---
type: "Bill"
title: "relative to penalties for welfare fraud."
description: "relative to penalties for welfare fraud."
jurisdiction: "us/states/nh"
legislature: "New Hampshire General Court"
session: "2018"
identifier: "SB 579"
citation: "New Hampshire SB 579 (2018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["James P. Gray"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 14
vote_count: 0
first_action: "2018-01-17"
last_action: "2018-06-20"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/9ff4fd7c-d5f7-4b01-9c38-ab9ef7378943"
source_url: "http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/bill_Status/bill_status.aspx?lsr=2747&sy=2018&sortoption=&txtsessionyear=2018"
source_hash: "4a38e9314fe1e241bdfe335bd3404f04c020d84219ce83022f3b4f1e7453892b"
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 SB 579 (2018) — relative to penalties for welfare fraud.

## Version chain

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

1. **latest version** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/bill_status/billText.aspx?sy=2018&id=1763&txtFormat=html)

## Sponsors

- James P. Gray — primary (person)
- David H Watters — cosponsor (person)
- Donald L. LeBrun — cosponsor (person)
- Frank R. Kotowski — cosponsor (person)
- James R. MacKay — cosponsor (person)
- Jeb Bradley — cosponsor (person)
- Kevin A. Avard — cosponsor (person)
- Polly Kent Campion — cosponsor (person)
- Regina Birdsell — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2018-01-17** Introduced 01/03/2018 and Referred to Finance; SJ 2 `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2018-01-23** Hearing: 01/30/2018, Room 103, SH, 01:30 pm; SC 5
- **2018-01-30** Committee Report: Ought to Pass, 02/15/2018; SC 7 `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2018-02-15** Ought to Pass: MA, VV; OT3rdg; 02/15/2018; SJ 4 `passage`
- **2018-03-12** Introduced 03/07/2018 and referred to Criminal Justice and Public Safety HJ 7 P. 53 `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2018-03-14** Public Hearing: 03/20/2018 10:30 AM LOB 204
- **2018-03-22** Executive Session: 03/20/2018 LOB 204
- **2018-03-22** Committee Report: Ought to Pass for 04/05/2018 (Vote 17-0; CC) HC 13 P. 4 `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2018-04-05** Ought to Pass: MA VV 04/05/2018 HJ 11 P. 4 `passage`
- **2018-04-05** Referred to Finance 04/05/2018 HJ 11 P. 4
- **2018-04-05** Referral Waived by Committee Chair per House Rule 46(f) 04/05/2018 HJ 11 P. 16
- **2018-04-18** Enrolled (In recess 04/12/2018); SJ 13
- **2018-04-19** Enrolled 04/19/2018 HJ 13 P. 2
- **2018-06-20** Signed by the Governor on 06/18/2018; Chapter 0277; Effective 06/18/2018 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/9ff4fd7c-d5f7-4b01-9c38-ab9ef7378943`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official New Hampshire legislature records).