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New Hampshire
With Deadline Looming, New Hampshire Marijuana Legalization Conference Committee Makes Slow Progress Toward Deal
At a conference committee meeting on Wednesday, lawmakers from New Hampshire’s Senate and House of Representatives made slow progress toward a potential deal to legalize marijuana, reaching agreement on a few key issues. But the panel still has more details to hammer out ahead of a deadline on Thursday.
Both chambers have already passed separate versions of legislation to create a regulated cannabis market in the state. If the conference committee can agree on a compromise bill by this week’s deadline, the measure would go back to each legislative chamber for an up-or-down vote before possibly proceeding to the desk of Gov. Chris Sununu (R).
If Sununu were to sign a compromise bill into law, New Hampshire would become the 25th U.S. state to legalize marijuana for adults.
The panel will meet again late Thursday morning.
For the most part, the conference committee is working off a version of the bill passed last month by the Senate. On Tuesday, during the conference committee’s first meeting, House lawmakers unveiled four changes they wanted to see made: lowering the proposed state surcharge on cannabis sales from 15 percent to 12.5 percent, providing licensing priority to existing medical marijuana businesses, adjusting rules around passengers consuming cannabis in vehicles and immediately decriminalizing up to two ounces of marijuana—the eventual personal possession limit—to compensate for a Senate change that delayed the formal legalization of possession until 2026.
At the start of Wednesday’s second meeting, senators on the panel agreed to two of those adjustments, adding licensing priority for applicants with in-state experience and eliminating penalties for vehicle passengers who consume marijuana in ways other than smoking or vaping.
But other sticking points still remain. The Senate contingent said it’s unwilling to negotiate a lower state surcharge on marijuana purchases than 15 percent, and senators said they’re also hesitant to expand decriminalization. Senate President Jeb Bradley (R), a member of the panel, vocally opposed increasing the possession threshold.
Currently, possession of up to three quarters of an ounce of cannabis is punishable by a $100 fine.
“Speaking for myself, I’m going to have a very hard time going to two ounces,” Bradley told the panel.
“Help us out here, Jeb,” Rep. John Hunt (R) pushed back, arguing that the change would have little practical impact. Based on conversations with the local prosecutor in his district, he said, “they don’t prosecute anybody for possession anymore. That just doesn’t happen.”
If the change would win more votes for the bill in the legislature, “why not?” Hunt asked.
“Just to use your own logic against you,” Bradley replied, “if they’re not being prosecuted, why do it?”
Bradley has said repeatedly during the session that he personally opposes legalization. At one point, he told local reporters that he hoped the legislation would die in his chamber. But he’s also said along the way that if the proposal has the votes to pass, he wants to make what he sees as improvements.
“I’m not here to get people to vote for it,” he said at Wednesday’s meeting. “I’m here to protect public health and safety.”
On the other hand, though Bradley is now in a position to singlehandedly kill the bill—all conference committee members must sign off for the measure to advance—he gave the clearest indication so far on Wednesday that may indeed vote in its favor.
“If the Senate position is adhered to, I will sign the committee of conference report,” he said, “because I believe it better protects public health and safety than the other versions. Anything that undermines that makes it very difficult for me.”
Hunt, for his part, urged colleagues to keep the process moving along. When Sen. Tim Lang (R) at one point said the Senate contingent wouldn’t be ready to give a final answer on the House-proposed change on Wednesday, Hunt replied: “Well, we have to come to the answer within the next 24 hours.”
Hunt also urged Rep. Anita Burroughs (D) to immediately prepare a new House suggestion she raised concerning the makeup of a cannabis regulatory body —drafting it during the hearing itself—rather than bring it back to the committee on Thursday.
“Do it right now,” he implored her.
That proposed change, which senators also said they’re considering, would add at least two more industry representatives to the would-be marijuana regulatory board. Hunt explained that critics feel the currently proposed makeup is “more regulatory and more in terms of restricting the industry” and want to see businesses have more of a voice.
Lawmakers also briefly discussed how the bill would integrate existing medical marijuana businesses—known in New Hampshire as alternative treatment centers (ATCs)—though they did not propose any specific changes at the meeting, instead planning to return to the matter on Thursday. House members want to clarify the ability of ATCs to convert to for-profit entities if they choose to enter the recreational market.
The panel’s discussion on tax rates highlighted a key difference in how lawmakers understand the effects of legalization. Some members said taxes should be low in order for legal stores to better compete with the state’s existing illicit market. Bradley, however, said he would oppose any rate cuts, arguing that legalization will increase public health and law enforcement costs.
“Based on everything I’ve read, the black market is precipitated by legalization,” he asserted. “And while tax policy might be a factor in that, I think legalization is probably the primary driver.”
“Really?” Hunt asked skeptically. “All these years, when everyone has been buying it illegally—you’re saying that it’s actually increased since then?”
“Really,” Bradley replied.
Another panelist, Rep. Jason Osborne (R), asked the Senate president, “What does the black market for alcohol and tobacco look like?”
“Good question,” Bradley answered. “It’s a lot harder to distill spirits than it is to grow marijuana.”
“Man, I bet there’d be some disagreement in the audience on that,” Osborne said.
From the Senate, the conference committee included Sens. Bradley, Lang and Shannon Chandley (D). On the House side, members were Reps. Hunt, Osborne, Burroughs and Carrie Spier (D).
The governor, for his part, has said he’s personally opposed to legalization but sees the change as inevitable. He’s previously said that he would accept legislation based on the Senate-passed version of the bill provided House lawmakers make no major adjustments.
If the bill, HB 1633, does become law, it would allow 15 stores to open statewide beginning in 2026 through a novel state-run franchise system. Though stores would be privately run, the government would oversee operations. Purchases would incur a 15 percent “franchise fee”—effectively a tax—that would apply to both adult-use and medical marijuana purchases.
Marijuana possession wouldn’t become legal until 2026, once the state’s licensed market is up and running. That same year, possession of up to two ounces of marijuana would become fully legal.
The proposal would limit each municipality to only a single cannabis retail establishment unless it’s home to more than 50,000 people. Only two cities in the state, Manchester and Nashua, meet that threshold. Local voters would also need to pre-approve the industry in order for businesses to open in that jurisdiction.
Home cultivation of cannabis for personal use would remain illegal, and the state’s Liquor Commission would have the authority to enforce that provision.
Smoking or vaping marijuana in public would be a violation on the first offense and an misdemeanor for second or subsequent offenses within five years, a charge that could carry jail time. Consuming cannabis in other forms in public—for example, drinking a THC-infused beverage—would carry no punishment, unlike open container rules around alcohol.
For someone driving a car, the bill would outlaw consumption of cannabis by any means. Passengers would be forbidden from smoking or vaping cannabis.
Driving under the influence of marijuana would remain a crime under both versions of the bill.
By contrast, the version of the bill passed by the House in April would have legalize through a so-called “agency store” model preferred by the bill’s original sponsor, Rep. Erica Layon (R). Under that approach, the state would oversee a system of privately run stores, with strict limits on marketing and advertising. That version also included a higher personal possession limit of four ounces, and medical marijuana would be been exempt from the state surcharge. Further, personal possession would have become legal immediately.
Most legalization and criminal justice advocates preferred the House bill, though they did welcome some licensing provision changes in the Senate version.
New Hampshire lawmakers worked extensively on marijuana reform issues last session and attempted to reach a compromise to enact legalization through a multi-tiered system that would include state-controlled shops, dual licensing for existing medical cannabis dispensaries and businesses privately licensed to individuals by state agencies. The legislature ultimately hit an impasse on the complex legislation.
Bicameral lawmakers also convened the state commission tasked with studying legalization and proposing a path forward last year, though the group ultimately failed to arrive at a consensus or propose final legislation.
The Senate defeated a more conventional House-passed legalization bill last year, HB 639, despite its bipartisan support.
Last May, the House defeated marijuana legalization language that was included in a Medicaid expansion bill. The Senate also moved to table another piece of legislation that month that would have allowed patients and designated caregivers to cultivate up to three mature plants, three immature plants and 12 seedlings for personal therapeutic use.
After the Senate rejected the reform bills in 2022, the House included legalization language as an amendment to separate criminal justice-related legislation—but that was also struck down in the opposite chamber.
GOP Congressional Committee Removes D.C. Marijuana Sales Ban And Adds Cannabis Banking Protections In Key Spending Bill
Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.
Local News
Investigators partnered with a nonprofit genetic genealogy analysis organization to identify the man who the remains belonged to.
After nearly four decades, a man whose skull was discovered in the New Hampshire woods has been identified.
Warren Kuchinsky was born in 1952 and was last known to be alive in the mid-1970s, New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella and New Hampshire State Police Colonel Mark Hall said in a statement. In 1986, his skull was found in a wooded area in the town of Bristol.
At the time, investigators weren’t able to identify whose skull it was, according to officials. Last year, however, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner partnered with the DNA Doe Project, a nonprofit organization, to solve the case using forensic genetic genealogy techniques.
Kuchinsky’s identity was confirmed through DNA testing of a surviving family member, according to officials. There is no evidence that his death was caused by foul play, according to the statement.
Founded in 2017, the DNA Doe Project partners with law enforcement, medical examiners, and volunteer genealogists to apply investigative genealogy to John and Jane Doe cases. By analyzing DNA profiles and building family trees from publicly available genetic databases and historical records, the organization has helped solve more than 250 cases nationwide.
“We are honored to have partnered with the State of New Hampshire on this case,” DNA Doe Project Team Leader Lisa Ivany said in the statement. “Through the power of investigative genetic genealogy and the dedication of our volunteer genealogists, we were able to develop a critical lead in less than 24 hours. We truly hope that this identification brings long-awaited answers to Mr. Kuchinsky’s family.”
Initial DNA testing turned up only distant matches, so the DNA Doe Project selected the case to be worked on at a virtual retreat in May 2025, according to the organization’s case profile. Over the course of a weekend, more than 40 genealogists from the U.S., Canada, England, and Scotland collaborated virtually to work on the case.
Within hours, the team discovered that the unidentified man had roots in New Hampshire and Quebec, according to the profile. They later zeroed in on Kuchinsky, who had attended school in Plymouth, N.H., but had no official proof of life past 1970.
“This identification reflects the power of partnership and scientific advancement,” Formella said in the statement. “The dedication of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, the investigative support of the New Hampshire State Police, and the extraordinary work of the DNA Doe Project have restored a name to an individual who had been unidentified for nearly 40 years. We are grateful for their professionalism and commitment.”
New Hampshire
New Hampshire House Advances One of The Nation’s Most Extreme Transgender Bathroom Bans
The proposal would fine transgender people up to $5,000 for using bathrooms aligned with their gender identity.
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Bathroom bans targeting transgender people have been spreading rapidly across the United States. In previous years, adult bathroom bans in public buildings were limited to a handful of states with extreme laws. This year, they have become one of the primary vehicles for anti-trans legislation nationwide. Kansas was the first to act, passing a bathroom bounty hunter system and invalidating transgender people’s IDs. Idaho and Missouri began advancing their own bills. Now, the New Hampshire House of Representatives has passed its own version — one of the most extreme in the United States, which states that a trans person using the bathroom of their gender identity is a crime under the state civil rights act, violations of which carries hefty penalties. The bill passed 181-164 on Wednesday night, just weeks after Governor Kelly Ayotte vetoed a separate bathroom ban. Republicans are now sending her something far more aggressive — raising the question of whether they are trying to move the goalposts or simply daring her to veto again.
“Notwithstanding any other provision of law, with the exception of RSA 21:3, RSA 21:54, and paragraph II below, all multi-user facilities, including bathrooms, restrooms, and locker rooms located in buildings owned, leased, or operated by any municipality shall be used based on the individual’s biological sex,” reads the new bill. This prohibition is expansive: it applies to parks, rest stops, airports, civic buildings, and more, and could leave transgender people struggling to find a public place to use the restroom across the state.
The bill contains a novel enforcement mechanism not seen in any other state. It declares that a transgender person “asserting” that their gender identity allows them to use the bathroom is against the law under the state civil rights act, turning civil rights protections that were meant to be protective of transgender people into a weapon against them. “It shall be unlawful for any person to assert that their gender identity is a sex other than that defined in RSA 21:3 for the purposes of accessing places or services restricted on the basis of sex,” reads the bill. Such violations could result in fines of up to $5,000 per incident and even jail time if a person violates a resulting court injunction by continuing to use the restroom.
The bill also contains provisions for private businesses. It permits any owner or operator of a “place of public accommodation” — a category that under New Hampshire law includes hotels, restaurants, theaters, retail stores, bars, and concert venues — to restrict bathrooms by assigned sex at birth. The bill then immunizes those businesses from discrimination claims: “Adoption or enforcement of a policy pursuant to this section shall not be deemed discrimination under RSA 354-A or any other state law,” it reads.
A separate bill, HB 1217, also passed on Wednesday. That bill permits governmental buildings and businesses to classify bathrooms and locker rooms by assigned sex at birth — similar to the bathroom bans Ayotte has already vetoed. It passed by an even wider margin, 187-163. It contains no enforcement mechanism, but rather, states that bathroom bans and sports bans are not discriminatory towards transgender people under New Hampshire law.
The bills are part of a larger movement towards bathroom bans for transgender people. Just last month, Kansas passed a bathroom ban that allows every citizen in the state to become a bounty hunter, where reporting transgender people in bathrooms can net them $1,000 per trans person caught. This law also invalidated trans people’s drivers licenses in the state. Meanwhile, Idaho and Missouri are both advancing extreme anti-trans bathroom bans of their own, with Idaho’s ban even applying to private businesses, making it against the law for a private business to allow a trans person to use the bathroom that matches their gender identity.
The bills are substantially more extreme than the one vetoed by Governor Ayotte just weeks ago. In a veto statement of a bathroom ban last month, Ayotte stated, “I believe there are important and legitimate privacy and safety concerns raised by biological males using places such as female locker rooms and being placed in female correctional facilities… At the same time, I see that House Bill 148 is overly broad and impractical to enforce, potentially creating an exclusionary environment for some of our citizens.”
It remains unclear why Republicans are pushing an even more extreme version of a bill their own governor has already vetoed three times. The bill still needs to pass the New Hampshire Senate and be signed by Ayotte to become law. One possibility is that the more extreme HB 1442 is designed as cover for HB 1217 — making that bill appear moderate by comparison and improving its chances of earning a signature. Another is that Republicans believe they can pressure Ayotte into signing, or are simply laying the groundwork for an override attempt down the line. Regardless, HB 1442 is one of the most extreme bathroom bans moving through any state legislature in the country, and transgender people across New England will be watching closely as it advances to the Senate.
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