This bill mandates that all students admitted to or transferring into the University System of New Hampshire (USNH) and the Community College System of New Hampshire (CCSNH) on or after January 1, 2026, must pass the 2020 version of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services naturalization test as a graduation requirement. Specifically, students must achieve a score of 70 or better on the 128-question test. Institutions within both systems are tasked with establishing procedures to administer, certify, and record the results of this assessment. Notably, exchange students and foreign nationals are exempt from this requirement.

The bill introduces new sections to RSA 187-A and RSA 188-F, which outline the civics graduation requirement for both university and community college systems. The implementation of this requirement is expected to incur significant costs, estimated between $100,000 and $500,000 annually for each system, primarily due to the need for testing platform procurement, administrative oversight, and potential staffing increases. The bill does not allocate any funding to cover these expenses, which may impact the operational budgets of the USNH and CCSNH.