Revision: Dec. 1, 2025, 10:15 a.m.
HB 1309 - AS INTRODUCED
2026 SESSION
26-2893
04/09
HOUSE BILL 1309
AN ACT relative to town meeting warrants.
SPONSORS: Rep. Potenza, Straf. 19; Rep. Berry, Hills. 44; Rep. Burnham, Straf. 2; Rep. Korzen, Coos 7; Rep. Kuttab, Rock. 17; Rep. Wherry, Hills. 13; Sen. Murphy, Dist 16; Sen. Sullivan, Dist 18
COMMITTEE: Municipal and County Government
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ANALYSIS
This bill requires each warrant article to clearly convey its intent and effect.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
26-2893
04/09
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty-Six
AN ACT relative to town meeting warrants.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Time for Holding Town Meetings and Warning Thereof; Warrant. Amend RSA 39:2 to read as follows:
39:2 Warrant. The warrant for any town meeting shall be under the hands of the selectmen, and shall prescribe the place, day and hour of the meeting, and, if there is an election at said meeting, in which an official printed ballot containing more than one name is used, the warrant therefor shall prescribe the time the polls are to open and also an hour before which the polls may not close. A town meeting may vote to keep the polls open to a later hour but may not vote to close the polls at an earlier hour than that prescribed by the selectmen hereunder. The subject matter of all business to be acted upon at the town meeting shall be distinctly stated in the warrant, and the intent and effect of each warrant article shall be stated without deception or deliberate ambiguity. Nothing [done] at any meeting, except the election of any town officer required by law to be made at such meeting, shall be valid unless the subject thereof is so stated. Provided that in a case where the article in the warrant calls for the appropriation of a specific sum of money, the sum of money appropriated thereunder may be decreased or increased by the vote of the town, provided further that in a town under the municipal budget act no increase shall be valid which would violate the provisions of RSA 32:18, except as provided in RSA 32:18-a.
2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.