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Committee advances clerical fix to overlapping special-education statutes
Summary
Lawmakers approved an amendment and voted to report HB 177 'ought to pass as amended' to resolve an overlap caused by two 2024 statutes that edited the same paragraph of New Hampshire special-education law.
The House Children and Family Law Committee voted to recommend passage of House Bill 177 as amended, a measure enacted to correct drafting artifacts created when two 2024 laws amended the same paragraph of RSA 186-C.
Representative Nancy Murphy, who introduced HB 177, said two bills enacted in 2024 made different edits to the same paragraph of New Hampshire’s special-education law. Murphy described a publishing/integration issue that temporarily removed language (RSA 193:27(7)) from the published statute and then restored it; HB 177 removes an extraneous "or" so the paragraph reads properly.
Senators and staff characterized the bill as a technical, non-substantive change. Senator Long observed that the amendment removes italics that would otherwise show a textual change that is not actually changing the law; Senator Sullivan described it as a technical fix. Sarah Long (committee member) and others said the change aligned the published code with legislative intent.
Committee members adopted an amendment (identified as 1729H in committee discussion) and then voted in executive session to report HB 177 'ought to pass as amended.' The committee also approved sending the bill on consent.
Murphy and committee members said the measure addresses an editorial/publishing issue produced when different enacted bills affected the same statutory paragraph and that the proposed change is intended to make statute-reading clearer for practitioners and the public.
