Staying Legal: Legislative Updates
by Terry Knowles, Registrar of Charitable Trusts

The New Hampshire Legislature is back in session in Concord and holding hearings on bills at a rapid pace.  There are a number of bills dealing with charitable/nonprofit issues introduced this session that may be of interest to your organization.

 Finding bills and tracking legislation is not a difficult process in New Hampshire and can be done on the Internet from your office or home computer.  Go to  www.state.nh.us and click on Legislative Branch.  The next screen permits you to find and track bills in a variety of ways.   If you know the bill number use the Quick Search link; if you know the subject matter but not the bill number use the Bill Text Search link; you can also review all bills submitted in the session by clicking on either Senate Bill Intro List or House Introduction List.  When you have located the bill of interest click on Bill Text to obtain the complete text of the bill or Docket to track the progress of the bill.  Any subsequent amendments to a bill may be found in the House and Senate Journals by clicking on the House link or the Senate link.  Bills that have passed both houses and will become law are listed under the Chaptered Final Version link.

 All hearings in the House and Senate are open to the public and are generally held in the Legislative Office Building (LOB) although some hearings are held in the State House (SH).  The Legislature will be in session Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from January to June, 2006.