Bills 2018

The Right-to-Know Law changes as new bills pass into law. Almost every year there are proposed bills to amend the Right-to-Know Law. This year, Right to Know NH has proposed 8 bills to strengthen the ability of citizens of New Hampshire to access their government. These 8 bills have been introduced in the House or Senate. RTKNH worked with the RTK Study Commission which proposed a ninth bill on an ombudsman and commission.  And finally, a tenth bill from RTKNH was retained in the House Judiciary Committee from last year. There are other bills that affect public access to specific records and minutes.  RTKNH generally supports improving public access but does not have the resources to follow all of these specific bills.

NH Legislature LegiScan Bill Lookup

HB 252: relative to pro se litigants under the right-to-know law.
STATUS: Passed House, Passed Senate.  Signed by Governor.

HB 1323: relative to employment of chief executive officers under the right-to-know law
STATUS: House voted Inexpedient to Legislate.

HB 1344: relative to collective bargaining under the right-to-know law
STATUS: House voted Inexpedient To Legislate.

HB 1347: relative to information to be included in the minutes under the right-to-know law.
STATUS: Passed House, Passed the Senate. Signed by Governor.

HB 1579: requiring records to be kept for certain exempt convenings under the right-to-know law
STATUS: Passed House, Senate voted Inexpedient To Legislate.

HB 1786: prohibiting costs for inspection of governmental records under the right-to-know law
STATUS: Passed House, Senate voted Inexpedient to Legislate.

HB 1788: relative to costs charged under the right-to-know law
STATUS: Passed House, Senate Laid on the Table.

SB 395: relative to access to records under the right-to-know law
STATUS: Passed Senate with amendment, House voted Expedient To Legislate.

SB 420: relative to collective bargaining under the right-to-know law
STATUS: Passed Senate, House voted Inexpedient to Legislate.

SB 555: establishing a citizens’ right-to-know appeals commission and a right-to-know law ombudsman
STATUS: Passed Senate with amendment, House voted Inexpedient to Legislate.

There are also 3 other Right-to-Know bills this year that Right to Know NH is tracking.

HB 1337: relative to public bodies under the right-to-know law
STATUS: House voted Inexpedient To Legislate.

HB 1520: relative to access to ballots and relative to verification counts of machine-counted ballots
STATUS: House voted Inexpedient To Legislate.

HB 1789: relative to costs of requests which are in electronic format under the right-to-know law
STATUS: House voted Inexpedient To Legislate.

If you know the bill number, you can track its progress here or use the NH State Legislature Portal.