/2026", "floor_date": "3/26/2026", "committee_code": "H43"}, "sponsors": [{"member_id": "35", "name": "Carson, Sharon", "party": "R", "chamber": "S", "label": "Sen. Sharon Carson (R - SD14)", "sequence": 0, "prime": true, "role": "Prime", "county": "Rock", "district": "03", "display_plain": "Sen. Sharon Carson", "display": "Sen. Sharon Carson (R)", "display_full": "Sen. Sharon Carson (R - SD14)", "district_label": "SD14", "sort": "carson, sharon", "slug": "sharon-carson-sd-14"}, {"member_id": "8739", "name": "Gray, James", "party": "R", "chamber": "S", "label": "Sen. James Gray (R - SD6)", "sequence": 1, "prime": false, "role": "Sponsor", "county": "Straf", "district": "08", "display_plain": "Sen. James Gray", "display": "Sen. James Gray (R)", "display_full": "Sen. James Gray (R - SD6)", "district_label": "SD6", "sort": "gray, james", "slug": "james-gray-sd-6"}], "rollcalls": [{"date": "2026-03-26", "body": "S", "question": "Ought to Pass with Amendment #2026-1208s", "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": "2026-05-14", "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": "2026-08-19", "body": "S", "question": "Veto Override", "yeas": 23, "nays": 1, "passed": true, "threshold_note": "Needed 16 \u2014 two thirds of the 24 members voting.", "amendment": null, "threshold_needed": 16, "threshold_rule": "two thirds of the 24 members voting", "tally": {"R": {"Yea": 15, "Nay": 1}, "D": {"Yea": 8}}, "members": [{"n": "Sen. Sharon Carson (R)", "s": "carson, sharon", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Sen. David Watters (D)", "s": "watters, david", "p": "D", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Sen. Kevin Avard (R)", "s": "avard, kevin", "p": "R", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Sen. Regina Birdsell (R)", "s": "birdsell, regina", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Sen. Cindy Rosenwald (D)", "s": "rosenwald, cindy", "p": "D", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Sen. James Gray (R)", "s": "gray, james", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Sen. Ruth Ward (R)", "s": "ward, ruth", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Sen. Bill Gannon (R)", "s": "gannon, bill", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Sen. Daniel Innis (R)", "s": "innis, daniel", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Sen. Suzanne Prentiss (D)", "s": "prentiss, suzanne", "p": "D", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Sen. Denise Ricciardi (R)", "s": "ricciardi, denise", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Sen. Rebecca Perkins Kwoka (D)", "s": "perkins kwoka, rebecca", "p": "D", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Sen. Timothy Lang (R)", "s": "lang, timothy", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Sen. Donovan Fenton (D)", "s": "fenton, donovan", "p": "D", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Sen. Keith Murphy (R)", "s": "murphy, keith", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Sen. Howard Pearl (R)", "s": "pearl, howard", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Sen. Daryl Abbas (R)", "s": "abbas, daryl", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Sen. Debra Altschiller (D)", "s": "altschiller, debra", "p": "D", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Sen. David Rochefort (R)", "s": "rochefort, david", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Sen. Mark McConkey (R)", "s": "mcconkey, mark", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Sen. Tim McGough (R)", "s": "mcgough, tim", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Sen. Tara Reardon (D)", "s": "reardon, tara", "p": "D", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Sen. Victoria Sullivan (R)", "s": "sullivan, victoria", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Sen. Pat Long (D)", "s": "long, pat", "p": "D", "v": "Yea"}], "mk": "override_first", "mf": {"Chamber": "Senate"}, "mrec": "Veto Override"}, {"date": "2026-08-19", "body": "H", "question": "Veto Override", "yeas": 84, "nays": 216, "passed": false, "threshold_note": "Needed 200 \u2014 two thirds of the 300 members voting.", "amendment": null, "threshold_needed": 200, "threshold_rule": "two thirds of the 300 members voting", "tally": {"R": {"Yea": 84, "Nay": 79, "Not Voting/Excused": 21, "Presiding": 1, "Not Voting/Not Excused": 28}, "D": {"Nay": 137, "Not Voting/Not Excused": 20, "Not Voting/Excused": 13}, "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": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Charles McMahon (R)", "s": "mcmahon, charles", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Maureen Mooney (R)", "s": "mooney, maureen", "p": "R", "v": "Nay"}, {"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": "Nay"}, {"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": "Nay"}, {"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": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. David Lundgren (R)", "s": "lundgren, david", "p": "R", "v": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Dan McGuire (R)", "s": "mcguire, dan", "p": "R", "v": "Nay"}, {"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": "Nay"}, {"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": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Linda DiSilvestro (D)", "s": "disilvestro, linda", "p": "D", "v": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"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": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. George Sykes (D)", "s": "sykes, george", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Thomas Walsh (R)", "s": "walsh, thomas", "p": "R", "v": "Nay"}, {"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": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Lino Avellani (R)", "s": "avellani, lino", "p": "R", "v": "Nay"}, {"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": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Jason Osborne (R)", "s": "osborne, jason", "p": "R", "v": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"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": "Nay"}, {"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": "Nay"}, {"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": "Nay"}, {"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": "Nay"}, {"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": "Nay"}, {"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": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. John Janigian (R)", "s": "janigian, john", "p": "R", "v": "Nay"}, {"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": "Nay"}, {"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": "Nay"}, {"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": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. David Love (R)", "s": "love, david", "p": "R", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Stephen Pearson (R)", "s": "pearson, stephen", "p": "R", "v": "Nay"}, {"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": "Nay"}, {"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": "Nay"}, {"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": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Arnold Davis (R)", "s": "davis, arnold", "p": "R", "v": "Nay"}, {"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": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Ted Gorski (R)", "s": "gorski, ted", "p": "R", "v": "Nay"}, {"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": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. James Creighton (R)", "s": "creighton, james", "p": "R", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Ross Berry (R)", "s": "berry, ross", "p": "R", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Louise Andrus (R)", "s": "andrus, louise", "p": "R", "v": "Not Voting/Excused"}, {"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": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Erica Layon (R)", "s": "layon, erica", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Julius Soti (R)", "s": "soti, julius", "p": "R", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Bob Lynn (R)", "s": "lynn, bob", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Susan Vandecasteele (R)", "s": "vandecasteele, susan", "p": "R", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Melissa Litchfield (R)", "s": "litchfield, melissa", "p": "R", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. JD Bernardy (R)", "s": "bernardy, jd", "p": "R", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Mark Paige (D)", "s": "paige, mark", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Glenn Bailey (R)", "s": "bailey, glenn", "p": "R", "v": "Nay"}, {"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": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Bill Boyd (R)", "s": "boyd, bill", "p": "R", "v": "Nay"}, {"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": "Nay"}, {"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": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Lorie Ball (R)", "s": "ball, lorie", "p": "R", "v": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"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/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": "Nay"}, {"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": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"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": "Nay"}, {"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": "Nay"}, {"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": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"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": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Susan Porcelli (R)", "s": "porcelli, susan", "p": "R", "v": "Nay"}, {"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": "Nay"}, {"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": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Jonah Wheeler (D)", "s": "wheeler, jonah", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Robert Wherry (R)", "s": "wherry, robert", "p": "R", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Clayton Wood (R)", "s": "wood, clayton", "p": "R", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Dick Thackston (R)", "s": "thackston, dick", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. James Tierney (R)", "s": "tierney, james", "p": "R", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Brian Cole (R)", "s": "cole, brian", "p": "R", "v": "Nay"}, {"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": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Liz Barbour (R)", "s": "barbour, liz", "p": "R", "v": "Nay"}, {"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": "Nay"}, {"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": "Nay"}, {"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": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Dillon Dumont (R)", "s": "dumont, dillon", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Pierre Dupont (R)", "s": "dupont, pierre", "p": "R", "v": "Not Voting/Not Excused"}, {"n": "Rep. Myles England (D)", "s": "england, myles", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Samuel Farrington (R)", "s": "farrington, samuel", "p": "R", "v": "Nay"}, {"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": "Nay"}, {"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": "Nay"}, {"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": "Nay"}, {"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": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. John Larochelle (D)", "s": "larochelle, john", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Patrick Long (D)", "s": "long, patrick", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"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": "Nay"}, {"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": "Yea"}, {"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": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Wayne Pearson (D)", "s": "pearson, wayne", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Raymond Peeples (R)", "s": "peeples, raymond", "p": "R", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Raymond Plante (R)", "s": "plante, raymond", "p": "R", "v": "Yea"}, {"n": "Rep. Adam Presa (R)", "s": "presa, adam", "p": "R", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Sherri Reinfurt (R)", "s": "reinfurt, sherri", "p": "R", "v": "Nay"}, {"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": "Nay"}, {"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": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Toni Weinstein (D)", "s": "weinstein, toni", "p": "D", "v": "Nay"}, {"n": "Rep. Vicki Wilson (R)", "s": "wilson, vicki", "p": "R", "v": "Nay"}, {"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_second", "mf": {"Chamber": "House"}, "mrec": "Veto Override"}], "stations": [{"when": "2026-02-10", "time": "14:30", "what": "hearing", "committee": "Finance", "body": "S", "venue": "SH 103", "video_id": "e4CJYe7GlRk", "watch": null, "predicted": 2714.0, "start": 5514.8, "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, "reports": [{"committee": "Finance Committee", "heard": "2026-02-10", "opened": "2:44 p.m.", "closed": "4:09 p.m.", "present": "Senators Gray, Innis, Birdsell, Pearl, Lang, Rosenwald and Watters", "absent": "Senator Carson", "positions": [["Who supports the bill", "Senator Gray; David Scanlan; Lance Turgeon; Brian Ryll; Daniel Richardson; Steve Morse; Glenn Brackett;"], ["Who opposes the bill", "Please see Senate Finance Committee Legislative Aide, Deb Martone, for a complete list of individuals opposing SB 661-FN."], ["Who is neutral on the bill", "Jennifer Burk;"]], "completed": "2026-02-15", "sections": [{"label": "Summary of testimony presented in support", "side": "support", "speakers": [{"who": "Senator Carson, Prime Sponsor", "points": ["This bill was filed last year. Unfortunately, it failed because of changes the House made. Senator Carson decided to bring it forward because of what happened last fall concerning SchoolCare.", "Senator Carson cited testimony from last year's Hearing Report on SB 297-FN, given by SchoolCare. \"The packet from Hua Li's testimony shows that SchoolCare is operating within the terms of the proposed legislation.\" That quote led legislators to believe that everything was fine. Come to find out, it wasn't fine because a few months later, the town of Londonderry, in Senator Carson's Senate District 14, received an assessment of $2 million due to a shortfall within SchoolCare.", "This is what SB 661-FN is attempting to stop. And Senator Carson's district wasn't the only one. There were many districts around the state who received an unanticipated assessment from SchoolCare due to problems with their program.", "SB 297-FN from 2025 was introduced after Senator Carson was made aware of financial and operational issues potentially challenging the solvency of some of the risk pools operating in New Hampshire. This information greatly concerned Senator Carson. The Senate agreed with her concerns and passed SB 297-FN. Again, however, it didn't make it through the House.", "Pooled risk management programs were authorized legislatively in 1987 to allow for political subdivisions to come together to self-insure coverage for their employees and municipal property, such as health, property, casualty, and workers compensation. SB 661-FN will go a long way toward protecting the taxpayers, political subdivisions, and their active and retired employees through the addition of much needed language to provide solvency and financial impairment protections for the pools, ensuring predictability and stability.", "SB 661-FN sets minimums and maximums for contingency reserves ensuring the pool's success as an ongoing entity, while making sure surpluses that are not needed are returned to the member political subdivisions. This particular section of the bill will go into effect in July 2027.", "The bill further adds an emergency triggering mechanism that authorizes the Secretary of State to seek a receiver through the court to enforce an immediate assessment of contributions to ensure financial stability and protect New Hampshire's taxpayers and active and retired employees.", "Unfortunately, Senator Carson reported to committee members that it appears the political subdivision members of the New Hampshire Interlocal Trust (NHIT) will not see the benefit of this important legislation as their Board has voted to wind up the program, and the court has ordered a receiver to protect the taxpaying public along with active and retired workers.", "This proposed legislation also increases transparency through required disclaimer language for self-insured coverage lines, and states the pools are member owned.", "Lastly, the bill adds four new definitions of key terminology that will ensure efficiently run operations.", "SB 661-FN would take effect upon passage with the exception of the replenishment of contingency reserves, which will take effect in July 2027.", "Senator Watters inquired about the 12 percent minimum and 16 percent maximum member contributions indicated on Page 4, Lines 20-21 of the bill. There is kind of a jigsaw puzzle between the reserves and the extra assessments. Senator Watters stated committee members had heard some concerns about this. Is the 16 percent high enough? Senator Carson indicated this is the bill that came out of the Senate last session. It is worthy of a conversation, and we should discuss whether or not those member contributions are too low or too high."], "member": {"label": "Senator Carson", "party_code": "R", "slug": "sharon-carson-sd-14"}}, {"who": "David Scanlan, Secretary of State, and Lance Turgeon, Court-Appointed Receiver, New Hampshire Interlocal Trust", "points": ["RSA 5-B gives the Secretary of State and the Bureau of Securities the oversight of pool risk organizations. In other words, the Secretary of State is the regulator of these entities. They are designed to allow communities and political subdivisions that don't have the critical mass to self-insure to be able to join with other political subdivisions to create that mass where they can self-insure their employees and retirees for medical insurance and property and casualty insurance.", "There are currently three active pooled risk organizations operating in New Hampshire. That would be Primex, which is property and casualty, SchoolCare, which deals with medical insurance. and HealthTrust also with medical insurance.", "There are two pooled risk organizations that are in runout. They had court-appointed receivers placed on them. One is from 12+ years ago when there was a reorganization of the Local Government Center. It was PLT, a workman's compensation risk pool organization that wasn't able to survive. More recently, NHIT, New Hampshire Interlocal Trust.", "When we were discussing this legislation a year ago, Secretary Scanlan raised concerns about a couple of the pooled risk organizations having some significant financial issues. Much has played out in the last year. The first thing that occurred was learning NHIT was underwater with their finances. They attempted to levy an assessment on their members. The rates they were charging were as high as 60 percent increases. Many of the members declared they were going to bail on the trust. So the Board of Directors of NHIT decided to pull the plug on the operation. At that point the Secretary of State made a very decisive decision to step in and ask the court for a receiver to run out the organization in the best interest of the political subdivisions and the employees and retirees of those political subdivisions.", "Mr. Turgeon described for committee members his experience with NHIT. At the start of their fiscal year there was approximately $3.7 million in cash and what would have been the contingency reserve of $1.2 million. By December of that year there were cumulative losses of $2.4 million and the contingency reserve was negative at that point at $1.2 million. Cash was down to $1.7 million.", "Mr. Turgeon started in April, and by then the cash was down to $700,000. The book contingency reserve was negative $2.5 million. In May Mr. Turgeon held a meeting with the members, at which time he informed them there was a possibility of an assessment coming.", "Mr. Turgeon indicated there could have been a little bit of a run on claims when they announced they would close.", "In June Harvard Pilgrim stopped paying claims except for the pharmacy claims. Those have a Pharmacy Benefit Manager that takes care of those claims.", "On June 30th the claims that were pended were about $1.2 million. The cash on hand was just a little bit under that amount. The trust was completely broke at that point.", "In July Mr. Turgeon became aware there was an organ transplant that was done at the end of the year. Those can run from $500,000 to $1 million, with no cash on hand without an assessment. At that point some members paid the assessment.", "When the claims for Harvard Pilgrim, the third party administrator, were not being paid it was a breach of the contract. But they worked with Mr. Turgeon to make it happen.", "As the groups paid the assessment, that enabled Mr. Turgeon to be able to pay. There was a $610,000 settlement regarding some issues with the administrator. That helped the cash flow.", "Only about two groups did not want to pay. But one of them was the second largest group. That forced Mr. Turgeon to begin the process of terminating them in the trust to protect the remainder of the trust.", "SchoolCare actually did their assessment right around that time and things fell into place. They were able to pay all the claims due to the assessment.", "By December with that $610,000 settlement and Harvard Pilgrim willing to release a security of deposit, Mr. Turgeon was able to return half of the assessment to the members.", "In the end, Mr. Turgeon thinks they are probably going to be able to return everything because they were able to collect stop loss.", "Mr. Turgeon remarked this was probably the hardest job he's taken on in his 30-year career to get this situation to its end.", "Secretary Scanlan explained what they learned was it is tough on communities when this happens. If a community does not pay or cannot pay for the claims that are due, the health insurance company is going to start billing the individual employees of that community. And in the case of that transplant, the individual employee would be liable for the $500,000 to $1 million.", "Part of the problem these issues arose was the pandemic. That threw everything on its head, along with other factors like not following actuarial advice.", "Secretary Scanlan distributed a couple of charts to committee members. In terms of SchoolCare, that chart showed the net position they were in at the end of each of their fiscal years. These charts were developed by an actuary. SchoolCare was operating comfortably within the range that is called for in SB 661-FN, between the 12 percent and 20 percent. In 2024 they dipped below that line. That would have required a notice to the members of the risk pool organization, under the bill. that is before the committee currently. The members would have been alerted to the potential of an assessment because of the decline in reserves.", "By the end of Fiscal Year 2025 the rate dropped below 4.4 percent, which would have raised other alarm bells in terms of actually requiring the assessment be levied to enable the risk pool organization to stabilize.", "What actually happened mid-year on October 31st of 2025 was that SchoolCare was almost $5 million underwater. They were working with the Secretary of State, which provided resources related to actuaries and accountants. The Secretary of State helped SchoolCare's Board make the important and tough decisions they had to make to restore the health of the organization. A $30 million assessment was made to the members. That brought them pretty close to the bottom line threshold of that range. Hopefully, as they work through this fiscal year they're going to get above that in a comfortable way.", "SchoolCare has been very open and transparent, and has worked really well with the regulator. The same is true with Primex, although because they are not a health insurance agency, they really weren't affected by the pandemic. They have been operating fine, working with the Secretary of State cooperatively and closely.", "The next chart, HealthTrust, shows their financial position in terms of their net position at the end of the fiscal year. HealthTrust met with Secretary Scanlan in March 2023 and self-reported their reserves were in significant decline. By the end of 2023 they were down to 10 days of operating capital, which is alarming as they let no one know about it. They made it through that year, and in 2024 and 2025 their net position has been slowly increasing. However, they are still below the threshold range the Secretary of State believes they should be at. And they are far, far below the upper end of the range they claim their actuary has established for them.", "The Secretary of State's Office does not have a good, working relationship with Health Trust. They do not want to be held accountable. They don't want to be regulated. And they are not transparent. When asked by the Secretary of State for information it believes it needs to be a good regulator, they have to fight HealthTrust for it.", "There are many court actions currently in an attempt to seek information. There is an enforcement action through the Bureau of Securities with a Hearings Officer dealing with violations of RSA 5-B. And if you go back 12 years there was a Supreme Court ruling after another enforcement action was taken. They were keeping very large surpluses in their reserves. The surpluses were being used to subsidize other pooled risk entities they had in operation. Political subdivisions paying for medical insurance had some of their money given to a workman's compensation risk pool that those political subdivisions did not belong to.", "There is a tremendous temptation when these surpluses grow to a certain size to think of other ways to use the taxpayers' money. Again, we're talking about three quarters of a billion dollars worth of taxpayer and employee money.", "That is the reason HealthTrust needs oversight and regulation, to protect the money of our hardworking citizens in New Hampshire. And that is what SB 661-FN is all about. We want to ensure there is a reasonable range that is established, based on standards that are created by people in the industry that know. We want to ensure there are alarms that go off when reserves drop below certain levels to allow us to take action much earlier than we've been able to do. Unfortunately, with audits there is a 6-month+ lag time to receive some of this information. By then the problems are already well on their way to being big problems.", "Senator Rosenwald remarked regarding SchoolCare, even with the assessment they are below the minimum rate. And HealthTrust has said they think the reserve should be above 34 percent. But they told us they were on a five-year plan to rebuild their reserves. They are at 8 percent. How likely is it they could get to 34 percent within five years? Wouldn't that be incredibly expensive for their members? Senator Gray stated he thought Senator Rosenwald's question was better suited to be responded to by HealthTrust. Senator Rosenwald replied she was curious as to whether these reserve levels are the right levels given what we've seen happen among these risk pools. Secretary Scanlan again reiterated these levels should be up between 12 percent and 20 percent so that any issues coming down the road can be addressed.", "Health Trust is claiming they are a non-assessable program where they assume the risk of reserves running out. The only way they can do that is to hold reserves large enough, which would be surplus, to be able to cover those costs if they had a dramatic hit. The bottom line is regardless of how much money they have on hand at the moment, if there was a catastrophic event that wiped out their reserves, the only option they have is to assess the communities to pay for the claims that are out there. That's the bottom line.", "There is much creativity going on in terms of how they can build their surpluses up and pay their claims. But the position of the Secretary of State is that RSA 5-B does not accommodate that. This is a year-to-year thing. The reserve levels have to be high enough based on actuarial expertise to be able to pay the expected claims coming in. Anything that is above and beyond the reserves and the expenses is considered surplus, and is taxpayer money. It should go back to the taxpayers. It should go back to the towns.", "Secretary Scanlan gave Senator Gray an amendment which would allow the political subdivisions to hold some of that money in a special account if they are required to pay an assessment. They would have a pool of money they would manage at their level to be able to pay the assessment. The amendment would also create an opportunity for a political subdivision, if they so choose, to allow the risk pool organization to hold that money in the name of the town and keep it separate.", "To follow up on Senator Rosenwald's question about the 12 percent and the 20 percent, Senator Gray stated those numbers were derived by an actuary that the state hired to do the assessment. It is what the actuary determined would be adequate.", "Senator Rosenwald stated SchoolCare is still not at the 12 percent. She hopes through the premiums they are collecting they will be up to and over that range before the end of the year. With SchoolCare the alarm bell should have started going off in 2024. And if that wasn't corrected then they certainly would have required action in 2025, well before they were underwater.", "Senator Watters indicated SB 297-FN had a one percent maximum. Page 4 of SB 661-FN has a 16 percent maximum. Does the 20 percent come from the 16 plus 4, or what is it? Secretary Scanlan stated the 16 plus 4 is the reserve level the community can hold.", "Senator Lang wanted to look forward as if we were starting this all over again. How should we design it to look? On Page 3 of the bill, (g)(1) applies to the actual towns or school districts to maintain a 4 percent reserve fund themselves, so if they get hit with an assessment they have funding. Is that what that is doing? Building up a capital reserve fund of their own? If something like this were to happen again in the future, it doesn't become a direct hit on taxpayers. Secretary Scanlan agreed. Senator Lang continued the requirement of that component is that if they fall below that 4 percent, then at one percent a year they'll add money back to that capital reserve fund to get back to the 4 percent. That is what would happen in a town or a school district. Secretary Scanlan again agreed. Senator Lang then indicated it sounded like a similar process on the risk pool side, whereby a 4 percent assessment cash fund can be held but they're obligated under a capital reserve fund to have 12-16 percent of cash on hand to deal with claims and regular processes. Secretary Scanlan once again agreed."]}]}, {"label": "Summary of testimony presented in opposition", "side": "oppose", "speakers": [{"who": "Scott DeRoche, Executive Director, and Jeanne Herrick, General Counsel, HealthTrust", "points": ["Health Trust strongly opposes SB 661-FN.", "Director DeRoche believes there is a very large misconception or confusion about what is occurring in the state currently. He understood Senator Carson introduced this bill to prevent what occurred with SchoolCare. This bill, in reality, would mandate by law the model that SchoolCare is offering. It is the exact opposite of what is being stated.", "SchoolCare and NHIT both operated in accordance with risk pool agreements with the Secretary of State. SchoolCare had a risk pool agreement from 2012 that they continue to honor, even though it is expired. NHIT has a risk pool agreement from 2020 that was still active at the time they closed. They were following the model that the regulator desires. That model included low reserves. As Secretary Scanlan stated he sees this as a year-to-year proposition so that risk pools have enough funds to maintain 11 or 12 months of solvency. That is the actuarial methodology that is used. We've seen the reports that it is insufficient. It creates a volatile arrangement. SB 661-FN would place into law that requirement and that mandate.", "Health Trust is the longest operating and largest risk pool in the state of New Hampshire. They predate RSA 5-B that was enacted in 1987. They are a non-assessable risk pool, and operate in a different model. They operate with a solvency period of 5 years which is very important. Their actuaries state they should keep more funds in reserve than what Secretary Scanlan prefers. That has been an ongoing battle over the last decade or so.", "As talked about in previous testimony, the reserve levels held by risk pools nationally are between 34-38 percent of annual contributions. This means for every dollar that comes into contributions, 34-38 cents is held in reserves, just in case expectations about claims experience differs. That amount is important if there is a difference. The pool has the funds to be able to pay the claims. It is critical all claims be paid. Those reserves are used to pay the claims.", "In HealthTrust's non-assessable model, they are able to rebuild prospectively. Not through a surprise assessment, but through an additional charge, a capital", "risk charge added onto the upcoming year's rate. That rate is announced in October to allow schools and municipalities to account and plan for it in their budget process. Those larger reserves allow for that rebuild to occur over a period of time.", "Going back to the pandemic period, while HealthTrust was pressured to maintain lower and lower reserves, they went to the lowest end of their actuaries' range. That equated to approximately 20 percent of contributions. During their lowest year, they dropped to approximately 5 percent of contributions. It was not 10 days of funds on hand. That is a misconception.", "Director DeRoche distributed an informational packet to committee members. There is a sheet in the packet regarding cash on hand. At the time HealthTrust did have approximately that level of cash on hand, but in addition had over $94 million in total assets on hand such as ETFs and mutual funds.", "HealthTrust went from 20 percent down to 5 percent, and now is rebuilding as of year end. Currently, halfway through the year they are approximately 10 percent of contributions and continuing that rebuild.", "HealthTrust is the only risk pool that as of June 30, 2025, did not deplete its reserves. SchoolCare and NHIT did deplete them in that low reserve model required by the regulator. HealthTrust did not issue surprise assessments. Every claim was paid. Every group was given their rates in a prospective manner, and were able to plan and budget for them.", "It works when risk pools are allowed to have the proper, adequate reserves to function.", "Director DeRoche understands there are concerns about what occurred with SchoolCare and NHIT. He welcomes the desire to improve how risk pools operate within the state of New Hampshire.", "Risk pools are important. Taxpayers, employees, teachers, firefighters, and, police officers all rely upon risk pools. And it is important there is transparency and oversight. But this proposal actually requires the very low reserve level that resulted in the situation we are in today. That is an extremely strong concern of HealthTrust. To be clear if this bill were to pass, it would outlaw Health Trust's non-assessable model. It would outlaw the reserve level that HealthTrust operated at and was able to survive their claims, And it would require member groups to create their own reserve accounts.", "The 4 percent member groups would be required to create and fund would be insufficient. To put it into context, the assessment SchoolCare issued equated to 12 percent of contributions. The assessment NHIT issued equated to 5 percent. The 4 percent amount is not sufficient to ensure funds are available for groups to pay these assessments in relatively short order to ensure claims are paid.", "Throughout the country, risk pools continue to be viable. We've seen that in New Hampshire. They continue to offer better benefits and better services at rates lower than the commercial sector, supporting our public sector and saving taxpayer dollars. But this system does need adequate funds and reserves to work. Secretary Scanlan has long pushed to hold lower reserves, demanding a reserve level that is less than half the national average, as well as insisting on a year-to-year solvency period that is too low for the state of New Hampshire.", "Senator Lang referenced a chart distributed by the Secretary of State that shows a snapshot in time on June 30th of each year for HealthTrust's last five years. He asked if the chart was accurate. Director DeRoche indicated it looks to be relatively correct. But there are a couple of important things he would note about the information on the chart.", "On June 30, 2021, the 19.9 percent was the year HealthTrust was required to give back surplus to lower down to the 20 percent mark. Approximately $57 million was returned to the public sector.", "On June 30, 2023, HealthTrust needed to raise about $60 million. If they were able to merely maintain adequate reserves somewhere in the range of the national average, that volatility wouldn't have occurred. Reserves would have stayed at the more than sufficient level.", "Director DeRoche referenced their Annual Report, which goes back further than the chart.", "For many years they experienced relatively stable claims. The levels the actuaries predicted were more or less sufficient. In 2015 HealthTrust ended the year right about where it was expected. 2016 was a little low but they were able to immediately rebuild the following year. In years 2017-2019 HealthTrust ended right on target. That was followed by the volatility of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021. They then returned the required surplus followed by what has happened with the market, the increased claims costs and special medications. HealthTrust was able to use their reserves successfully. They paid every claim. There was no danger of insolvency. There was no concern about people's hospital bills going unpaid. There were no surprise assessments. The reserves worked and HealthTrust is on a rebuild.", "What they are asking for today is to be able to retain a sufficient level to ensure if this were to happen again in the future, they would be able to pay claims.", "Senator Lang reiterated the bill allows HealthTrust to have a 4 percent assessment fund set aside in case they had to do an assessment. HealthTrust could use a 16 percent maximum contingency pool, in addition to a board-approved additional 2 percent, bringing it up to a 22 percent maximum cash on hand, Senator Lang asked if that is accurate. Director DeRoche agreed the proposal would allow them to maintain 12-16 percent. They would have to petition the Secretary of State to have the additional 2 percent. Director DeRoche stated based on their experience, such a petition is very likely to fail.", "The additional 4 percent as written would be a requirement of the groups. Director DeRoche understands there may be an amendment coming forward allowing them to hold that, which would bring you to 20 percent, which is the level HealthTrust was at the year prior to the pandemic. That was their 2021 level. If the desire is to avoid volatility, it would not do that.", "The desire now, understanding the volatility in the market, is to return to a normal level used throughout the country, the 34-38 percent. It is a typical insurance average.", "HealthTrust actuaries, Milliman, looks at reserves over a 5-year solvency period. Even if the reserves were set at 20-25 percent, HealthTrust would not be able to retain that money. That would be the maximum amount allowed by law.", "The other requirement for a year-to-year solvency period, when you give that to an actuary, they're going to come back with something like a 16 percent reserve because you are basically planning to get through the next 11 months. If you don't have enough funds, you need an immediate source of income or else you'll have to close. Or you'll have to issue an immediate assessment.", "Risk pools that operate on a year-to-year basis are referred to as transactional risk pools. They are exceedingly unpopular.", "Senator Lang reiterated on June 30, 2025, HealthTrust was at 8.1 percent. Their argument is they want 30 percent reserves. Wouldn't that assessment bankrupt towns? Director DeRoche's response was no. HealthTrust is rebuilding today by adding 5 percent on top of the rates, which need to cover claims and expenses in a year. There is a transparent 5 percent capital risk charge added to the rate. That amount fuels their rebuild. HealthTrust's Board recently accelerated the charge to 5.3 percent in the last two rating cycles. Member groups have still found it is beneficial to stay with HealthTrust compared to the commercial market. They have retained almost every member group, and they're willingly paying that charge. That is the way HaelthTrust is rebuilding reserves. Therefore, in response to Senator Lang's question, it would not be a dramatic one-time assessment to get to 30 percent.", "This is a multi-year rebuild. HealthTrust has secured stop-loss reinsurance to protect themselves during the rebuilding period.", "Senator Rosenwald asked when was the last year HealthTrust had a 34 percent reserve level. Director DeRoche stated they have not had a 34 percent level in New Hampshire. There has been significant pressure to have lower reserves, and a focus on ensuring risk pools hold as little in reserves as possible, and prioritize return of surplus back to the towns and cities. As a result of that, their Board set the target at the low end of the actuaries' range that equates to 19 or 20 percent given the year. Their Board has now targeted 22 percent as the upper end of their actuaries' range. That equates to 28 percent of reserves or contributions.", "The way Senators Rosenwald and Lang read the bill, HealthTrust could hold 20 percent without having to ask the Secretary of State for that extra 2 percent. Isn't that where HealthTrust wants to be? Director DeRoche indicated that is where they were in 2020 and 2021. It is not where they want to be. In hindsight, that level was too low. Their Board has set the level at 22 percent, which is still in the actuaries' range. The rebuild right now is currently targeted to 22 percent. Director DeRoche expects they would target above that in future years given the continued volatility.", "Senator Rosenwald remembered there was previous testimony most states don't regulate their risk pools at all. The pools get together and make their own decisions. Director DeRoche stated they utilize qualified actuaries. The national average contribution leverage for the health insurance industry as a whole is 33 percent. A healthy insurer holds 33 cents in reserves for every one dollar in contributions coming through. It is 33 percent throughout the country. The public sector demands more stability than the commercial market because of the taxpayer process, the way that you can raise revenue, and the ability to respond.", "Risk pools throughout the country work with their actuaries to determine what the appropriate reserve level is to maintain. It is a bit more protection than what a normal commercial insurer would hold to provide that rate stability. We are not talking about risk pools building reserves to unfathomable levels. This is still one-third of annual contributions.", "If there is any concern about misuse or anything along those lines, funds should be returned back to the public sector.", "SB 661-FN focuses on ensuring risk pools don't go insolvent. The best protection against that is to simply hold adequate reserves in line with the national average.", "Attorney Herrick added the percentages with respect to the maximum need to be read in conjunction with other language in the statute. The Secretary of State testified there were 4 definition provisions important to his enforcement of the statute in this proposed legislation. The definition of contingency reserves won't do away with the need for an actuarial evaluation. It actually will include an actuarial evaluation. Those would be limited for the upcoming plan year as may be reasonably established, and subsequently required to cover expected, unforeseen, and extraordinary claim and administrative losses and liabilities. That one year period would limit the amount of your contingency reserves. As Director DeRoche noted, it's likely that limit will actually come in below the 20, 18, and 16 percent as you can only retain enough for that one year. SchoolCare and NHIT were in risk pool agreements with the Secretary of State. That is the interpretation they operated under. Their actuary reports considered a year-to-year solvency period. They focused on enough reserves to get through the current year. In HealthTrust's opinion, that is not a sufficient reserve level or methodology to maintain the stability of the public sector needs. It is certainly not one that HealthTrust's model could operate within.", "Senator Gray referenced the chart from the Secretary of State. HealthTrust's maximum gain on reserve was 1.8 percent in the first period, and 1.2 percent in the next. This means even to get to the 12 percent, we're talking in excess of several years. HealthTrust is on a five-year plan, but Senator Gray thought that five-year plan was to get to 16 percent. Their five-year plan is going to fall far short of that. Director DeRoche stated Senator Gray's observation was a good one, and a very valid question. In the rebuild plan, the Board targeted rebuilding at 5 percent of annual contributions each year. That was accelerated to 5.3 percent. There was never a desire to get it all done at once. When first implemented, it was viewed as a three-year rebuild. So 5 percent the first year, 5 percent the second year, and 5 percent the third year. That makes 15 percent. Add that to the 5 percent you started with and you're back at the 20 percent target.", "The reality is the health care market and claims have continued to spike. While HealthTrust did add the 5 percent to rates, the claims were higher than the actuary's expectation and ate into that 5 percent overage. There was no erosion of the reserve level or anything along those lines. But the practical effect was the rebuild was slower than expected due to higher unexpected claims. That is a reality in the market right now. That is why we are seeing commercial carriers pulling out of certain segments of the market. We've seen Medicare Advantage changes. The costs coming through the marketplace exceed all expectations. You used to be able to plan for a 5 percent medical trend in one year. HealthTrust has had a 14 percent medical trend and a 19.9 percent prescription trend. The actual amount that went to the rebuild was about 1.5-2 percent in those early years.", "We're currently in Fiscal Year 2026. HealthTrust believes rates will hold through the year. They are actually exceeding the actuarial rebuild for this year, being at a $10 million rebuild halfway through the year. That is exceeding actuarial expectations. HealthTrust expects to have a larger growth this year, as they've adjusted to that volatility in the marketplace."]}, {"who": "Cathy Ann Stacey, President, New Hampshire Association of Counties", "points": ["Four of Ms. Stacey's county members are member groups with HealthTrust. Two member groups were with NHIT, but have now obtained insurance coverage directly through Anthem Blue Cross. One other county member is also with Anthem. The remaining three counties are self-insured. Rockingham County is self-insured.", "It is the Association's belief that SB 661-FN, along with other bills in committees, intend to eliminate non-assessable risk pool programs. The contingency levels adopted by the regulator for one year of reserves are inadequate.", "Insurance claims will likely continue to rise given the high cost of medical care. Contingency reserve levels sufficient to meet those costs must be established."]}, {"who": "Tara Tucker, Town Administrator, Town of Greenland", "points": ["Ms. Tucker was previously the Police Chief for the Town of Greenland.", "The town uses HealthTrust as their insurer, and Ms. Tucker just started sitting on the Board of Directors.", "Greenland was approached by an independent insurance company in 2024, and the town did change their provider to the insurance company. It is a town of 23 full-time employees, fairly small. The insurance company promised the town everything. Greenland was shocked and surprised when they learned the insurance company was not what they promised to be. Employees were paying huge amounts, not just in prescription costs but also in medical coverage. It was a nightmare, and the town is still dealing with that insurance company.", "Greenland petitioned HealthTrust to go back to them and HealthTrust agreed.", "Perhaps we don't understand our risk pools as well as we should as members.", "New Hampshire is unlike any other state in the country. There are so many small towns. Greenland's population is 4,200. Being near Interstate 95 they have a huge amount of influx going through the town. But Greenland is a small town. For them to be able to go in any other direction than a risk pool to obtain solid, dependable coverage is not realistic.", "Health care has gotten crazier by the day. If Greenland is going to try and retain and recruit employees, it has to be through decent benefits, and to be able to answer to the taxpayers for rates that are going to stay the same. The town can't have volatility. Administrator Tucker does not know how the town would handle an assessment. They run a tight budget. There isn't an extra $400,000 lying around somewhere. If the risk pool wasn't non-assessable, the town couldn't use them.", "To hold 4 percent would be very difficult for Greenland. The 5 percent they are paying with HealthTrust is the guarantee the town won't get an assessment. If HealthTrust has to hold higher reserves to be able to represent the small towns and their taxpayers in keeping things level, so be it.", "For the town of Greenland, this is their only option. The town is very limited.", "Senator Gray sought to run a scenario by Administrator Tucker. HealthTrust is adding 5.3 percent to the town's rate. The building up of the 4 percent is only one percent per year. Which is better for the town? Administrator Tucker agreed, but it still doesn't guarantee they won't receive an assessment.", "Senator Gray understands having reserves. But having oversight is very important. Having a regulator is very important. Perhaps there is something in between 20 percent and 34 percent. Perhaps there is something that can still offer towns the protection of having a non-assessable risk pool."]}, {"who": "Jennifer Leonard, Human Resources Manager, Manchester Housing and Redevelopment Authority", "points": ["The Authority is the largest public housing agency in Northern New England. They have been a group member of HealthTrust for decades.", "Throughout the country, risk pools continue to be viable through unexpected claim spikes, offering stable and lower rates than the commercial market.", "Manchester Housing depends on HealthTrust remaining a non-assessable risk pool. They take comfort in HealthTrust's adequate reserves that have covered any volatility in the health care market on behalf of their members for years. Sufficient reserves result in a stable and protective experience for group members.", "HealthTrust remains the only risk pool in New Hampshire that has never issued a surprise assessment to its group members due to insufficient contingency reserves.", "As an independent, public nonprofit, Manchester Housing's budgets are tight. They would never be able to suddenly take on a surprise assessment.", "Only in New Hampshire are there discussions about mandating insufficient reserves or outlawing non-assessable risk pools."]}, {"who": "Margaret Byrnes, Executive Director, New Hampshire Municipal Association", "points": ["Most members of NHMA are members of one or more risk pools, whether it be a health care risk pool, Primex as their property liability risk pool, or both. The Association is also a member of a risk pool, Health Trust.", "NHMA opposes SB 661-FN for three major reasons. One, it allows only one model of risk pool. It allows only assessable pools. Two, it creates unpredictability and additional costs in municipal budgeting. And three, it creates a new mandate for municipalities.", "On the first point, Director Byrnes agrees with prior testimony from Cathy Stacey and from HealthTrust regarding essentially outlawing non-assessable pools, which is what HealthTrust is. There is a reason and a purpose for allowing more than one risk pool to operate. Giving political subdivisions a choice of what type of pool they believe best suits their needs and what level of risk essentially they want to take in joining a pool, if they choose to be a member of a risk pool at all.", "On the second point with regard to unpredictability and additional costs in municipal budgeting, although the current RSA Chapter 5-B does not actually reference assessments, let's assume in our state both assessable and non-assessable pools are allowed. And that assessments are allowable under current New Hampshire law. Senator Gray remarked that is the subject of a court decision right now. Director Byrnes stated it is in front of an Administrative Hearings Officer of the Secretary of State's Office.", "Regardless of the assessability of pools, political subdivisions who received assessments over the past year clearly were surprised to receive those assessments, and were not prepared necessarily to pay them. That certainly necessitates clarifying the law so that members of assessable pools know it is a possibility and how it will work. It does not justify disallowing non-assessable pools here in New Hampshire.", "SB 661-FN establishes a new mandate for municipalities. It requires municipalities to establish capital reserve funds at the local level for the purpose of paying unexpected assessments. Regardless of the requirement that the municipality establish a capital reserve fund, that still does not ensure the capital reserve fund will hold enough money to pay an assessment, as municipalities cannot know when an assessment is coming or what the total dollar amount of the assessment will be. In towns, capital reserve funding is still contingent on Town Meeting approval. It's not a sure thing that funds will be put into a capital reserve fund. On a purely technical point, Ms. Byrnes mentioned these would not be capital reserve funds. They are not capital expenditures. They would be qualified as reserve funds.", "As compared to last year's SB 297-FN, SB 661-FN does not contain the provision that allows the regulator to step in and require an audit if the risk pool fails to do one. Given the financial allegations against the risk pools, that would seem to be an important provision. The regulator would have to ensure that an audit is always completed, and that both the regulator and members are able to see an audit and the financial status of the risk pool.", "Part of the purpose of this proposal is to respond to the scenario with SchoolCare and NHIT, and to prevent that from happening again. The language of SB 661-FN is, in fact, codifying that process. It is codifying all pools will be assessable. By putting the reserve levels where they almost ensure assessments will become routine for municipalities who are members of risk pools, or at least members of health care risk pools.", "Senator Rosenwald asked if the risk pools did a better job of setting their member contributions, wouldn't it be less likely that there would be need for an assessment. Director Byrnes indicated they are working with actuaries who are making predictions, and that is what is being used to determine the rates. The predictability of health care claims is becoming more and more volatile. And that is a factor in setting rates. It's also a factor in wanting to ensure that reserves can withstand that volatility. Senator Rosenwald remarked perhaps by better they mean if they weren't as concerned with competing against the other risk pools and having lower member contributions. If they were more accurate in what they really thought they were going to need to cover their claims costs. Director Byrnes' sense has been that their main motivation is being accurate in what they need to cover their claims and administrative overhead, and to serve their members with all the services the risk pool provides.", "Senator Gray again referenced the charts provided by the Secretary of State. If there was a requirement to rebuild in either one or two years to the 12 percent level, would it lessen the chances that there would be an assessment? Director Byrnes does not think it would lessen the chances of an assessment. In testimony given last week on SB 605-FN, we heard SchoolCare was at roughly 12 percent before they went down to -2 percent, which necessitated the $30 million assessment they issued. Senator Gray indicated upon reviewing the chart, Director Byrnes will see SchoolCare was not at the 12 percent."]}]}, {"label": "Neutral Information Presented", "side": "neutral", "speakers": [{"who": "Jennifer Burk, Director of Finance, SchoolCare", "points": ["SchoolCare appreciates Senator Carson's intent to strengthen the oversight, transparency, and fiscal stability in pooled risk management programs that serve political subdivisions across the state.", "SB 661-FN takes meaningful steps in that direction. It clarifies fiduciary responsibility for governing boards, strengthens actuarial and audit standards, improves transparency for participating members, and provides the Secretary of State with tools to intervene when a pool shows signs of financial stress. It also appropriately clarifies that pooled risk programs are not insurance companies, and assessments may be required when claims costs exceed expectations.", "While SchoolCare is neutral on SB 661-FN as introduced, they believe the bill would be strengthened by incorporating the amendment language previously offered by Senator Carson during the consideration of SB 297-FN last year. That amendment addresses a technical implementation issue related to assessments for health coverage pools. It establishes a limited, restricted fund capped at 4 percent of prior year contributions derived from program earnings and surplus. And it requires this fund be used first to address actuarially-determined deficiencies before assessments are imposed. It makes clear the fund does not replace existing reserve requirements, nor does it limit the Secretary of State's authority.", "The amendment does not eliminate assessments. It simply clarifies the order of operations, promoting predictability and avoiding financial disruption for municipalities and school districts.", "SchoolCare recommends the committee consider the prior amendment if SB 661-FN were to move forward.", "SchoolCare will analyze the amendment provided from the Secretary of State.", "Senator Gray remarked he wouldn't characterize the amendment provided from the Secretary of State as an amendment. Rather, he would characterize it as a suggestion the committee will analyze."]}]}]}]}, {"when": "2026-03-26", "time": null, "what": "floor debate", "committee": "Senate", "venue": null, "video_id": "-IqRWnHKSlQ", "watch": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IqRWnHKSlQ&t=0s", "predicted": null, "start": 18506.2, "debate_end": 19338.7, "window_start": null, "motions": ["Ought to Pass with Amendment #2026-1208s"], "tallies": [], "state": "floor_stated", "candidate": null, "debate_start": 18506.2, "start_stated": true, "said_how": "number"}, {"when": "2026-04-14", "time": "13:15", "what": "public hearing", "committee": "Commerce and Consumer Affairs", "body": "H", "venue": "GP 229", "video_id": "7n9ZRH8xXE4", "watch": null, "predicted": 11769.0, "start": 12045.8, "state": "stated", "tolerance": 5, "short": false, "end": 13313.32, "end_stated": false, "end_from": "clustered", "candidate": null, "start_stated": true, "said_how": "number", "end_stated_cluster": false, "testimony": {"date": "2026-04-14", "total": 5, "support": 3, "oppose": 2, "neutral": 0, "dated": true}}, {"when": "2026-04-22", "time": "10:00", "what": "subcommittee work session", "committee": "Commerce and Consumer Affairs", "body": "H", "venue": "GP 229", "video_id": "ebY25eDL6ng", "watch": null, "predicted": 284.0, "start": 693.5, "state": "stated", "tolerance": 5, "short": false, "end": 867.2, "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": "2026-05-06", "time": "10:00", "what": "subcommittee work session", "committee": "Commerce and Consumer Affairs", "body": "H", "venue": "GP 229", "video_id": "Y6nkRBEv71E", "watch": null, "predicted": 63.0, "start": 3170.0, "state": "stated", "tolerance": 5, "short": false, "end": null, "end_stated": false, "end_from": null, "candidate": null, "start_stated": true, "said_how": "number (weak marker)", "end_stated_cluster": false}, {"when": "2026-05-06", "time": "10:30", "what": "executive session", "committee": "Commerce and Consumer Affairs", "body": "H", "venue": "GP 229", "video_id": "Y6nkRBEv71E", "watch": null, "predicted": 1863.0, "start": 3120.0, "state": "located", "tolerance": 600, "short": false, "end": 3303.12, "end_stated": false, "end_from": "clustered", "candidate": null, "start_stated": false, "said_how": null, "end_stated_cluster": false}, {"when": "2026-05-14", "time": null, "what": "consent calendar", "committee": "House", "venue": null, "video_id": "ZGOsbNQ91Xo", "watch": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGOsbNQ91Xo&t=0s", "predicted": null, "start": null, "debate_end": null, "window_start": null, "motions": ["Ought to Pass"], "tallies": [], "state": "consent", "candidate": null}, {"when": "2026-08-19", "time": null, "what": "floor debate", "committee": "Senate", "venue": null, "video_id": "1hx2EXNENh0", "watch": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hx2EXNENh0&t=0s", "predicted": null, "start": null, "debate_end": null, "window_start": null, "motions": ["VETO MESSAGE - Roll Call Required"], "tallies": ["23-1"], "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=18622s", "predicted": null, "start": 18682.0, "debate_end": 18942.0, "window_start": 18682.0, "motions": ["Veto Override"], "tallies": ["84-216"], "state": "floor_precise", "candidate": null}], "reports": [{"bill": "SB661", "body": "S", "title": "", "source": "Senate committee report, released 2026-03-19", "date": "2026-03-26", "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": 5, "vote_nays": 0, "amendment": "2026-1208s", "text": "This bill attempted to ensure the financial stability of pooled risk management programs. The Senate Finance Committee amended SB 661-FN by establishing a member equity stabilization fund, and allowing that fund to retain excess contributions."}], "cite": "SC 11", "cite_url": "https://gc.nh.gov/senate/calendars_journals/viewer.aspx?fileName=Calendars%5C2026%5CNo%2011%20March%2019%202026.pdf"}, {"bill": "SB661", "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": 18, "vote_nays": 0, "text": "This bill: I. enables the secretary of state to require abatement of insufficient assets or to seek receivership, if necessary, of a pooled risk management program. II. requires assessment of each participating member of the pooled risk management program on a pro rata basis to satisfy the amount of the deficiency. III. requires the governing board of the pooled risk management program to use a standard of care, diligence, prudence, and skill in the management of the program. IV. provides for the assessment of a pooled risk management program's participating members, if required, after an actuarial calculation. V. provides for contingency reserve standards depending on the pooled risk management program's line of coverage and by requiring a contingency reserve replenishment if a program's contingency reserves fall below the minimum level; and VI. requires pooled risk management programs to make certain public disclosures to prospective and actual member political subdivisions."}], "source": "House Calendar 19, 2026", "date": "2026-05-06", "dated": "signed", "cite": "HC 19", "cite_url": "https://gc.nh.gov/house/calendars_journals/viewer.aspx?fileName=calendars%5C2026%5CNo19%20May%2008%202026.pdf"}], "docket_reports": [], "report_actions": [], "veto_message": {"bill": "SB661", "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 have vetoed HB 1491 and SB 661."], "governor": "Kelly A. Ayotte, Governor", "date": "", "source": {"calendar": "SC024", "year": "2026", "name": "SC 24", "url": "https://gc.nh.gov/senate/calendars_journals/viewer.aspx?fileName=Calendars%5C2026%5CNo%2024%20June%2025%202026.pdf"}}, "bill_note": null, "subject": "Insurance", "subject_source": "general court", "house_committee": "Commerce and Consumer Affairs", "senate_committee": "Finance", "lsr": "2026-3262", "docket_url": "https://gc.nh.gov/bill_status/legacy/bs2016/bill_docket.aspx?lsr=3262&sy=2026&txtsessionyear=2026&txtbillnumber=sb661&sortoption=billnumber", "documents": [{"label": "Bill text", "url": "https://gc.nh.gov/bill_status/legacy/bs2016/billText.aspx?id=2475&txtFormat=html&sy=2026", "kind": "text"}, {"label": "Bill status page", "url": "https://gc.nh.gov/bill_status/legacy/bs2016/Bill_status.aspx?lsr=3262&sy=2026&txtsessionyear=2026&txtbillnumber=sb661&sortoption=billnumber", "kind": "status"}, {"label": "Docket", "url": "https://gc.nh.gov/bill_status/legacy/bs2016/bill_docket.aspx?lsr=3262&sy=2026&txtsessionyear=2026&txtbillnumber=sb661&sortoption=billnumber", "kind": "docket"}, {"label": "SC 5", "url": "https://gc.nh.gov/senate/calendars_journals/viewer.aspx?fileName=Calendars%5C2026%5CNo%2005%20February%205%202026.pdf", "kind": "record"}, {"label": "SC 11", "url": "https://gc.nh.gov/senate/calendars_journals/viewer.aspx?fileName=Calendars%5C2026%5CNo%2011%20March%2019%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": "HJ 9, page 55", "url": "https://gc.nh.gov/house/calendars_journals/viewer.aspx?fileName=journals%5C2026%5CHJ%2009%20March%2026%2C%202026.pdf", "kind": "record"}, {"label": "HC 19, page 11", "url": "https://gc.nh.gov/house/calendars_journals/viewer.aspx?fileName=calendars%5C2026%5CNo19%20May%2008%202026.pdf", "kind": "record"}, {"label": "HJ 13, page 11", "url": "https://gc.nh.gov/house/calendars_journals/viewer.aspx?fileName=journals%5C2026%5CHJ%2013%20May%2014%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 43", "url": "https://gc.nh.gov/house/calendars_journals/viewer.aspx?fileName=journals%5C2026%5CHJ%2015%20June%204%2C%202026.pdf", "kind": "record"}, {"label": "SJ 15", "url": "https://gc.nh.gov/senate/calendars_journals/Journals/2026/SJ%2015.pdf", "kind": "record"}, {"label": "HJ 16, page 62", "url": "https://gc.nh.gov/house/calendars_journals/viewer.aspx?fileName=journals%5C2026%5CHJ%2016%20August%2019%2C%202026.pdf", "kind": "record"}], "amendments": [{"num": "2026-1208s", "kind": "Committee Amendment", "where": "committee", "date": "2026-03-26", "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:\nI. Enables the secretary of state to require abatement of insufficient assets or to seek receivership, if necessary, of a pooled risk management program.\nII. Requires assessment of each participating member of the pooled risk management program on a pro rata basis to satisfy the amount of the deficiency.\nIII. Requires the governing board of the pooled risk management program to use a standard of care, diligence, prudence, and skill in the management of the program.\nIV. Provides for the assessment of a pooled risk management program\u2019s participating members, if required, after an actuarial calculation.\nV. Provides for contingency reserve standards depending on the pooled risk management program's line of coverage and requiring a contingency reserve replenishment if a program\u2019s contingency reserves fall below the minimum level.\nVI. Requires pooled risk management programs to make certain public disclosures to prospective and actual member political subdivisions.\nVII. Makes technical corrections to the pooled risk management program chapter.", "fiscal": {"lead": "This bill does not provide funding, nor does it authorize new positions.", "tables": [{"caption": "Estimated State Impact", "years": ["FY 2026", "FY 2027", "FY 2028", "FY 2029"], "rows": [{"label": "Revenue", "values": ["$0", "$0", "$0", "$0"], "span": false}, {"label": "Revenue Fund(s)", "values": ["None"], "span": true}, {"label": "Expenditures*", "values": ["$0", "($250,000+)", "($250,000+)", "($250,000+)"], "span": false}, {"label": "Funding Source(s)", "values": ["General Fund"], "span": true}, {"label": "Appropriations*", "values": ["$0", "$0", "$0", "$0"], "span": false}, {"label": "Funding Source(s)", "values": ["None"], "span": true}], "footnote": "*Expenditure = Cost of bill *Appropriation = Authorized funding to cover cost of bill"}, {"caption": "Estimated Political Subdivision Impact", "years": ["FY 2026", "FY 2027", "FY 2028", "FY 2029"], "rows": [{"label": "County Revenue", "values": ["$0", "$0", "$0", "$0"], "span": false}, {"label": "County Expenditures", "values": ["$0", "Indeterminable Increase", "Indeterminable Increase", "Indeterminable Increase"], "span": false}, {"label": "Local Revenue", "values": ["$0", "$0", "$0", "$0"], "span": false}, {"label": "Local Expenditures", "values": ["$0", "Indeterminable Increase", "Indeterminable Increase", "Indeterminable Increase"], "span": false}]}]}, "body": "03/26/2026 1208s 26-3262\n07/05\nBe it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:\n1 Pooled Risk Management Programs. RSA 5-B is repealed and reenacted to read as follows:\nCHAPTER 5-B\nPOOLED RISK MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS\n5-B:1 Purpose. The purpose of this chapter is to provide for the establishment of pooled 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, self-insurance, or 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 that 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 pooled risk management programs that meet the standards established by this chapter should not be subject to insurance regulation and taxation by the state.\n5-B:2 Definitions. In this chapter:\nI. \"Department\" means the department of state.\nII. \"Informational filing\" means an annual filing with the department made solely for the purpose of providing public access to certain information concerning the nature and organization of pooled risk management programs. Such informational filing shall be limited to the following:\n(a) The name and legal address of each pooled risk management program;\n(b) A list of current officers, their titles, and addresses;\n(c) A brief description of the coverage provided;\n(d) The annual audit required under RSA 5-B:5, I(d);\n(e) The pooled risk management program bylaws; and\n(f) The annual actuarial evaluation required under RSA 5-B:5, I(h).\nIII. \"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.\nIV. \"Risk management\" means the defense of claims and indemnification for losses arising out of the ownership, maintenance, and operation of real or personal property and the acts or omissions of officials, employees, and agents; the provision of loss prevention services including, but not limited to, inspections of property and the training of personnel; and the investigation, evaluation, and settlement of claims by and against political subdivisions.\nV. \u201cAdministration\u201d, as used in RSA 5-B:5, I(f), means reasonable expenses for providing pooled risk management, including but not limited to:\n(a) Salaries and benefits, related facilities and operational infrastructure, contract costs for external experts providing direct support of covered services, and other related business expenses, including risk evaluation and wellness programs.\n(b) Processing, evaluation, and settlement services incurred in the payment of claims and other related losses.\n(c) Auditor, actuarial, legal, and accounting services for administration of the pooled risk program.\n(d) Expenses related to oversight services due to non-compliance with the provisions of this chapter.\nThe reasonableness of an expense for administration under this chapter may be disputed in an examination or administrative hearing commenced by the secretary of state pursuant to RSA 5-B:4-a. In the first instance, the advisory committee shall review questions regarding the reasonableness of expenses under this chapter and provide the secretary of state with their recommendations. If an agreement on the reasonability of an expense cannot be achieved, the secretary of state may take actions pursuant to RSA 5-B:4-a. Any decision on the reasonability of any expense shall be made available to all pooled risk management programs.\nVI. \u201cReserves\u201d means claims reserves, case reserves and incurred but not reported (IBNR) reserves, contribution deficiency reserves, and contingency reserves.\nVII. \u201cContingency reserves\u201d means the amount of surplus to be retained by the pooled risk management program for the upcoming plan year and the following 2 years as may be reasonably established and subsequently required to cover expected and unforeseen or extraordinary claim and administrative losses and liabilities.\nVIII. \u201cExcess insurance\u201d means reinsurance.\nIX. \u201cAssessments\u201d means a provision that, if the assets of a pooled risk management program are at any time actuarially determined to be insufficient to discharge its claim and administrative losses and liabilities and other legal obligations of the plan, the program shall, within 30 days of such a determination, notify the members of the requirement to provide additional contributions from its existing members for the amount needed to make up the deficiency.\nX. \"Advisory board\" means a committee comprised of the secretary of state designee, the commissioner of the department of insurance designee, and the chief of the consumer protection and antitrust bureau of the office of the attorney general designee.\nXI. \"Member equity stabilization fund\" means funds deposited in a bank as defined in RSA 383-A:2-201(a)(3), pursuant to the criteria set forth in RSA 6:8, for bank deposits on behalf of each member, such as the deposits of excess contingency reserves. This fund\u2019s purpose is to provide additional funds to the contingency reserve fund if the contingency reserve falls below 1/3 of the minimum set forth in RSA 5-B:5, I(f), which should greatly reduce or eliminate the need for an order requiring abatement of the deficiency per RSA 5-B:4-b. However, nothing in this chapter shall prohibit any pooled risk management program from allowing any member to withdraw any amount from the member equity stabilization fund in excess of the required minimum set forth in RSA 5-B:5, I(g), provided that the pooled risk management program\u2019s bylaws allow for such withdrawal.\n5-B:3 Pooled Risk Management Authorized and Affirmed; Membership.\nI. A political subdivision, by resolution of its governing body, may establish and enter into agreements for obtaining or implementing insurance by self-insurance; for obtaining insurance from any insurer authorized to transact business in this state as an admitted or surplus lines carrier; for obtaining insurance secured in accordance with any method provided by law; or for obtaining insurance by any combination of the provisions of this paragraph. Agreements made pursuant to this paragraph may provide for pooling of self-insurance reserves, risks, claims and losses, and of administrative services and expenses associated with them among political subdivisions. To accomplish the purposes of this chapter, 2 or more political subdivisions may form an association under the laws of this state or affirm an existing association so formed to develop and administer a risk management program having as its purposes reducing the risk of its members; safety engineering; distributing, sharing, and pooling risks; acquiring insurance, excess loss insurance, or reinsurance; and processing, paying, and defending claims against the members of such association.\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. Pooled 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 their dependents.\n(g) Life, income maintenance, accidental death and dismemberment, vision loss or impairment, or legal benefits for employees and their dependents.\n(h) Unanticipated special education cost recovery.\n5-B:4 Informational Filing Required; Fee. Pooled risk management programs established for the benefit of political subdivisions shall make an informational filing, as defined in RSA 5-B:2, II, with the department and shall pay an annual filing fee of $250. The department may make requests for additional information necessary to exercise regulatory or enforcement authority pursuant to, but not limited to, the hearings procedures under RSA 421-B:6-613 over any pooled risk management program formed or affirmed in accordance with this chapter. Pooled workers' compensation and unemployment compensation programs, which are regulated by and which report to the department of labor and the department of employment security, under RSA 281-A and RSA 282-A, respectively, shall be exempt from the requirements of this section as long as their operations and reports conform to the laws and rules adopted by those departments.\n5-B:4-a Authority of the Secretary of State; Investigations; Cease and Desist Orders; Penalties.\nI. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the secretary of state shall have exclusive authority and jurisdiction:\n(a) To bring administrative actions to enforce this chapter.\n(b) To investigate and impose penalties for violations of this chapter, including but not limited to:\n(1) Fines.\n(2) Rescission, restitution, or disgorgement.\nII. The secretary of state shall have all powers specifically granted or reasonably implied in order to perform the substantive responsibilities imposed by this chapter.\nIII. For the purpose of any investigation, hearing, or proceeding under this chapter, the secretary of state or any officer designated by him or her may administer oaths and affirmations, subpoena witnesses, compel their attendance, take evidence, and require the production of any books, papers, correspondence, memoranda, agreements, or other documents or records that the secretary of state deems relevant or material to the inquiry.\nIV. In the event that a person refuses to obey a subpoena issued to him or her or any order or determination the secretary of state is authorized to make, the superior court, upon application by the attorney general or secretary of state or any officer designated by the secretary of state, may issue to the person an order directing him or her to appear before the attorney general or secretary of state, or the officer designated by him or her, to produce documentary evidence if so ordered or to give evidence relative to the matter under investigation or in question. Failure to obey the order of the court may be punished by the court as contempt of court.\nV. In any investigation to determine whether any person has violated or is about to violate this chapter or any rule or order under this chapter, upon the secretary of state's prevailing at hearing, or the person charged with the violation being found in default, or pursuant to a consent order issued by the secretary of state, the secretary of state shall be entitled to recover the costs of the investigation and any related proceedings, including reasonable attorney's fees, in addition to any other penalty provided for under this chapter.\nVI. Whenever it appears to the secretary of state that any person has engaged or is about to engage in any act or practice constituting a violation of this chapter or any rule or order under this chapter, the secretary of state shall have the power to issue and cause to be served upon such person an order requiring the person to cease and desist from violations of this chapter. The order shall be calculated to give reasonable notice of the rights of the person to request a hearing on the order and shall state the reasons for the entry of the order. All hearings shall be conducted in accordance with RSA 421-B:6-613.\nVII. The following fines and penalties may be imposed on any person who has violated this chapter.\n(a) Any person who, either knowingly or negligently, violates any provision of this chapter or any rule or order thereunder may, upon hearing, and in addition to any other penalty provided for by law, be subject to an administrative fine not to exceed $5,000. Each of the acts specified shall constitute a separate violation.\n(b) After notice and hearing, the secretary of state may enter an order of rescission, restitution, or disgorgement directed to a person who has violated this chapter, or rule or order under this chapter. Rescission, restitution, or disgorgement shall be in addition to any other penalty provided for under this chapter.\nVIII. Decisions of the secretary of state may be appealed to the supreme court pursuant to RSA 541.\n5-B:4-b Insolvency or Financial Impairment.\nI. If at the end of any fiscal month, the contingency reserve of a pooled risk management program is at or below 2/3 of the required minimum, the pooled risk management program shall notify its members in writing within 30 days that contingency reserves are below the required minimum and of the actions to be taken if the pooled risk management program's contingency reserve continues to decrease. The member notification shall also contain the status of their member equity stabilization fund account and how it may be used to augment the contingency reserve.\nII. If, at the end of any fiscal month, the contingency reserve of a pooled risk management program is at or below 1/3 of the required minimum program, the pooled risk management program shall notify its members and the secretary of state in writing of the contingency reserve deficiency and the actions to be taken, including the use of the member equity stabilization fund, within 5 business days.\nIII. If the contingency reserve falls below 1/3 of the required minimum after the transfer of available member equity stabilization funds to the contingency reserve, the pooled risk management program shall notify the members and the secretary of state in writing of the contingency reserve deficiency. The secretary of state shall instruct the advisory board to monitor the financial stability of the pool's assets and liabilities and advise the secretary of state of the actions they recommend. If the deficiency persists, the secretary of state shall issue to the pooled risk management program an order requiring abatement of the deficiency.\nIV. If the pooled risk management program fails to comply with the order within 30 days after the date of the notice, the secretary of state may apply to and seek from the superior court an order requiring either the pooled risk management program to abate the deficiency or the appointment of a receiver, as the circumstances may require. The pooled risk management program shall reimburse the secretary of state for the cost incurred in seeking such an order.\nV. If a pooled risk management program is determined to be insolvent, financially impaired, or otherwise unable to discharge its claim and administrative losses and liabilities and other legal obligations of the plan, each participating member of the program shall be assessed on a pro rata basis calculated by the amount of its annual contribution to satisfy the amount of the deficiency.\n5-B:5 Standards of Organization and Operation.\nI. Each pooled risk management program shall meet the following standards of organization and operation. Each program shall:\n(a) Exist as a legal entity organized under New Hampshire law.\n(b) Be established by political subdivisions exclusively for the benefit of the political subdivisions and be governed by a board, the majority of which is composed of elected or appointed public officials, officers, or employees. Board members shall not receive compensation but may be reimbursed for mileage and other reasonable expenses. Board members shall comply with the provisions of RSA 15-A. Board members shall have a fiduciary responsibility to the member political subdivisions, which includes the duties of good faith and loyalty, avoiding conflicts of interest, and managing the pooled risk management program solely for the benefit of the political subdivisions. Board members shall use a standard of care, diligence, prudence, and skill in the management of the pooled risk management program.\n(c) Return of earnings and surplus: All amounts in excess of the maximum contingency reserve, as calculated at the end of each fiscal year, shall be transferred to the member equity stabilization fund. Any amount in excess of the maximum member equity stabilization fund shall be returned to the participating political subdivisions.\n(d) Provide for an annual audit of financial transactions by an independent certified public accountant. The audit shall be filed with the department and distributed to participants of each pooled risk management program.\n(e) Be governed by written bylaws that shall detail the terms of eligibility for participation by political subdivisions, the governance of the program, and other matters necessary to the program's operation. Bylaws and any subsequent amendments shall be filed with the department.\n(f) Establish and maintain a contingency reserve fund for the payment of any amounts required for administration, claims, reserves, and purchase of excess insurance. For a pool providing health line of coverage, the contingency reserve is a minimum of 12 percent and a maximum of 20 percent of member contributions for the current fiscal year. For a pool providing workers' compensation and other property and casualty lines of coverage, the contingency reserve is a minimum of 30 percent and a maximum of 40 percent of member contributions for the current fiscal year. Any amount in excess of these maximum limits shall be transferred to the member equity stabilization fund.\n(g) Establish and maintain a member equity stabilization fund of at least 1/3 of their minimum contingency reserve. The sole purpose of this fund is to provide reserve funds to replenish the contingency reserve fund should the contingency fund fall below 1/3 of the required minimum. The bylaws of the pool may establish the maximum level that can be deposited into the member equity stabilization fund. Any surplus in the fund beyond the maximum shall be returned by the program to the members. Any member equity stabilization fund balance held by a pooled risk management program on behalf of a member shall be returned to that member within 3 months of the date of termination of the member\u2019s involvement in that pooled risk management program.\n(h) Provide for an annual actuarial evaluation of the pooled risk management program. The evaluation shall assess the reserve, the contingency reserve, and the member stabilization fund. The actuary shall advise the program if the minimum of the member equity stabilization fund, as set by this chapter, or at whatever higher level set by the pooled risk management program\u2019s bylaws, is adequate to ensure a less than 5 percent chance of insolvency in the next 3 years and shall take necessary steps to adjust the minimum member equity stabilization fund balance to be at or greater than the actuary\u2019s recommendation. The annual actuarial evaluation shall be performed by a member of the American Academy of Actuaries qualified in the coverage area being evaluated, shall be filed with the department, and shall be distributed to participants of each pooled risk management program.\n(i) The actuarial evaluation shall calculate contributions and assessments required to fund the program and bring the program into compliance with the minimums required for the contingency reserve and the member equity stabilization fund. Contribution rates charged in any given year to each member may not be lower than the amounts indicated by reasonable actuarial analysis. Contribution rate relativities shall be updated at least every 5 years.\n(j) Provide notice to all participants of and conduct 2 public hearings for the purpose of advising members of potential rate increases, the reasons for projected rate increases, and soliciting comments from members regarding the return of surplus, at least 10 days prior to rate setting for each calendar year.\nII. Initial funding, replenishment, and use of the contingency reserve and the member equity stabilization fund shall be as follows:\n(a) Initial funding of the contingency reserve and the member equity stabilization fund shall be at least 1/2 of the required minimum or as authorized by the department.\n(b) Replenishment of the contingency reserve and the member equity stabilization fund shall be at least 68 percent annually of the amount the funds are below the minimums. Alternate replenishment percentages may be authorized by the department.\n(c) The member equity stabilization fund shall be used to bring the contingency reserve back to 1/3 of the minimum allowed whenever the contingency reserve fund falls below that limit. If the bylaws permit, the board of directors, by a 2/3 vote, may transfer any amount in the member equity stabilization fund that is above the minimum required to the members or to the contingency reserve fund. Transfers to the contingency reserve fund shall not cause the fund to exceed the maximum allowed.\n(d) The risk management program member equity stabilization funds may be invested as determined by the board of directors, and any earnings on fund monies shall be added to that member\u2019s equity stabilization fund.\n5-B:6 Declaration of Status; Tax Exemption; Liability.\nI. Any pooled risk management program 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 plan shall not constitute doing an insurance business for purposes of regulation or taxation.\nII. Any such program operating under this chapter, whether or not a 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.\nIII. Participation by a political subdivision in a pooled 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 pooled risk management program or any other political subdivision participating in the program.\nIV. Any such program operating under this chapter shall publicly and conspicuously disclose, by including a written disclaimer in any and all member agreements, contracts, bylaws, and contribution quotes and renewals between the program and its prospective and actual member political subdivisions, that, at a minimum, notifies the political subdivision of the following:\n(a) The pooled risk management program does not function like an insurance company and is not an insurer.\n(b) The pooled risk management program, to the extent it is self-insured, does not provide guaranteed cost or fixed cost coverages.\n(c) The pooled risk management program may collect from participating members\u2019 assessments or replenishments whenever required in the event the program\u2019s assets are insufficient to discharge its claim and administrative losses and liabilities and other legal obligations of the plan, in the event of insolvency, or in the event contingency reserves fall below the required minimum under this chapter.\n5-B:7 Confidentiality of Certain Claims Information. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, any information of any pooled 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 or disclosure under RSA 91-A.\n5-B:8 Dissolution of a Pooled Risk Management Program.\nI. A voluntary or involuntary dissolution of a pooled risk management program established under this chapter shall occur in accordance with the dissolution requirements under New Hampshire law applicable to the legal entity operating such program.\nII. Notwithstanding the foregoing and any provision of law to the contrary, and in accordance with Section 115 of the Internal Revenue Code, in the event of any dissolution of any pooled risk management program under this chapter, after all legal debts, liabilities, and obligations of the program have been finally discharged or satisfied, all remaining assets, if any, shall be liquidated and shall be distributed pro-rata to the members of the respective coverage lines as of the last day of the last full pool year of such coverage line prior to the decision to dissolve. Such net assets shall be distributed, separately by coverage line, by calculating each member\u2019s relative percentage of the total member contributions to the coverage line for such pool year.\n2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.\nVETOED June 19, 2026 / Veto Sustained August 19, 2026.\nLBA\n26-3262\n5/8/26\nSB 661-FN- FISCAL NOTE\nAS AMENDED BY THE SENATE (AMENDMENT #2026-1208s)\nAN ACT relative to pooled risk management programs.\nMETHODOLOGY:\nThis bill introduces measures to ensure the financial stability of pooled risk management programs. It allows the Secretary of State to address insufficient assets and seek court appointed receivership if necessary. Pools providing health coverage must maintain a contingency reserve with a minimum of 12 percent and a maximum of 20 percent of annual contributions. Pools providing workers' compensation and other property and casualty lines of coverage must maintain a contingency reserve with a minimum of 30 percent and a maximum of 40 percent of annual contributions. Any funds exceeding the maximum reserve limits shall be transferred to the member equity stabilization fund. The bill also requires pooled risk management programs to establish a member equity stabilization fund equal to at least one-third of the minimum contingency reserve to help cover program assessments and other obligations. Additionally, the bill requires greater transparency through public disclosures for program members.\nThe Department of State indicates that this bill will save $250,000+ in general funds each year and securities funds that go unspent will lapse back to the General Fund. The anticipated savings are from the reduced need to hire external legal and actuarial experts that help the state bring legal action against pooled risk management programs that are not acting as a fiduciary to their participating members.\nThe New Hampshire Municipal Association (NHMA) states that this bill would require municipalities participating in pooled health plans to set aside extra funds in reserve accounts to cover potential financial shortfalls. If the health pool's reserves drop too low or if it becomes insolvent, municipalities would face additional financial obligations through special assessments. They would also need to rebuild reserve accounts over time if used. Municipalities must agree in writing to take responsibility for these potential financial risks, including any losses from the prior year if they leave the pool. This could lead to increased costs and challenges for municipalities, especially since raising extra funds may require special town meetings.\nThe New Hampshire Association of Counties (NHAC) states that this bill could lead to an indeterminable increase in expenditures for counties involved in pooled risk management programs. The potential increase stems from the need to gather additional contributions from members if an annual audit, actuarial determination, or Secretary of State investigation reveals insufficient assets. Additionally, there could be administrative costs that would be taken on by pool members also increasing expenditures.\nAGENCIES CONTACTED:\nDepartment of State, New Hampshire Municipal Association, and New Hampshire Association of Counties", "in_text": [{"date": "03/26/2026", "short": "1208s", "num": "2026-1208s"}], "chars": 30749}, "nver": 4, "namd": 1, "rsa": {"RSA 5-B": "/laws/5-b", "RSA 5-B:5": "/laws/5-b#s5", "RSA 5-B:4-a": "/laws/5-b#s4-a", "RSA 383-A:2-201": "/laws/383-a#s2-201", "RSA 6:8": "/laws/6#s8", "RSA 5-B:4-b": "/laws/5-b", "RSA 53-A": "/laws/53-a", "RSA 5-B:2": "/laws/5-b#s2", "RSA 421-B:6-613": "/laws/421-b#s6-613", "RSA 281-A": "/laws/281-a", "RSA 282-A": "/laws/282-a", "RSA 541": "/laws/541", "RSA 15-A": "/laws/15-a", "RSA 91-A": "/laws/91-a"}, "amends": {"RSA 5-B": "/laws/5-b"}}