How a Bill Becomes Law

From an idea filed in the fall to a law that takes effect, and the several places along the way where a bill can stop.

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“How a Bill Becomes Law.” Granite Record, https://graniterecord.org/learn/how-a-bill-becomes-law. Accessed 24 Oct. 2026.
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@misc{learn-how-a-bill-becomes-law, title = {How a Bill Becomes Law}, howpublished = {Granite Record}, url = {https://graniterecord.org/learn/how-a-bill-becomes-law}, note = {Accessed 24 Oct. 2026} }

What a Bill Is

A bill is a proposed change to New Hampshire law. It becomes law when both chambers have passed it in identical form and the Governor has signed it. A bill the Governor does not sign can still become law, either without a signature or over a veto.

The Course of a Bill

It has to clear the same course twice, once in each chamber, and it can stop at any point on it. Most do.

  1. Before It Is a Bill

    1. Filed as a requestA Legislative Service Request, or LSR: a title and an idea, filed in the fall. Attorneys at the Office of Legislative Services draft the text.

  2. The First Chamber

    1. Introduced and referredIt gets a number and goes to a committee chosen by subject.
    2. Public hearingThe sponsor introduces it, then anyone may speak for or against, or sign in without speaking.You may speak here
    3. Executive sessionThe committee votes on what to recommend. A separate meeting from the hearing, often days later. It cannot end the bill itself: the recommendation goes to the floor.
    4. Floor voteThe full chamber decides, and is not bound by the committee's recommendation.Can die here

  3. The Second Chamber

    1. Referred againThe whole course repeats. Moving between chambers is called crossover, and there is a deadline for it.
    2. Public hearingA second committee, a second public hearing. Missing the first chamber's does not cost you this one.You may speak here
    3. Executive sessionThe second committee votes on its own recommendation, which goes to that chamber's floor.
    4. Floor voteIf this chamber changes the bill, the first must agree to the change.Can die here
    5. Committee of conferenceWhere it will not agree: members of both chambers try to write a version each will accept. Both chambers must then adopt the report unchanged.Can die here

  4. The Governor

    1. EnrollmentA final check of the text for errors before it is sent.
    2. Signed, vetoed, or left unsignedA bill left unsigned for five days, Sundays excepted, becomes law without a signature, unless the legislature's adjournment prevents its return.Can die here
    3. OverrideTwo thirds of each chamber, by roll call, or the veto stands. The House counts the two thirds among the members voting.Can die here

Two Meetings Often Confused

A public hearing and an executive session are different meetings, and they are the two most often confused. A public hearing is where anyone may speak, and the committee takes no decision at it. An executive session is where the committee votes on what to recommend, usually days later and usually covering several bills at once. A committee cannot end a bill there: the rules of both chambers require it to report every bill it is given, with no recommendation if it cannot agree on one, and the full chamber decides. See Testifying and attending for what happens at each, and The Governor and the Executive Council for the last stage.

How Most Bills End

Of the 2,243 bills and resolutions filed in the 2025–2026 term, 858 were killed on a motion of Inexpedient to Legislate, written ITL, and 632 were signed into law. Among the rest, 215 were sent for interim study (the committee studies the subject after the session, and the bill goes no further), 247 died on the table (set aside by a vote and never taken up again), and 85 died when the session ended without a final vote. Dying is the ordinary outcome, not a failure of the bill or its sponsor.

The 2,243 bills and resolutions of the 2025–2026 term
  • 858 killed (ITL)
  • 632 signed into law
  • 215 sent for interim study
  • 247 died on the table
  • 85 died when the session ended
  • every other outcome

How a Chamber Votes, and What Is Recorded

A chamber can put a question three ways. A voice vote records only which side sounded louder. A division records the count but not who voted which way. A roll call records every member by name. In the House one is taken when a member moves for it and the required number of other members second the motion. A vote to override a veto is always a roll call, because the constitution requires one.

What each way of voting records
WayWhich side wonThe countEach member’s name
Voice voteWhich side sounded louderNoNo
DivisionYesYesNo
Roll callYesYesYes

Across the 33,717 bills in this record, 4,936 have at least one recorded roll call and 28,781 have none. Of those, 8,526 are from before 1999, where this record's roll calls begin: roll calls were taken then too, and printed in the journals, but this site does not hold them. For most of the rest there is no answer to "how did my representative vote", because the bill was decided by voice vote or division and no record of names was made.

The 33,717 bills in this record
  • 4,936 with at least one recorded roll call
  • 28,781 with none (the gray and the hatched)
  • 8,526 of those from before 1999, where this record’s roll calls begin

Votes That Need More Than a Majority

Overriding a veto takes two thirds of each chamber, by roll call, under Part Second, Article 44 of the state constitution. The article says two thirds "of that house", and the House counts it among the members voting rather than against its whole membership: in August 2026 it overrode a veto 231 to 88 when 384 members were in office. Amending the constitution takes three fifths of the members of each chamber, and then two thirds of those voting on the question at the election, under Part Second, Article 100. The chambers count that three fifths against every member in office rather than against those present — 240 when all 400 House seats are filled — so a measure can win a clear majority of those voting and fail anyway.

Overriding a veto

two thirds of each chamber, by roll call
Counted against
the members voting
Authority
Part Second, Article 44
Example
August 2026: 231 to 88, with 384 members in office

Amending the constitution

three fifths of the members of each chamberthen two thirds of those voting on the question, at the election
Counted against
every member in office: 240 when all 400 House seats are filled
Authority
Part Second, Article 100

A House Session Day, in Order

The House does not schedule its votes to a time. Its calendar lists the bills for the day grouped by the committee that reported them, or on some days, such as a veto day, in order by number, and that is the order they are taken up in unless the House votes to take one up at a set point in the day, which is called making it a special order. In practice a session day runs like this:

  1. The consent calendar, first. The bills taken off it are announced, and the rest are decided in one vote.
  2. The regular calendar, committee by committee, sometimes broken by a lunch recess, with the rest of it after lunch.
  3. The bills taken off the consent calendar, each debated and voted on by itself.
  4. Adjournment, followed by unanimous consent speeches: any member may speak on something that matters to them, a constituent's story or a holiday, in remarks meant to be non-partisan. No vote is usually taken, unless a member objects to a speaker continuing; then the House votes on whether the member may go on, as it did a few times in 2026.

A motion to reprimand or censure a member can be brought up at any point in the day. So a vote you are waiting for has no set time: the calendar tells you only where in the day's order its bill falls.

Two Bills, Followed All the Way

Both went through both chambers, and on each the closest roll call in the House did not split cleanly along party lines: a majority of Republicans voted one way and a majority of Democrats the other, but a substantial minority of each party voted against its own side.

HB 1002 (2024): What a Public Record May Cost

A town or agency answering a right-to-know request may charge for the copies. The question was whether it may also charge for the staff time spent finding and reviewing the records. Supporters said small towns without full-time staff absorb real cost for requests that can run to thousands of pages. Opponents said a fee that tracks staff time can be set high enough to price an ordinary resident out of oversight.

It shows how little a first vote settles. The House Judiciary Committee heard it on January 17, 2024 and split 12–8 for passing it with an amendment, and on February 1 the House agreed, 193 to 179: 63 Republicans for and 125 against, 128 Democrats for and 53 against. A week later the House voted 195 to 183 to reopen that vote, and sent the bill back to the committee, which now split 11–9 for referring it to interim study, a recommendation that would have ended it for the term. The House refused, 105 to 266, adopted an amendment offered from the floor rather than by the committee, 345 to 24, and passed the bill 268 to 106. The Senate passed it on a voice vote, and Governor Sununu signed it into law on June 14, 2024. Five of its proceedings are on video: the House hearing, both House executive sessions, the work session between them, and the Senate hearing.

HB 1215 (2024): A Bill That Went to a Committee of Conference

The longer road at the end of the course. It went to a Special Committee on Housing, then to a second chamber that changed it. On the motion to accept that change the House divided 172 to 180, and the bill went to a committee of conference. It dealt with how long an approved development keeps the rules it was approved under, and where a building code dispute may be appealed: local control of what gets built against the time and cost of getting anything built. Six of its proceedings are on video, the conference among them. The House then rejected the conference report 102 to 261, and the bill did not become law.

Both are offered as examples of the process and not as settled questions. The site takes no position on either. The arguments above are summarized from what was said for and against, and the recordings are there so you can check whether that summary is fair.

In the Record

Follow the two worked examples through the record: HB 1002 (2024) and HB 1215 (2024), with each hearing, each committee vote, each floor vote, and the recording of each.

Killed: HB 66-FN, on what counts as material a public body must disclose under the right-to-know law. Two roll calls before it died.

Signed into law: HB 2-FN-A-LOCAL, the budget trailer bill, which carries the statutory changes the state budget needs, with 45 recorded votes. The letters after its number say it has a fiscal note (FN), an appropriation (A) and a local fiscal impact (LOCAL).

Vetoed, and the override failed: HB 349-FN, on whether optometrists may perform ophthalmic laser procedures. It passed both chambers and was vetoed, and the override fell at 145 to 206 where two thirds of those voting was needed.

Vetoed, and overridden anyway: HB 2026, on the ten-year transportation plan.

Carried over into the second year: HB 649-FN, on the maintenance obligations of motor vehicle operators, which passed in the second year and became law.

Of the 649 bills that became law in the 2025–2026 term, 539 did so without a roll call on the floor of either chamber.

Of the 2,233 bills with a narrative in the 2025–2026 term, 1,068 reached both chambers and 86 went to a committee of conference. 649 became law: 632 signed, 10 without a signature, and 7 over a veto.

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