The Session in Numbers

Status information in this article reflects NHNPA’s July 2026 legislative review.

The 2026 New Hampshire legislative session came to a close on June 4—and if it felt like a busy year for healthcare policy, that is because it was. More than 1,400 bills moved through the Legislature this session, and NHNPA tracked 48 health-related measures on your behalf.

How the measures landed

• Signed into law: 4
• Enrolled and awaiting the Governor: 5
• Passed a chamber or remained in committee: 7
• Retained for interim study: 11
• Tabled or dead: 21

Bills retained for interim study can be taken back up in the 2027 session.

Our biggest win—and one we worked for

SB 453 was a bill NHNPA requested. Introduced by Sen. Suzanne Prentiss with broad bipartisan support, it authorizes APRNs to certify a patient’s need for the four-year vehicle equipment waiver and to sign a child’s medical exemption from immunization requirements—certifications previously limited to physicians.

For APRNs who already serve as a patient’s primary care provider, this change is practical and long overdue. Patients would no longer need a separate physician sign-off for documentation that falls squarely within APRN clinical authority. At the time of NHNPA’s July review, the bill had been enrolled and sent to the Governor.

Priorities that did not make it—yet

Not everything we pushed for crossed the finish line. NHNPA worked to formally authorize APRNs to order and oversee seclusion and restraint in care settings—a clinical function many APRNs already carry out in practice. That language died in committee of conference and will be back in 2027.

Telehealth reimbursement parity, patient-data privacy protections, and APRN recognition in school health services also fell short this year. We are not done with any of them.

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Next in the series: Part 2 examines advocacy beyond the State House, including a Board of Nursing outcome, Medicaid coalition work, and rural-health workforce engagement.