Bills 2016

2016 Bill Summary

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 3 bills to strengthen the ability of citizens of New Hampshire to access their government. The 3 bills are HB1417, HB1418, HB1419.

The first step for a bill in New Hampshire is a request (LSR) to Legislative Services to wordsmith the bill. You can see the bills affecting Right to Know through the Legislative Service search on the web. Click here, type “right-to-know” in the field labeled “Search by a word within the LSR’s title” then click the Submit button.

After the bills are wordsmithed by Legislative Services, they can be tracked as bills. Click here, make sure the year is 2016 and type “right-to-know” in the field labeled “title” then click the Submit button. The results of this search gives you links to track the status of each bill as they work through the legislature.

This year, for the 2016 session, initially there were 17 Right-to-Know LSRs. The first 4 bills were carried over from the 2015 session. All have been introduced as bills. One has been withdrawn.

RTKNH	Bill	RSA	Title
Position	Disposition	Status	Sponsors
Oppose	HB 285	91-A:3, II(l)	relative to discussion with legal counsel under the right-to-know law.
	Governor Signed	S D I A HA A SA A	David Bickford
Support	HB 606	91-A:4, IV A	relative to costs for public records filed electronically.
	Governor Signed	S D I A HA A SA A	David Bickford
None	HB 613	91-A:5, IV-a	relative to governmental records exempted under the right-to-know law.
	Senate Interim Study	S D I A HA	Tara Sad, Carol McGuire, John Reagan
Limited Support	HB 617	91-A:5, X	requiring state police to wear a camera when interacting with the public.
	Senate ITL	S D I A HA	Kyle Tasker, Bart Fromuth, Shem Kellogg, Robert Theberge, Donald LeBrun, Robert Cushing, Gladys Johnsen, Mario Ratzki, James Spillane, Nick Zaricki, John Reagan, Sam Cataldo, Kevin Avard
Oppose but support concept	HB 1216	91-A:4, VII	requiring public bodies and agencies to provide information which is not regularly kept or reported upon payment by the requestor.
	House ITL	S D I	James Verschueren, David Watters, Cynthia Chase, June Frazer, William Baber, Peter Bixby
Support with amendment	HB 1395	33-A:5-a	relative to municipal electronic records.
	House Concur	S D I HA A	Carol McGuire, John Reagan
Support	HB 1413	91-A:8-a	establishing a commission to study processes to resolve right-to-know complaints.
	House ITL	S D I	Kathleen Souza, Kenneth Weyler, Glenn Cordelli, Keith Ammon, Catherine Cheney
Support	HB 1417	91-A:2, I-a	relative to records of convenings of public bodies.
	House ITL	S D I mA	Michael Sylvia, Duane Brown, Chris True
Support	HB 1418	91-A:2, II	relative to the minutes of nonpublic sessions of public bodies.
	Governor Signed	S D I	Michael Sylvia, Duane Brown, Chris True
Support	HB 1419	91-A:3, III	relative to voting records in nonpublic sessions of public bodies.
	Governor Signed	S D I	Michael Sylvia, Duane Brown, Chris True
Support	HB 1465	14:10-a	relative to recording of roll calls of legislative committees.
	House ITL	S D I	Joseph Hannon, Joshua Whitehouse
Limited Support	HB 1492	91-A:5, X; 106-B	regarding individual privacy when law enforcement agencies use body-worn cameras.
	House ITL	S D I	Neal Kurk
Support	HB 1510	91-A:3, II(a)-(c); 91-A:3, III	relative to the review of minutes of nonpublic sessions.
	House ITL	S D I	Keith Ammon, James Spillane, William Goulette
Oppose but support concept	HB 1546	91-A:16; 570-A; 642; 644	permitting the audio recording of a public servant performing a public function.
	House Tabled	S D I A	Robert Hull, Michael Sylvia, Glen Aldrich, Keith Ammon
Support with amendment	HB 1593	91-A:4, IV; 14-B; 15-A	restricting fees for obtaining copies of public records and requiring certain information on public official and legislative financial disclosure forms.
	House ITL	S D I	Michael Brewster
Oppose	HB 1611	91-A:4, IV; 91-A:4, IV-a	allowing a public body or agency to charge a fee for costs of retrieving public records under the right-to-know law.
	House ITL	S D I	Patrick Long
None	(withdrawn)		relative to inspection of records under the right-to-know law.
	2016-2595		Patrick Long

S – Status

D – Docket

I – As Introduced

A – Amendment

HA – House Amendment

SA – Senate Amendment

mA – Minority Amendment

ITL – Inexpedient to Legislate

OTP – Ought to Pass

OTPA – Ought to Pass with Amendment

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