New Hampshire 2026 Session Status: Passed House Bipartisan · 5 R · 1 D cosponsors

HB164 — relative to local records retention.

Last action — PASSED/ADOPTED WITH AMENDMENT

  1. ✓
    Introduced
  2. ✓
    In Committee
  3. 3
    Passed House
  4. 4
    Passed Senate
  5. 5
    To Executive
  6. 6
    Enacted

This bill has passed the House. Introduced January 06, 2025. It now moves to the second chamber.

Signed by Governor Kelly Ayotte (Republican) on July 09, 2026.

Next likely step: consideration and a floor vote in the Senate.

Prognosis

Advancing 54% · moderate confidence

Where this bill stands today.

Odds of enactment

Moderate

How often bills like it became law.

  • Passed House

    Current position in the legislative process.

  • 6 sponsors

    1 primary, 5 co-sponsors signed on.

  • Bipartisan support

    Sponsored across 2 parties (5 R · 1 D) — cross-party backing.

Prognosis reads this bill's own signals — stage, sponsorship breadth, committee status, recorded votes and cross-state momentum. Odds come from a model trained on which bills have become law.

Summary

relative to local records retention.

Bill Text

How this bill changes current law

5 changes Share ↗

Compared against the N.H. Revised Statutes Annotated as published AI-generated reading aid — verify against the official bill.

The bill updates the responsibilities of the local government records manager and establishes requirements for a publicly accessible website for local electronic records.

  • RSA 5:35

    The director shall accept for storage in the state archives such local records as the municipal records board established under RSA 33-A:4-a may require. The director shall designate, with the approval of the municipal records board, a publicly accessible website for the retention and public access to local electronic records.

    This language specifies that the director will create a website for local electronic records.

  • RSA 5:49

    records, and grants for local government records management improvement pursuant to RSA 5:51

    This removes references to grants for local government records management improvement, clarifying the local government records manager's responsibilities.

  • RSA 5:49

    II-a. The local government records manager, or if the role is not filled, the state archivist, is authorized to employ specialists in records management, archives, and administration, consultants, and/or other specialists necessary to provide a publicly accessible website pursuant to RSA 5:35 and issue guidance for its proper use.

    This addition grants the local government records manager authority to hire specialists to develop and manage the publicly accessible website.

  • RSA 33-A:5-a

    III. Electronic municipal records, including paper municipal records transferred to electronic records in accordance with the provisions of paragraph I, may be stored on a publicly accessible website designated by, and in accordance with, guidance issued by the state archivist. If electronic municipal records are stored in this manner, no additional copy need be kept by the municipality if the municipality provides the public at least one cost-free method of accessing the website.

    This establishes regulations for storing electronic municipal records on a website without requiring duplicate physical copies, provided access is maintained.

  • RSA 91-A:4

    IV.(a) Each public body or agency shall, upon request for any governmental record reasonably described, make available for inspection and copying any such governmental record within its files when such records are immediately available for such release or, if the record has been uploaded to the website in accordance with RSA 33-A:5-a, III, provide the domain name of the website.

    This amendment requires public bodies to provide website information for accessing records that have been uploaded online.

Amendments

3 amendments

Click Show changes on an amendment above to see how it modifies the bill.

Action History

  1. Signed by Governor Ayotte 07/02/2026; Chapter 206; eff. 8/31/2026

  2. Enrolled (in recess of) 06/04/2026 HJ 15

  3. Enrolled Adopted, VV, (In recess 06/04/2026); SJ 14

  4. House Concurs with Senate Amendment 2026-1627s (Reps. Lynn, Weyler): MA VV 05/21/2026 HJ 14 P. 16

  5. Ought to Pass with Amendment # 2026-1627s, MA, VV; OT3rdg; 05/07/2026; SJ 11

  6. Committee Amendment # 2026-1627s, AA, VV; 05/07/2026; SJ 11

  7. Committee Report: Ought to Pass with Amendment # 2026-1627s, 05/07/2026; Vote 7-0; CC; SC 17

  8. Ought to Pass: MA, VV; Refer to Finance Rule 4-5; 03/26/2026; SJ 7

  9. Committee Report: Ought to Pass, 03/26/2026; Vote 5-0; CC; SC 11

  10. Hearing: 03/03/2026, Room 122-123, SH, 09:15 am; SC 7

  11. Introduced 01/29/2026 and Referred to Election Law and Municipal Affairs; SJ 3

  12. Ought to Pass with Amendment 2025-2979h: MA VV 01/07/2026 HJ 1 P. 178

  13. Amendment # 2025-2979h: AA VV 01/07/2026 HJ 1 P. 178

  14. Committee Report: Ought to Pass with Amendment # 2025-2979h 10/30/2025 (Vote 25-0; RC) HC 51 P. 34

  15. Executive Session: 10/30/2025 10:00 am GP 230

  16. Division I Work Session: 10/02/2025 01:00 pm GP 230

  17. Division I Work Session: 09/18/2025 10:00 am GP 230

  18. Retained in Committee

  19. Executive Session: 03/17/2025 01:15 pm LOB 210-211

  20. Division I Work Session: 03/05/2025 01:00 pm LOB 212

  21. Referred to Finance 02/06/2025 HJ 4 P. 31

  22. Ought to Pass: MA VV 02/06/2025 HJ 4 P. 31

  23. Committee Report: Ought to Pass 01/22/2025 (Vote 13-0; RC) HC 10 P. 10

  24. Executive Session: 01/30/2025 10:00 am LOB 206-208

  25. Public Hearing: 01/22/2025 11:30 am LOB 206-208

  26. Introduced 01/08/2025 and referred to Judiciary HJ 2 P. 8

Sponsors

Sponsorship breakdown

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1 sponsors · 5 co-sponsors · 409 not signed on

Sponsors (1)

Co-sponsors (5)

Not signed on (409)

409 members have not signed on to this bill.

Show all 409 →

"Not signed on" means a member has not sponsored or co-sponsored this bill — it does not imply opposition. Members flagged Voted No have a recorded No vote on this bill.

Whip count is in markup. Polling the chamber and every recorded vote this session. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Calling the roll · Tallying · Engrossing

Subjects

public-safety
Cross-referencing the record. Reading this bill against every other bill in the corpus by meaning, not keywords. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Matching · Ranking · Engrossing

Frequently asked questions

What does HB164 do?
relative to local records retention.
Who sponsors HB164?
HB164 is sponsored by Katelyn Kuttab (Republican), Keith Murphy (Republican), Bob Lynn (Republican), Joe Alexander (Republican), Daniel Innis (Republican), and Paul Berch (Democrat).
What is the current status of HB164?
This bill has passed the House. Introduced January 06, 2025. It now moves to the second chamber.
Where can I track HB164?
Track HB164 free on One Click Politics — get push/email alerts when it moves.

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