CONCORD – House and Senate negotiators have agreed to a bill repealing the state’s Certificate of Need (CON) law in three years.

The agreement at a conference committee Wednesday represents a compromise between the House backers of HB 1617, who wanted the law repealed immediately, and the Senate, which voted for a repeal in five years.

At the committee meeting, the bill’s chief sponsor proposed a one-year repeal for the CON board, which is responsible for approving new medical facilities and expansions.

The chief Senate negotiator on the bill, Majority Leader Jeb Bradley, R-Wolfeboro, said the issue of reforming the board will be taken up before the law sunsets.

“I think there will be filed next year a more comprehensive reform bill. I think there are a number of issues, including the makeup of the board, that need to be fleshed out more fully. It’s kind of unfortunate that this was a second-year bill and there wasn’t enough time,” he said.

Critics of the CON law say it limits competition and that it fails to achieve one of its main purposes – to limit health care costs.

Supporters of the law, including the New Hampshire Hospital Association, have acknowledged that some reforms are warranted but have argued that providing health care needs is too complex to open it up wholly to the free market.

The debate has intensified this session as the for-profit Cancer Treatment Centers of America considers New Hampshire for a new hospital. Company officials have said the CON process would pose a barrier to coming to the Granite State.

A bill designed to give such “specialty hospitals” an exemption from the CON review has stalled in the Senate.