New Hampshire HB 1761: expanding the New Hampshire paid family and medical leave program.

Bill Text

HB 1761-FN - AS INTRODUCED

2026 SESSION

 26-3138

 06/08

HOUSE BILL 1761-FN

AN ACT expanding the New Hampshire paid family and medical leave program.

SPONSORS: Rep. Beauchemin, Hills. 3; Rep. Jacobs, Ches. 15; Rep. Mandelbaum, Rock. 21; Rep. Weinstein, Rock. 10; Rep. Colby, Merr. 9; Rep. Lucas, Graf. 7; Rep. H. Howard, Straf. 4

COMMITTEE: Commerce and Consumer Affairs

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ANALYSIS

 This bill expands on the existing granite state paid family leave plan with a new publicly administered family and medical leave insurance (FMLI) program.

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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.

 Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]

 Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

 26-3138

 06/08

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty-Six

AN ACT expanding the New Hampshire paid family and medical leave program.

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

 1 Short Title. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "New Hampshire Family and Medical Leave Insurance Act." 

 2 New Subdivision; New Hampshire Family and Medical Leave Insurance. Amend RSA 21-I by inserting after section 111 the following new subdivision: 

New Hampshire Family and Medical Leave Insurance

 21-I:111-a Definitions. In this subdivision: 

 I. "Alternative base period" means the last 4 completed calendar quarters immediately preceding the first day of the individual's application year and any weeks in which wages were paid to the individual in the incomplete calendar quarter in which the individual filed a claim for benefits. 

 II. "Application year" means the 12-month period beginning on the first day of the calendar week in which a covered individual files an application for family and medical leave insurance benefits. 

 III. "Average weekly wage" means 1/13 of the wages paid during the quarter of the covered individual's base period or alternative base period in which the total wages were highest. 

 IV. "Base period" means the first 4 of the last 5 completed calendar quarters immediately preceding the first day of an individual's application year; provided that if the first quarter of the last 5 completed calendar quarters was included in the base period applicable to any individual's previous application year, the individual's base period shall be the last 4 completed calendar quarters. 

 V. "Child" means, regardless of age, a biological, adopted or foster child, stepchild or legal ward, a child of a domestic partner, a child to whom the covered individual stands in loco parentis, or a person to whom the covered individual stood in loco parentis when the person was a minor. 

 VI. "Committed relationship" means a relationship in which the covered individual and the domestic partner of the covered individual share responsibility for a significant measure of each other's common welfare, including relationships granted legal recognition by a state, political subdivision, or the District of Columbia as a marriage or analogous relationship. 

 VII. "Covered individual" means any person who is a former employee who has been separated from employment for not more than 26 weeks at the start of the individual's paid family and medical leave and who satisfies the requirements of this paragraph. A "covered individual" also means any person who: 

 (a) Earned the minimum earnings amount required by rule from work in the state during the person's base period or alternative base period prior to submitting an application; or

 (b) Is self-employed and has elected coverage in accordance with RSA 21-I:111; and

 (c) Meets the administrative requirements set forth in this subdivision; and

 (d) Submits an application. 

 VIII. "Department" means the department of insurance.

 IX. "Director" means the director of the department of insurance.

 X. "Domestic partner" means an adult in a committed relationship with another adult.

 XI. "Employee" shall have the same meaning as provided in RSA 275:42.

 XII. "Employer" shall have the same meaning as provided in RSA 275:42.

 XIII. "Family and medical leave insurance benefits" means the wage replacement entitlements provided under this subdivision. 

 XIV. "Family member" means: 

 (a) A child;

 (b) A biological, adoptive or foster parent, stepparent or legal guardian of a covered individual or a covered individual's spouse or domestic partner, or a person who stood in loco parentis when the covered individual or the covered individual's spouse or domestic partner was a minor child;

 (c) A person to whom the covered individual is legally married under the laws of any state, or a domestic partner of a covered individual;