Independent New Hampshire Journalism · Northfield, NH

HB 1555 Sends Appeals of Local Fire Chief Decisions to the State Fire Marshal, Starting July 1, 2027

Chapter 231 of the 2026 session gives anyone appealing a local fire chief’s decision a fresh hearing before the state fire marshal, and gives the marshal the power to approve alternatives and code modifications to the state building code for all municipalities. It passed the House on a roll call that split almost entirely by party. Its text sets no deadline to appeal and appropriates no money for the two positions the Department of Safety says the work requires.

Starting July 1, 2027, an appeal of a decision by a New Hampshire fire chief will have a new destination: the state fire marshal. House Bill 1555, signed by Gov. Kelly Ayotte on July 2, 2026 as Chapter 231, directs the marshal to hear appeals of “any decision issued by the local fire chief, or the fire chief’s duly authorized subordinates,” to hold a hearing within 40 days of receiving an appeal, and to decide in writing within 30 days after the hearing ends.

The marshal’s review is de novo, meaning the marshal decides the question anew. The hearing is not bound by the formal rules of evidence. A party who loses before the marshal may go on to the state building code review board.

A second section reaches past fire chiefs. It gives the marshal “the power to approve, disapprove, or allow alternative materials, design and methods of construction and equipment and code modifications to the state building code for all municipalities.”

The law grew out of a much larger bill. As filed, HB 1555 would have let local fire chiefs grant variances from the state fire code, required anyone seeking one to sign a waiver and indemnify the town, and frozen new fire code requirements for 20 years on construction that already had a certificate of occupancy. The House committee replaced all of that with the two paragraphs that became law. The State Fire Marshal’s Office listed its position as “Oppose as introduced” and moved to “Monitor” after the amendment.

What the law does

Chapter 231 has three sections. The first two add new paragraphs to existing statutes. The third sets the effective date.

The marshal already holds related powers. Under RSA 153:8-a, I, as published in October 2026, the marshal approves plans for state buildings for compliance with the state building and fire codes, enforces the state fire code, and, with the safety commissioner’s approval, adopts rules on “the granting of exceptions or variances under this paragraph.” RSA 155-A:11 already lets a person aggrieved by a marshal’s decision on the state building code under 153:8-a, I(a), “or the state fire code,” appeal to the building code review board. Chapter 231 adds local fire chiefs’ decisions to the marshal’s docket and building code alternatives “for all municipalities” to the marshal’s powers.

Key dates

How the bill changed

The Senate committee’s report, read by Sen. Gannon, described the bill in the words of its amended analysis and added one line: “The committee amendment updates the effective date from July 2, 2026 to July 1, 2027.” That one-line amendment was the Senate’s only change.

The votes

The policy committees agreed. The House Executive Departments and Administration Committee recommended the rewritten bill 14-0 on its consent calendar, and the Senate committee recommended the date change 5-0. Senate Finance voted 7-0.

The split came on the House floor after House Finance, which divided 14-10 on a roll call. On March 26, 2026, the House passed the bill 192-162. LegiScan’s tally of that roll call shows 189 Republicans and 3 Democrats voting yes and 158 Democrats and 4 Republicans voting no. On May 21, 2026, the House agreed to the Senate’s date change by a division vote of 180-160, on Rep. Erica Layon’s motion. The Senate passed the bill on voice votes, with no roll call.

The prime sponsor is Rep. Layon, a Republican from Rockingham County District 13. Her co-sponsors were Reps. Daniel Popovici-Muller, Matt Sabourin dit Choinière, Carol McGuire and Yury Polozov and Sens. Daniel Innis, Keith Murphy and Victoria Sullivan, all Republicans.

What each side said

The House committee’s case

Citizens Count, a nonpartisan civic education site, quotes the House committee’s report this way: “This bill was introduced to address challenges faced by business owners who are subject to significant unexpected new costs to update buildings when fire codes change. … As amended, the bill will provide greater pathways for appeals of decisions and facilitate greater code flexibility.” The ellipsis is Citizens Count’s. Granite State Report has not read the committee report in the House Calendar itself.

The fire service

The State Fire Marshal’s Office, part of the Department of Safety, reported its positions on 2026 bills in a monthly report covering January 2026. For HB 1555 it listed: “Oppose as introduced, Monitor amendment introduced and passed February 10, 2026.” The docket dates the House committee’s vote on that amendment to Feb. 11, 2026, and the docket is the official record of the vote. The marshal’s report to the New Hampshire Association of Fire Chiefs, entered in the minutes of the association’s March 12, 2026 meeting, listed the position as “Oppose as introduced, Monitor as amended.”

The association’s own government relations report in the same minutes described the bill as filed and its narrowing: “At the initial hearing, a number of concerns were brought forward regarding freezing the applicability of the state fire code and the various proposed processes in the bill. Through the committee process, an amendment was adopted which narrows the bill so that it enables the State Fire Marshal to be responsible for hearing appeals of any decision issued by the local fire chief, or the fire chief’s duly authorized subordinates.” The minutes do not state an association position on the bill.

The cost

The Legislative Budget Assistant’s fiscal note on the bill as amended by the Senate, the text that became law, reports the Department of Safety’s view that the bill “adds work to the Division of Fire Safety and would require two new positions,” a building inspector and an administrative assistant, at a total of $231,000 in fiscal 2028 and $207,000 in fiscal 2029. The note adds: “This bill provides neither authorization nor appropriation for new personnel.” The act’s three sections contain no appropriation. The note says the bill is “not expected to impact county and local revenue or expenditures.” The marshal’s January 2026 report, written before the bill passed, said the office was “seeking approval to post a State Building Inspector position” and that “an additional 10 vacancies are presently on hold.”

Towns, opponents and the governor

The New Hampshire Municipal Association, which lobbies for cities and towns, listed HB 1555 in its May 22, 2026 bulletin with the words “NHMA is neutral.” Its Sept. 14, 2026 final bulletin listed the law under the heading “Expanded authority for state fire marshal.”

The House Finance minority recommended that the bill be found inexpedient to legislate, and 158 Democrats voted no on the floor. Granite State Report has not read the minority’s written report and does not characterize its reasons.

Gov. Ayotte signed the bill on July 2, 2026, one of 74 bills InDepthNH.org listed as signed that day. Granite State Report found no published statement by the governor on HB 1555.

Related law

Chapter 231 is one of several 2026 laws that change how building and fire codes are applied in New Hampshire towns. Chapter 318 (HB 244), effective July 1, 2026, recodified the building and fire code enforcement statutes into RSA 155-A. Its new RSA 155-A:3-d sets out a local building code board of appeals that “shall hear and decide appeals of orders, decisions, or determinations made by the building official or fire official relative to the application and interpretation of the state building code or state fire code.” That board “shall have no authority to waive requirements of the state building code or the state fire code.”

Chapter 316 (SB 564), effective April 1, 2027, uses the fire code as the test for whether a town may limit road length or cap lots on dead-end roads. Granite State Report covered it in SB 564 Bars New Hampshire Towns From Road-Length Limits That Impede Development, Starting April 1, 2027. Chapter 231 does not refer to Chapter 316 or to RSA 155-A:3-d.

What the text leaves open

• No deadline to appeal. The bill as filed gave 30 days from a chief’s written variance decision. The final text sets the marshal’s deadlines (hearing within 40 days of receipt, decision within 30 days after the hearing) but no deadline for filing an appeal.
• No rule for the record. The filed bill required the chief to send the record to the marshal within 20 days. The final text lets the marshal consider “the evidence in the record transmitted by the fire chief” without saying when or whether the chief must send one.
• A cross-reference that may not fit. The marshal hears appeals of chief decisions “in accordance with RSA 154:2, II” and “may affirm, modify, or reverse any decision issued pursuant to RSA 154:2, II(b).” As published in October 2026, RSA 154:2, II(a) gives the chief authority to enforce fire safety laws, including the state fire code. II(b) requires chiefs to “provide information on the local appeals process for local fire code ordinances and the variance process for the state fire code upon review of plans and notice of violations.” As filed, the bill pointed to a new paragraph II-a, the chief variance power the House removed. The text does not say how II(b) is meant to work as the source of the decisions the marshal may reverse.
• More than one appeal route. From July 1, 2027, a fire chief’s decision on the state fire code could also fall under RSA 155-A:3-d, enacted by Chapter 318. That section has a local building code board of appeals hear appeals of decisions by a “building official or fire official.” Where the zoning board of adjustment or the selectmen serve as that board, it hears only appeals of local amendments, and other appeals go to the state building code review board under RSA 155-A:11-b. Chapter 231 does not say how its appeal to the marshal relates to these routes, which comes first, or whether one replaces another.
• Project by project, or across the code. The amended analysis and the Senate committee report describe “statewide authority to approve, deny, or allow project-specific alternatives and code modifications.” The words of the new RSA 155-A:7, VI say “for all municipalities” and do not say “project-specific.” The analysis is not part of the law.
• Who may appeal. The text refers to appeals, “one of the parties” and “any party aggrieved” without defining who counts as a party, such as an owner, a builder or a neighbor.
• Staff. The fiscal note reports the Department of Safety’s estimate that the work needs two positions. The act authorizes and funds neither.

If you deal with a fire chief’s decision

— Granite State Report

Fact check

Editor’s note. The law’s text and history are drawn from the final version of 2026 Chapter 231 and the bill docket published by the General Court, the Senate committee report in Senate Calendar No. 17, and copies of the introduced bill, both amendments and the fiscal notes published by the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance bill tracker and GenCourtMobile. The House committee report is quoted as Citizens Count published it. Statutes are quoted from the Revised Statutes Annotated as published by the General Court; Chapter 318 is quoted from the final text as published by GenCourtMobile and the Liberty Alliance tracker. Positions come from the State Fire Marshal’s Office report, the New Hampshire Association of Fire Chiefs’ minutes and the New Hampshire Municipal Association’s bulletins. The roll-call party breakdown is LegiScan’s. This article explains a statute and is not legal advice; for a specific decision, consult a lawyer or the State Fire Marshal’s Office.

Corrections: Granite State Report corrects verified errors promptly and appends a dated note identifying what changed and when. The corrections policy and the corrections register are public, and correction notes are never removed.