The panel heard HB 665, a proposal to expand free school‑meal eligibility to households with incomes up to 300% of the federal poverty level.

Representative Muriel Hall, the bill sponsor, said a bipartisan study committee had recommended expanding eligibility and that the minority report urged a 300% threshold. Supporters at the hearing included New Hampshire Hunger Solutions, the American Heart Association, United Way of Greater Nashua and the American Federation of Teachers‑New Hampshire. They argued expanded eligibility would reduce food insecurity, improve student nutrition and attendance, reduce unpaid meal debt at districts and streamline school food programs.

Witnesses cited national and state research: school meals meet federal nutrition standards, and students who participate in school meal programs tend to have better attendance, higher test scores and improved health indicators. Hunger Solutions and other witnesses noted that many families above the current free/reduced cutoffs still struggle with food costs — testimony referenced Census pulse data and local food‑bank metrics — and that raising the cutoff would shift many children who now pay or accrue debt into fully covered status.

Department of Education fiscal materials were discussed in the hearing and an updated fiscal note dated Feb. 3 was noted; the DOE initial estimate in testimony put the program cost in the tens of millions of dollars range (advocates pointed to an offset option: proposed increases in cigarette/e‑cigarette taxes in another bill that would deposit revenue into the Education Trust Fund). Committee members asked about program design, the effect on meal quality and whether children are being denied meals — witnesses said districts generally attempt to feed children even with unpaid debt, but stigma and unpaid balances persist.

After broad support from hunger‑relief and health groups, committee members asked staff for fiscal detail and program‑design clarifications; the hearing closed without a vote.