HB 1477-FN-LOCAL - AS INTRODUCED
2000 SESSION
HOUSE BILL 1477-FN-LOCAL
AN ACT relative to notification of public proceedings.
This bill requires notice of public meetings under the right-to-know law to be posted in each town hall and post office or other conspicuous place and printed in the appropriate newspapers. Current law requires such notification to be either posted or published.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
00-2323
01/10
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand
AN ACT relative to notification of public proceedings.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Notification of Public Proceedings. Amend RSA 91-A:2, II to read as follows:
II. 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. Any person shall be permitted to use recording devices, including, but not limited to, tape recorders, cameras and videotape equipment, at such meetings. Minutes of all such meetings, including names of members, persons appearing before the bodies or agencies, and a brief description of the subject matter discussed and final decisions, shall be promptly recorded and open to public inspection within 144 hours of the public meeting, except as provided in RSA 91-A:6, and shall be treated as permanent records of any body or agency, or any subordinate body thereof, without exception. Except in an emergency or when there is a meeting of a legislative committee, a notice of the time and place of each such meeting, including a nonpublic session, shall be posted in [2 appropriate places or] each town hall and post office or other conspicuous public place and shall be printed in a newspaper of general circulation and local circulation in the city or town at least [24 hours] 10 days and 2 days, excluding Sundays and legal holidays, prior to such meetings. An emergency shall mean a situation where immediate undelayed action is deemed to be imperative by the chairman or presiding officer of the body or agency who shall employ whatever means are available to inform the public that a meeting is to be held. The minutes of the meeting shall clearly spell out the need for the emergency meeting. When a meeting of a legislative committee is held, publication made pursuant to the rules of the house of representatives or the senate, whichever rules are appropriate, shall be sufficient notice. If the charter of any city or guidelines or rules of order of any body or agency described in RSA 91-A:1-a require a broader public access to official meetings and records than herein described, such charter provisions or guidelines or rules of order shall take precedence over the requirements of this chapter.
2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.
LBAO
00-2323
12/15/99
HB 1477-FN-LOCAL - FISCAL NOTE
AN ACT relative to notification of public proceedings.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The Office of Legislative Accounting, the N.H. Association of Counties, and the N.H. Municipal Association indicate this bill will increase state, county and local expenditures by an indeterminable amount beginning in FY 2000 and continuing each year thereafter. There will be no fiscal impact on state, county and local revenue.
METHODOLOGY:
The organizations named above indicate this bill will increase advertising expenditures in state agencies, counties and some municipalities. Most larger communities already comply with the proposed law by posting and advertising their meetings. The cost will depend on the number of meetings that have to be advertised and the cost of the advertising, and neither can be estimated