New Hampshire First for Veterans Program

This is the newest thing in the New Hampshire file. RSA 110-B:92 through 110-B:101 were created by 2026 chapter 304, section 4, effective September 8, 2026, three weeks before this entry was written. The statute prints every section with a bracketed "[effective Sept. 8, 2026]" header. What it is, and what it is not. RSA 110-B:94, I: "There is hereby established the New Hampshire first for veterans program. The program shall provide funding to promote the general welfare of the state's veterans, service members and their families by providing quality services." This is a funder. A veteran does not apply to it for a cash benefit. Organisations apply for grants and veterans receive services. Anyone reading a headline about a new veterans programme should understand that first. The priorities, in RSA 110-B:94, II, name five areas: Contributing to ending veteran homelessness in New Hampshire. Attracting and retaining veterans to New Hampshire, matching their skills with veteran-friendly businesses and organisations, and providing employment support. Improving access to physical and mental health care, suicide prevention measures, oral health care options, and substance use disorder treatment. Oral health is named expressly, which is notable because dental care is the most common gap in federal veteran health coverage. Supporting military skills transfer, training and certification, which dovetails with the veterans licensing acceleration program in RSA 110-B:91. Addressing a broad range of educational opportunities including higher education, on-the-job training, apprenticeships and initiatives focused on the trades. The declaration of purpose in RSA 110-B:92 adds the framing: to maintain the state's ability to attract and retain veterans and "attain and maintain a position as the most veteran-friendly state", to recognise the importance of public and private partnerships, to develop veteran employment support and improve focus on veteran well-being, and to reinforce critical gaps "including mental health care access, suicide prevention, substance use disorder, physical well being, employment, and housing stability." The structure, in RSA 110-B:95, is a hybrid and the drafting says so: the authority "shall act as both a public and private entity", is "constituted as a public instrumentality of the state" whose powers are "the performance of public and essential governmental functions", and "shall be a nonprofit corporation organized under RSA 292". That combination lets it take private donations and move faster than an agency while remaining accountable as a state instrumentality. The board is eleven members and its composition is worth reading because it decides whose priorities get funded: one senator appointed by the senate president; two representatives appointed by the speaker; five members of the veterans council appointed by the governor; the commissioner of the department of military affairs and veterans services or a designee; the chair of the state veterans advisory committee or a designee; and a member of the New Hampshire military leadership team appointed by the adjutant general. Five of eleven seats go to the veterans council, so the council is the dominant voice. Three of eleven are legislators. Board mechanics, from RSA 110-B:95, IV to VI: state agency and legislative members serve terms coterminous with their offices; governor-appointed members may be removed for cause including incapacity or failure to perform duties; vacancies are filled for the unexpired term in the same manner; legislative members get mileage at the legislative rate; five members are a quorum; decisions are by majority of those present and voting; the board meets quarterly and otherwise as the chairperson deems necessary; and board members are not subject to civil liability for acts performed in accordance with their duties. The powers, in RSA 110-B:96, include adopting bylaws, adopting criteria and guidelines for the acquisition of resource assets and for stewardship and monitoring of assets on which programme funds are spent, adopting policies, overseeing and directing expenditure from the New Hampshire first for veterans fund including for the authority's own administrative costs, making and executing contracts for services, and enforcing grant obligations "through contract, acceptance of rights to enforcement, or other legal actions as necessary". RSA 110-B:93, III defines grant obligations as the legal obligation arising from the use of programme funds, so a grantee that misuses money can be pursued. Two accountability provisions give a veteran or a reporter a way to see whether this works. RSA 110-B:96, VII requires an annual report by December 1 to the senate president, the speaker, the governor and the state library, detailing activities and administrative costs and giving "a complete financial accounting of the funds established under RSA 110-B:99 and 110-B:100", with a historical summary of the programme's activities to date, and "a copy of the report shall be made available by the authority to any interested person." RSA 110-B:96, VIII requires an independent audit by a certified public accountant each fiscal year. Where the money comes from is the part that makes this programme unusual, and it is a thing a veteran can act on. The same act created a new Special Veteran Number Plate at RSA 261:97-g, renewed annually for $30 per set "in addition to the regular motor vehicle registration fee and any other number plate fees otherwise required". The department of safety retains what it needs to recover production and administrative costs as approved by the fiscal committee of the general court, and the rest goes to the state treasurer for distribution under RSA 261:97-h. RSA 261:97-h establishes the New Hampshire first for veterans number plate fund under the commissioner of safety, nonlapsing and continually appropriated, distributed annually on August 1: "$1 for every new, renewal, and transfer of registration, up to a total of $50,000, shall be placed in a nonlapsing account for use by the department of military affairs and veteran services to promote the New Hampshire first for veterans number plate program; the remainder shall be provided to the New Hampshire first for veterans fund and distributed based on designated programs and initiatives prioritized by the governor and the state veterans council". So the programme runs on a voluntary plate purchase. Buying the plate is the direct way to fund it, and the first $50,000 a year is spent on marketing the plate itself rather than on services. RSA 261:97-h, II contains an anti-supplanting rule worth knowing: money from the plate fund "shall be in addition to any other sums appropriated and shall not replace base funding received by any of these departments or commissions through the budget process." Two further funds sit behind the authority. RSA 110-B:99 establishes the New Hampshire first for veterans trust fund in the office of the state treasurer, nonlapsing, interest bearing and continually appropriated to the department of military affairs and veterans services, with a guard against raiding: "No funds of any state agency shall be transferred to the trust fund without authorization from the general court." RSA 110-B:100 establishes a separate administrative fund, capped so that "the total revenues generated to the administrative fund from this source shall not exceed $200,000 for each fiscal year", with any excess credited to the trust fund and reported in the annual report. So administration is capped at $200,000 a year and the overflow goes to programmes. Who can actually receive a grant is narrow, and this is the answer for an organisation reading this. RSA 110-B:101, I limits eligible applicants to municipalities or other political subdivisions of the state, and to "publicly-supported nonprofit corporations exempt from federal income taxation under section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code". Other parties "may partner with one or more eligible applicants" under paragraph II. A for-profit employer, or an individual veteran, cannot apply directly and must partner with a town or a qualifying nonprofit. Assistance is not all grants. RSA 110-B:101, III provides financial assistance "through grants, block grants, and loans", with "up to 50 percent of financial assistance provided each year" allowed to be loans, and principal and interest paid on those loans deposited back into the RSA 261:97-h plate fund. So the programme is partly revolving. Because the programme is weeks old, the practical advice is narrow: there is no grant round history to point to, no published criteria yet, and nothing for an individual veteran to apply for. What to watch is the first annual report due December 1 and the board's adoption of criteria and guidelines under RSA 110-B:96, II, and what a veteran-serving organisation should do is track the authority's criteria as they are adopted. Two of the priority areas, oral health and the trades, are unusual enough to be worth a grant application from an organisation working in them.