New Hampshire Right to Know Law

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The Right to Know Lawis a series of statutes designed to guarantee that the public has access to public records of governmental bodies in New Hampshire.

The New Hampshire Open Meetings Law legislates the methods by which public meetings are conducted.

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[edit] Transparency blocking

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[edit] Litigation

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[edit] Legislation

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[edit] Sunshine Guardians

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[edit] New Hampshire's transparency report card

A 2008 study, BGA - Alper Integrity Index, conducted by the Better Government Association and sponsored by Alper Services, ranked New Hampshire #41 in the nation with an overall percentage of 45.00%. [1]

A 2007 study, Graded state responsiveness to FOI requests, conducted by BGA and the NFOIC, gave New Hampshire 41 points out of a possible 100, a letter grade of "F", and a ranking of 36 out of the 50 states.[2]

A 2002 study, Freedom of Information in the USA, conducted by IRE and BGA, ranked New Hampshire's law as the 29th worst in the country, giving it a letter grade of "D+".[3]

[edit] Features of the law

The New Hampshire statement of purpose declares that, "Openness in the conduct of public business is essential to a democratic society. The purpose of this chapter is to ensure both the greatest possible public access to the actions, discussions and records of all public bodies, and their accountability to the people." [4]

[edit] What records are covered?

New Hampshire law defines records as "any information created, accepted, or obtained by, or on behalf of, any public body" [5]

Notable exemptions include but are not limited to:

  • records of grand juries
  • parole board records
  • Student records
  • "Records pertaining to internal personnel practices; confidential, commercial, or financial information; test questions, scoring keys, and other examination data used to administer a licensing examination, examination for employment, or academic examinations; and personnel, medical, welfare, library user, videotape sale or rental, and other files whose disclosure would constitute invasion of privacy[6]
  • Teacher certification records
  • Security information
  • "Preliminary drafts, notes, and memoranda and other documents not in their final form and not disclosed, circulated, or available to a quorum or a majority of the members of a public body" [7]

[edit] What agencies are covered?

New Hampshire law includes all branches of government at the state and all local levels as well as non-profit corporations who solely reside in New Hampshire. [8]

[edit] Who may request records?

See also: List of who can make public record requests by state.

New Hampshire's Right to Know Law indicates that all "citizens" have a right to access New Hampshire's records. However, the law does not elaborate on whether this includes only citizens of New Hampshire or citizens of the United States. [9]

[edit] Must a purpose be stated?

The only requirement for a statement of purpose is the release of statistical data sets for research that may contain personal information. [10]

[edit] How can records be used?

Exempted records may be released to other government agencies for use within only those agencies.[11] Records released as statistical data sets can only be used for research and cannot be distributed to undeclared, non-research personnel. [12]

[edit] Time allowed for response

See also: Request response times by state.

New Hampshire law allows for 5 days to respond to records requests. Extensions are available if the person making the request is notified in writing within 5 days of when the records will be available.[9]

[edit] Fees for records

New Hampshire law allows for fees that include the cost of duplication only.[9]

[edit] Open meetings

"All public proceedings shall be open to the public, and all persons shall be permitted to attend any meetings of those bodies or agencies. Except for town meetings, school district meetings and elections, no vote while in open session may be taken by secret ballot." [13]

[edit] Proposed changes

See also Proposed reforms in state sunshine laws, 2009.

[edit] Relevant legal cases

See also: Court cases with an impact on state FOIA

Here is a list of lawsuits in New Hampshire. For more information go the page or go to New Hampshire sunshine lawsuits.
(The cases are listed alphabetically. To order them by year please click the icon to the right of the Year heading)

We do not currently have any pages on litigation in New Hampshire. To add some see our Sunshine litigation project page.

[edit] Notable requests

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] References


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