As specified in the New Hampshire Constitution under Part II, Article 3, the opening day of the 2026 Legislative Session, Convening Day, will be on the first Wednesday following the first Tuesday in January. In 2026, that day falls on January 7, 2026.
As is the case with every session, the Legislature faces a heavy workload of bills they will need to consider. For the 2026 Session, they will need to work through over 1100 bills. Each one of those bills will receive a committee hearing and a vote before the New Hampshire House of Representatives, the New Hampshire Senate or both houses.
The legislative process begins when a member files a Legislative Service Request, or “LSR” for short. LSRs are simply a bare-bones description of the sponsor’s intent for the bill. Although they do not provide the bill language or even the committee to which the bill will be referred, reviewing them will give the reader a good sense of which topics will be priorities for the Legislature in the coming session.
Listed below are the issue areas that will be of interest to environmental protection, renewable energy and conservation stakeholders in New Hampshire. To view the LSRs that may be of interest to these groups, click here:
FOREST CARBON MARKETS: As we saw in both 2024 and 2025, the focus on forest carbon markets will continue. The Legislature will consider two bills on this issue including one (2026-2591) that would prohibit state and county owned lands from participating in carbon sequestration projects. . A second (2026-2672) would proscribe certain forest management practices for properties enrolled in these kinds of programs.
CURRENT USE: LSR 2026-2689 IS relative to limitations and qualifications for land placed in current use. The Forest Society will closely be following this legislation as Current Use is one of the organization’s priority issues.
ENERGY: As is the case in every session, energy will be a top focus of legislative activity. At least nineteen bills will be heard in 2026 that relate to this topic.
SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT: As in 2024 and 2025, the Legislature will continue in 2026 to focus on the State’s solid waste management policies. There are six LSRs filed that relate to different aspects of this issue.
NON-PROFIT SECTOR: LSR 2026-2821 proposes to allow municipalities to tax taxing certain properties owned by charitable or non-profit organizations. This appears to be similar to a bill the Legislature rejected in 2025.
WILDLIFE: The Legislature will consider six LSRs related to the protection of New Hampshire’s wildlife population.
WATER RESOURCES: Seven bills will be heard in 2026 regarding New Hampshire’s water resources.
OHRVs: Two bills will be discussed including LSR 2026-2995 that would extend the commission to study OHRV use in New Hampshire and LSR 2026-2670 that proposes to increase the maximum weight of a utility terrain vehicle to 3,000 pounds.
- To search through the list of LSRs that relate to climate, conservation and energy for the 2026 Session, click here.
- All LSRs are finalized with the bill language by early to mid-January. You will be able to read the actual bill language for those bills on the General Court’s website (https://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/ ) when they are available.