New Hampshire Bill: HB 396

BILL SUMMARY

New Hampshire House Bill 396, introduced in the 2025 Regular Session, exempts meat and meat food products slaughtered and processed entirely within New Hampshire and sold exclusively within the state from certain federal inspection requirements. The bill applies to custom slaughter facilities and allows beef cattle, swine, sheep, and goats to bypass standard USDA inspection protocols when processed under these conditions. The exemption covers meat sold to New Hampshire households, restaurants, hotels, grocery stores, and other businesses that prepare or sell meals directly to consumers within state borders.

HB 396 passed both chambers of the New Hampshire Legislature with strong support earlier this session. Governor Kelly Ayotte vetoed the bill last month, citing potential conflict with a 1967 federal food safety law. The legislature now has the opportunity to override her veto, that vote is scheduled for August 19 and requires a two-thirds supermajority of members present in each chamber to succeed.

WHY IT MATTERS TO MAHA

HB 396 is a critical step forward for health freedom and local food sovereignty — and the fight isn't over. The bill passed both the House and Senate with real legislative consensus, but Governor Ayotte vetoed it to avoid conflict with a 1967 federal law that predates the era of corporate consolidation that followed. Since that law was enacted, four companies have come to control 85% of beef processing in the United States, gutting local slaughterhouses, crushing independent farmers, and leaving families dependent on a distant, centralized food supply.

The bill does not dismantle the existing inspection system. It creates a narrow exemption, limited to intrastate sales, small volumes, and custom facilities that recognizes local producers have direct relationships with their customers and communities, creating natural accountability that federal bureaucracies cannot replicate. MAHA supports overriding this veto because it demonstrates how states can reclaim authority over their own food systems, empower consumers with transparent access to locally sourced meat, and begin reversing decades of regulatory capture that has served corporate processors at the expense of family farms and food independence. The August 19 override vote is the moment to make that stand.