---
type: "Bill"
title: "relative to the authority of local school districts to accept federal grants."
description: "relative to the authority of local school districts to accept federal grants."
jurisdiction: "us/states/nh"
legislature: "New Hampshire General Court"
session: "2026"
identifier: "HB 656"
citation: "New Hampshire HB 656 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Katy Peternel"]
version_count: 0
action_count: 21
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2025-01-21"
last_action: "2026-06-22"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/11575773-83f2-4252-a399-d3429317efd2"
source_url: "https://gc.nh.gov/bill_Status/advanced.aspx"
source_hash: "73b390fa694b144e35772f530bd7149b105384c365210f24a93ebba0222e41fd"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-nh"]
---

# New Hampshire HB 656 (2026) — relative to the authority of local school districts to accept federal grants.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.


## Votes

- OTPA — **186–155** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Katy Peternel — primary (person)
- David Rochefort — cosponsor (person)
- Diane Pauer — cosponsor (person)
- Juliet Harvey-Bolia — cosponsor (person)
- Kristin Noble — cosponsor (person)
- Margaret M Drye — cosponsor (person)
- Melissa A. Litchfield — cosponsor (person)
- Mike Drago — cosponsor (person)
- Pam Brown — cosponsor (person)
- Riché Colcombe — cosponsor (person)
- Susan G DeRoy — cosponsor (person)
- Victoria Sullivan — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2025-01-21** Introduced (in recess of) 01/09/2025 and referred to Education Funding HJ 3 P. 21 `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2025-01-22** Public Hearing: 01/28/2025 02:15 pm LOB 205-207
- **2025-02-12** Executive Session: 02/18/2025 10:30 am LOB 205-207
- **2025-02-27** ==CANCELLED== Executive Session: 03/11/2025 10:30 am LOB 205-207
- **2025-03-05** Executive Session: 03/12/2025 10:30 am LOB 201
- **2025-03-12** Retained in Committee
- **2025-10-13** ==RESCHEDULED== Full Committee Work Session: 11/04/2025 01:00 pm GP 232
- **2025-10-15** ==RESCHEDULED== Executive Session: 11/04/2025 02:00 pm GP 232
- **2025-10-28** Full Committee Work Session: 11/13/2025 01:00 pm GP 232
- **2025-10-28** Executive Session: 11/13/2025 02:00 pm GP 232
- **2025-11-20** Majority Committee Report: Ought to Pass with Amendment # 2025-2933h 11/13/2025 (Vote 10-8; RC) HC 51 P. 25 `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-11-20** Minority Committee Report: Inexpedient to Legislate
- **2026-01-07** Amendment # 2025-2933h: AA VV 01/07/2026 HJ 1 P. 118
- **2026-01-07** Ought to Pass with Amendment 2025-2933h: MA RC 186-155 01/07/2026 HJ 1 P. 118 `committee-passage-favorable, passage`
- **2026-01-30** Introduced 01/29/2026 and Referred to Education Finance; SJ 3 `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2026-02-09** Hearing: 02/12/2026, Room 103, SH, 09:30 am; SC 5
- **2026-04-14** Committee Report: Ought to Pass, 04/23/2026; Vote 4-0; CC; SC 15 `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-04-17** Ought to Pass: MA, VV; OT3rdg; 04/23/2026; SJ 10 `committee-passage-favorable, passage`
- **2026-05-28** Enrolled Adopted, VV, (In recess 05/21/2026); SJ 14 `enrolled`
- **2026-05-28** Enrolled (in recess of) 05/21/2026 HJ 14
- **2026-06-22** Signed by Governor Ayotte 06/12/2026; Chapter 130; eff. 08/11/2026 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/11575773-83f2-4252-a399-d3429317efd2`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official New Hampshire legislature records).