House votes through self-insurance for childcare businesses

The New Hampshire House of Representatives on Thursday passed a bill aimed at reducing liability insurance costs for care professionals. 

Senate Bill 614 establishes “multiple-caregiver self-insured risk coverage arrangements” for childcare, day care, foster care, and behavioral health services programs and providers. 

The bill would create a formal agreement between two or more of these providers, managed by the Department of Insurance, in which each business would pay into a fund that could be jointly used for self-insurance against liability risks, joint insurance purchases, legal fees, and more. The goal is to allow servicers to have risk-management protections without paying expensive insurance agency premiums. 

The bill was passed in a consent calendar vote, a group of noncontroversial bills passed in a single vote by the chamber. 

The House passed the bill with a small amendment to change the enactment date to July 1, 2027, the beginning of the state’s next budget cycle. The bill goes back to the Senate for concurrence, which results in either the bill going to the governor’s desk or a committee of conference.