New Hampshire Right to Know Law
The Right to Know Law is 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.
To learn more about how to make a public records request in this state, please see: New Hampshire FOIA procedures
Recent news
- See also: New Hampshire transparency headlines
Transparency blocking
- N.H. lawmakers reject Right to Know requests 2009-06-11 15:13:20
More transparency blocking news from across the country.
Litigation
- NH Supreme Court limits access to police records 2011-11-14 14:31:58
- New Hampshire Judge Rules on Electronic Records Requests 2010-07-28 07:06:20
More FOIA litigation news from across the country.
Legislation
- GOP's Right to Know request may highlight law's gray areas 2009-06-11 15:18:00
- Experts: Right to Know law protects lawmakers' e-mail 2009-06-11 15:16:04
More FOIA legislation news from across the country.
Sunshine Guardians
No recent news. If you have news add it here
Other Sunshine Guardians from across the country.
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)
| Lawsuit | Year |
|---|---|
| Bradbury v. Shaw | 1976 |
| Professional Firefighters of N.H. v. Healthtrust Inc. | 2004 |
| Union Leader Corporation v. NH Housing Finance Authority | 1997 |
Proposed changes
- See also Proposed transparency legislation, 2010 or find sample transparency legislation at the Sunshine Standard
2011
Here is a list of transparency legislation for New Hampshire in 2011. This list contains a random collection of 15 bills from the state. For the full list please see New Hampshire transparency legislation.
| Rating | Bill | Current Status | Progress | Information |
 | House Bill 145 | Current Status: (Referred to Judiciary Committee) | 
|
House Bill 145 was introduced to the House by Representative Alfred Baldasaro which would allow anyone to record a law enforcement officer using audio or video recording providing that the person informs the officer of the recording, it does not interfere with the officers duties and the officer is interacting with that person or in a public area. [1] |
| House Bill 310 | Current Status: (Referred to Executive Departments and Administration Committee) | 
|
House Bill 310 was introduced to the House by Representative Seth Cohn which would standardize the Information Technology used by state agencies to distribute records. It would attempt to make records more accessible and presented in easier non-restricted formats commonly used by the population when given electronically. It would attempt to make data more "Complete, Primary, Timely, Accessible, Machine processable, Non-discriminatory, Non-proprietary, License-free" and would even review old records for inclusion in this policy. [2] |
 | House Bill 347 | Current Status: (Awaiting transfer to Governor) | 
|
House Bill 347 was introduced to the House by Representative Neal Kurk which would exempt crash reports involving under cover law enforcement officers from the public record. [3] |
| House Bill 415 | Current Status: (Referred to Children and Family Law Committee) |
|
House Bill 415 was introduced to the House by Representative Paul Ingbretson which would grant a parent who has restricted or no access to their children due to an ongoing court case to access the records held by the Department of Health and Human Services and any third party records in possession of the Department relating to the case. [4] |
| House Bill 418 | Current Status: (Referred to Executive Departments and Administration Committee) |
|
House Bill 418 was introduced to the House by Representative Seth Cohn which would standardize the Information Technology used by state agencies to distribute records. It would attempt to make records more accessible and presented in easier non-restricted formats commonly used by the population when given electronically. It would attempt to make data more "Complete, Primary, Timely, Accessible, Machine processable, Non-discriminatory, Non-proprietary, License-free" and would even review old records for inclusion in this policy. [5] |
| House Bill 521 | Current Status: (Signed into law by the Governor) | 
|
House Bill 521 was introduced to the House by Representative Betsey Patten which would alter the time period for public meetings from 10 to 20 days after notice from the Commissioner to 5-20 days. [6] |
| House Bill 554 | Current Status: (Referred to Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs Committee) |
|
House Bill 554 was introduced to the House by Representative Neal Kurk which would require the Board of Mental Health to follow procedures in the interest of protecting a patient's identity in regards to medical records. Any attempt to obtain records must be done with court subpoena or with permission from the patient or their guardian. Records must then be redacted of identifying information and can be destroyed as they normally would be. [7] |
| House Bill 650 | Current Status: (Awaiting transfer to Governor) |
|
House Bill 650 was introduced to the House by Representative Lynne Ober which would allow school districts to call special meetings for the issue of dealing with changes in state funding. [8] |
| House Bill 94 | Current Status: (Referred to Judiciary Committee) |
|
House Bill 94 was introduced to the House by Representative John Tholl which would allow advisory committees to meet electronically provided there is a clear way for the public to attend the meeting posted on the committee website or office. [9] |
| Senate Bill 135 | Current Status: (Referred to Election Law Committee) | 
|
Senate Bill 135 was introduced to the Senate by Senator Sharon Carson which would modify the requirements for election result returns and the records associated with them. It would also modify the time period for submission and provide penalty for negligence by the person charged with record keeping. [10] |
2010
Here are a list of 30 random bills from New Hampshire from 2010. For a full list, please see New Hampshire transparency legislation.
|
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]
Features of the law
Compare States: Sunshine variations: Click on the heading to compare your state's law to other state's transparency laws.
Declared legal intention
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]
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]
Exemptions
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]
- In 2003 New Hampshire inserted language to exempt ballots from the right to know law, precluding any public inspection of ballots following elections, such as was necessary following Bush v. Gore and ever-increasingly necessary due to the concealed computerized vote counts used throughout the nation and counting more than 85% of NH ballots.
Deliberative process
What agencies are covered?
New Hampshire law includes all branches of government at the state and all local levels . [8]
Legislature
There is no clear exemption for the New Hampshire legislature under the Open Records Act and the legislature clearly falls within the definition of public body found at New Hampshire Revised Statutes VI.91-A:1.a. Thus, the documents of the legislature are assumed to be open for inspection.
Privatized governmental agencies
New Hampshire law includes all non-profit corporations whose sole member is a public agency and any entity which performs a public function within their definition of public body.<ref?Private agency, public dollars-New Hampshire</ref>
Public universities
Status: Presumed Open Popular Exemptions Research Donors Examinations Course Materials [9]
- Presumed Open, Examinations exempt.
The definition of public body presumably includes public universities within the state. However, the law does contain an exemption for examination material at New Hampshire Revised Statutes VI.91-A:5.
Who may request records?
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. [10]
Must a purpose be stated?
The only requirement for a statement of purpose is the release of statistical data sets that may contain personal information must be declared as a request for research. [11]
How can records be used?
Exempted records may be released to other government agencies for use within only those agencies.[12] Records released as statistical data sets can only be used for research and cannot be distributed to undeclared, non-research personnel. [13]
Time allowed for response
- 5 days
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.[10]
Fees for records
Copy costs:
New Hampshire law allows for fees that include the cost of duplication only.[10]
Search fees:
New Hampshire law does not allow public agencies to charge fees to cover the cost of records searches. [10]
Records commissions and ombudsmen:
The New Hampshire Right-to-Know Oversight Commission was established by the New Hampshire Right to Know Law in order to better assist the state in evaluating the open records law regarding electronic communication and expand the law to account for new technological developments.
Role of the Attorney General
Although there is currently no provision that authorizes the State Attorney General to enforce the state's Right to Know law, the office does advice public agencies and state governmental officials that receive right-to-know requests and also responds to requests made by the public for information in regards to the law.
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." [14]
Notable requests
See also
- New Hampshire Right-to-Know Oversight Commission
- New Hampshire FOIA procedures
- New Hampshire transparency headlines
- New Hampshire transparency advocates
- New Hampshire transparency legislation
- New Hampshire Open Meetings Law
External links
- New Hampshire Statutes Chapter 91-A: Access to Public Records and Meetings
- Open Government Guide to New Hampshire
- New Hampshire Dept of Justice Memo on the Right-to-Know law
- Past articles on New Hampshire
References
- ↑ 2008 BGA-Alper Integrity Index
- ↑ States Failing FOI Responsiveness, National Freedom of Information Coalition, October 2007
- ↑ Freedom of Information in the USA, 2002
- ↑ Preamble to the Public Records and Meetings statute
- ↑ New Hampshire Revised Statutes VI.91-A:1.a
- ↑ New Hampshire Revised Statutes VI.91-A:5 emphasis added
- ↑ New Hampshire Revised Statutes VI.91-A:5
- ↑ New Hampshire Revised Statutes VI.91-A:1.a
- ↑ New Hampshire Revised Statutes VI.91-A:5
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 New Hampshire Revised Statutes VI.91-A:4
- ↑ New Hampshire Revised Statutes VI.91-A:10
- ↑ New Hampshire Revised Statutes VI.91-A:5.a
- ↑ New Hampshire Revised Statutes VI.91-A:10
- ↑ Section 91-A:2 D II Meetings Open to Public
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