New Hampshire Hand-Held Phone Fine Rises From $100 to $250 on Jan. 1, 2027

• From Jan. 1, 2027, New Hampshire drivers caught holding a phone face a $250 fine for a first offense, up from $100, and $500 if the phone use contributes to a crash.
• A third offense inside 24 months costs $750 and up to 30 days without a license, and $1,000 and 60 days if a crash is involved.
• Bluetooth and other hands-free use stays legal, so a call through the car’s speakers keeps a driver clear of every tier.

What Holding a Phone Will Cost in New Hampshire From January 1

New Hampshire’s Senate Bill 649-FN, approved on May 28, 2026 as Chapter 114 of the session laws, rewrites the penalty section of the state’s hand-held device law, RSA 265:79-c. The act takes effect on January 1, 2027. It leaves the prohibition alone and rewrites the penalties: how much a driver pays for holding a phone, and what else the court can take away.

The fine for a first offense goes from $100 to $250. A second offense inside 24 months goes from $250 to $500. A third or later offense goes from $500 to $750 and adds a license suspension of up to 30 days. Each tier carries a heavier version when the phone use is a contributing cause of a crash: $500, $750, and $1,000 with a 60 day suspension.

The Fine Ladder, Rung by Rung

Three steps make up the ladder. Fenton’s bill, now law, puts the first citation at $250. Come back for a second within two years of the first and the fine is $500. A third, or any later one, inside that same two years from the first costs $750 and can cost the license for up to 30 days. The act calls each of them a violation.

Set against the old schedule, the jump is steepest at the bottom. The first fine is 2.5 times what it was, a $150 increase. The second fine doubles, a $250 increase. The third rises by $250 and, for the first time, puts the license at risk.

Three offenses inside two years show the full effect. Under the old law a driver paid $100, then $250, then $500, a total of $850 before any court add-ons. Under the new law the same driver pays $250, then $500, then $750, a total of $1,500, and loses up to 30 days of driving on the third. If all three were crash-related, the fines alone reach $2,250: $500, then $750, then $1,000.

One detail separates the old and new text. The old law set each fine “plus penalty assessment,” an add-on to the fine. The new section lists the dollar figures without those words. The act is silent on whether the assessments still apply, so a driver can ask the court clerk what the total on a citation will be.

The 24-month clock runs from the first offense, not from the most recent one. A driver cited in March of one year and again 23 months later is on the second rung, and a third citation inside 24 months of the first lands on the third. The act does not say how a citation issued before January 1, 2027 counts toward that window, so a driver with a recent ticket should ask the court rather than assume.

What the Law Covers and How Police Enforce It

The ban on a “hand-held mobile electronic device while driving” is not new, and the January act leaves its scope alone. Today a driver cannot hold or use a cell phone, a GPS unit or a tablet behind the wheel, and the rule covers a car halted for a moment in traffic and one that is moving. Reporting an emergency by phone to 911 or a similar public safety agency is the one exception. Hands-free operation through Bluetooth stays legal, so a call through the car’s speakers breaks nothing.

A violation is a primary offense. A police officer needs no second reason, such as speeding, to stop a driver holding a phone.

New Hampshire adopted its original “hands-free” law in 2015, the 15th state to do so. That law covered phones, GPS units, tablets and laptops, and set the $100, $250 and $500 schedule that is about to be replaced. Rep. Robert Theberge, a co-sponsor of the 2015 legislation, put it this way at the time: “You’ve got to be very careful, I don’t understand why people are texting,” he said. “Is the information you’re trying to convey that important that it can’t wait?”

The state collected more than $568,000 in fines and penalty assessments for these violations in the latest fiscal year reported as of March 2026.

The Crash Rule and the Deaths Behind It

The tougher penalties apply when the violation is “a contributing cause of a motor vehicle crash.” The phrase is the act’s own. The enacted section does not define the phrase. A finding of it moves a first offense from $250 to $500 and a third from $750 and 30 days to $1,000 and 60 days.

The bill’s lead sponsor, Keene Democrat Sen. Donovan Fenton, argued for it at a public hearing in March. He is also a member of the governor’s task force on highway safety. “Distracted driving is becoming more pronounced, more dangerous and more deadly,” he said. “The current penalties are not enough to change behavior, particularly with repeat offenses.”

The state’s Office of Highway Safety counted 138 traffic deaths in 2025, up from 133 in 2024. Fenton counted 127 deaths in 2023 and told the hearing that distracted driving caused at least six of them. By late March 2026, 13 people had died on the state’s roads this year. The Office of Highway Safety says distraction and inattention show up in about 15% of fatal crashes in a typical year.

Officials say the crash counts run low. The task force’s review of 2021 data found 4,106 of about 28,000 reported crashes, roughly 15%, with “Inattention/Distraction” listed as a contributing factor. The Department of Safety recorded 4,520 distraction crashes among nearly 28,000 non-fatal crashes in 2023, a little over 16%. The task force report explains why the true share is hard to pin down: “Distracted driving is suspected to be greatly underreported in fatal and serious injury collisions. The distracted driving crashes have proven difficult to track as a contributing factor in crashes. By the time investigating officers arrive at the scene, any indicators that distraction may have been the cause of the crash most times no longer exist,” the task force report says.

New Hampshire is not alone in raising the stakes. Connecticut changed its phone rules this year, as covered in what Connecticut’s new highway safety law means.

Pennsylvania ended its warning period and began fining handheld phone use.

The wider pattern shows in states ending hands-free grace periods.

The Companion Law on Breath Test Refusals

The same task force pushed a second change that arrives on the same date. Gov. Kelly Ayotte signed a bill on April 20, 2026 that lengthens the license suspension for a driver who refuses a breath alcohol test from six months to nine. She said the change closes what she has called the “DUI refusal loophole.” It takes effect on Jan. 1, 2027. The House passed it 259-94 and the Senate by voice vote.

At the signing Ayotte said: “The law is an important advancement, but the message out to the public is, ‘Please do not drive intoxicated, because you will kill someone,’” State and local police officers and relatives of crash victims stood beside her. The original proposal, which Ayotte initially backed, was a year-long suspension. Sen. Bill Gannon of Sandown, the bill’s lead sponsor, called the nine months a good outcome for what he called “the whole team,” including lawmakers from both parties and Ayotte, and said: “It made all the difference in the world.”

The House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee called the nine months an “incremental improvement” over the 180-day penalty in current law, which it said contributed to “a 75% test refusal rate in 2026.” Ayotte said afterward that she expects refusals to drop: “We’ll be keeping an eye on it,” she said, and she sees more work ahead. “We don’t want to be among the highest in the nation,” she said. Her administration is also working on distracted driving. “We will continue to look at other areas; it’s why I have a highway safety task force,” Ayotte said.

What To Do Before January 1

A first citation that costs $100 today costs $250 from Jan. 1. A few steps cover almost every case.

Set up the phone’s hands-free mode so calls and directions run by voice and the phone stays out of the hand. Pair the phone with the car’s Bluetooth before pulling away, and keep it down at a red light, as the law covers a vehicle temporarily halted in traffic. Load the GPS route before putting the car in gear.

Turn on the phone’s do-not-disturb setting so texts wait until the trip ends. The one legal exception is an emergency call to 911 or a similar agency.

A driver who gets a citation should read it for the offense date and the fine amount, and ask the court clerk about any assessment. A driver whose phone use is tied to a crash should expect the higher figure of $500 for a first offense.

Want more car content? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for the best automotive news and analysis on the internet.

If you enjoyed this article, be sure to follow us on Microsoft Start.

Sources

• NHLA Bill Review: SB 649-FN, Chapter 114, final version text
• Insurance Journal: New Hampshire Sends Message to Drivers Using Hand-Held Electronic Devices
• NHPR: Bill would increase fines and penalties for texting and driving in NH
• NHPR: Refusing a breathalyzer test in NH will bring a longer license suspension

Reviewed by Preetam Gadekar