Committee puts recodification of education statutes on interim study after cost concerns

Lawmakers agreed that New Hampshire's education statutes contain contradictions and would benefit from a comprehensive recodification, but they said HB729's $100,000 appropriation is insufficient for the task. Representative Popovich moved for interim study, saying a deeper review is needed to compile known conflicts and consider incremental fixes rather than a single, underfunded project. Representative Fellows suggested tackling the statutes in small chunks.

"This is a Herculean task," Representative Ladd said, and several members said better scoping — and perhaps building a list of known conflicts first — would provide a clearer, more economical pathway. The committee agreed and voted unanimously, 18‑0, to send HB729 to interim study for further work and stakeholder outreach.