On the final day of the year’s legislative session, lawmakers passed an omnibus bill that includes legislation on squatter rights, parking restrictions and zoning regulations.

It was about the only closely-watched bill that both chambers could agree upon. After the Senate passed bills that would have legalized recreational marijuana, prohibited “sanctuary” immigration policies, expanded education freedom accounts, and change voting laws, the House voted them all down.

Here’s a rundown of the most consequential legislative action on the last day of the 2023-24 session:

Legislators expedite eviction process

One of the bills that is headed to Gov. Chris Sununu’s desk focuses on giving landlords an expedited process to resolve issues when an unauthorized person or squatter is occupying a property.

Instead of the current process, which can take several weeks to evict someone squatting on their property, a hearing will now be scheduled within 48 hours of serving the petition at the residence or delivering it in person on the day it is filed with the court.

Included in the bill are clear definitions for subtenant, tenant and implied tenant.

Additionally, the bill revises parking regulations. It specifies that studio and one-bedroom apartments need not provide more than 1.5 parking spaces each. Similarly, multi-family developments with more than 10 units are also exempted from the requirement to provide 1.5 spaces per unit.

This compromise balances the House’s previous vote for one parking space and the Senate’s amendment for two spaces.

Baked into this bill is a tax cut for municipalities that convert office spaces into residential developments, with a sunset provision in 10 years. This initiative is designed to address the housing crisis in the state.

Eligibility for Education Freedom Accounts will not change

A push to expand eligibility for education freedom accounts passed the Senate but failed to pass the House.

House Bill 1665 would have allowed families who make up to 425 percent of the federal poverty level to tap into the voucher-like program, up from the current cap of 350 percent. In current dollars, the expansion would have made a family of four who makes up to $132,600 eligible, up from the current cap of $109,200.

Public education advocates criticized the proposed change because it would have directed money away from public schools and to private and religious schools and homeschooling, instead.

After passing the Senate 14-10, the bill was struck down in the House by a vote of 185-168.

Election law bills fail

The House narrowly voted down two bills that voting rights advocates argued would have run the risk of disenfranchising voters.

The first bill – HB 1369 – would have increased the frequency by which voter rolls are verified from every 10 years to every four years. The proposed law would have struck voters from the roles if they didn’t vote in that span and also failed to respond to a notification received during the verification process.

After passing the Senate earlier in the day, the House struck it down by a vote 185-178.

The second bill – HB 1370 – which would have eliminated the voter affidavit system that voters can use if they don’t have the required identification also was voted down in the House.

But a nearly identical bill – HB 1569 – had already passed both chambers and been sent to Gov. Sununu’s desk. It is not clear what effect the failure of HB 1370 to pass will have on the future of election law in the state.