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House conferees approve technical changes to HB 718, stress need for fiscal note on special education
Summary
A House Committee of Conference approved amendments to HB 718 to clarify tax-rate timing and add the word “certified,” while a conferee warned the bill’s potential special-education fiscal effects remain indeterminable without a fiscal note.
House members sitting as a Committee of Conference on HB 718 approved three technical changes to the bill and agreed to return the amended language to the House as part of the committee’s conferee report.
The conferees voted to (1) change the effective date language to make the bill effective upon passage rather than Jan. 1, 2026; (2) specify the July 1 tax date as 07/01/2025; and (3) add the word “certified” to language referring to the Department of Revenue Administration’s expedited review of certified adjusted-rate applications. The committee chair said the changes match statutory wording in RSA 76:15-8 and reflected a House amendment (2725-H).
The matter before the conferees was the House version of HB 718 as amended and the Senate’s changes. The chair opened the meeting saying the committee was responding to the Senate and that all conferees were present. He said the Senate version had omitted the word “certified” and that the House amendment restored it. He also said the Senate had not updated the effective date and that making the bill effective upon passage was necessary for the Department of Revenue Administration to implement the tax-rate adjustments before tax bills go out July 1, 2025.
A conferee raised a substantive concern about the bill’s fiscal impact on special education. “The underlying bill itself profoundly affects special education indeterminately among different school districts,” the conferee said, adding, “without a . . . fiscal note, I won’t be able to support this.” The chair responded that members would work with Senate conferees and that the House side would reconvene briefly to finalize the vote.
The chair then polled House conferees only. Representative Irvin and Representatives McGuire and Spilsbury each registered “yes” to the three changes; the chair later announced the committee’s action as unanimous. The chair said staff would draft the conferees’ report and that the item would be placed on the House consent calendar.
The bill also includes a new paragraph addressing a newly formed school district (referred to in committee discussion as the Pascuaonic School District), which contains three municipalities—Hebron, Groton and Bridgewater—and which must set a half-year tax rate because the district’s tax bills will be effective July 1, 2025. Committee discussion noted that revenue administration built the tax rate based on projected costs to run the district for the next fiscal year and therefore must expedite certified adjusted-rate applications under RSA 76:15-8.
The conferees agreed to continue discussions briefly with Senate members on remaining technical drafting points, then finalize and file the conferees’ report.
The committee’s recorded actions and the discussion made clear the distinction between the technical amendments adopted (formal action) and the unresolved substantive fiscal question on special education (discussion only).
