Versions of SB8:
Senate Index
[SJ 1266] Public meetings, relating to . . . 22, 176, 177, 196, 198, 200, 202, 203
House Index
[SJ 1462] Public meetings and records, relating to . . . 346, 1362
From 1959 Senate Journal and House Journal
Tuesday, January 13, 1959
[SJ 21] The following entitled bills were read a first and second time and referred:
[SJ 22] SB 8, An Act relative to public meetings and records. (Senator Bennett)
To the Committee on Judiciary.
Wednesday, March 18, 1959
[SJ 176] The President recognized Senator Humphreys who requested that the following proposed amendment by the Judiciary [SJ 177] Committee to SB 8, An Act relative to public meetings and records, be printed in today's and tomorrow's Journal and further stated that the bill would be reported in next Tuesday.
The President granted the above request of Senator Humphreys.
Proposed Amendment to Senate Bill 8
Amend said bill by striking out all after the enacting clause and inserting in place thereof the following:
91-A:1 Declaration of Policy. Pursuant to the fundamental philosophy of constitutional representative government, which upholds the principle that government is accountable to the people, and in consonance with our New Hampshire constitution, Bill of Rights Art. 8, it is hereby declared to be the public policy of this state that governmental bodies or agencies hereinafter referred to as boards, and elected and appointed public officials and employees, of the state, counties, municipalities and sub-divisions thereof, are agents of the people and that the people are, unless otherwise provided by law, entitled to be fully informed of all official actions taken by these agents. To that end the provisions of this chapter shall be liberally construed to effectuate this policy.
91-A:2 Definitions. As used in this chapter "board" shall mean any state, county, municipal or school board, body, agency, department, commission, authority or committee established by law to serve a public purpose in the state. "Public records" shall mean any written or printed record, report, book, paper, map or plan which is the official property of any board, and in which or on which any entry has been made, or is required to be made by law, including minutes of meetings and executive sessions.
91-A:3 Public Meetings. Except as otherwise provided herein or by statute, all board meetings shall be open to the public, however unless otherwise provided by statute, nothing contained in this chapter shall be construed to prevent boards from holding executive sessions from which the public may be excluded, provided that no board shall, in executive session, take final and conclusive actions without recording same in the minutes of the session.
[SJ 178] 91-A:4 Public Records. Public records shall be open during regularly established business hours or if a board has no regularly established business hours then at reasonable times upon request, for inspection by any citizen of the state and those in custody of such records shall not refuse this right, provided that this right may be refused if inspection of records is in violation of statute, Federal grant-in aid requirements, or would disclose matters of a personal or confidential nature regarding an individual's personal, health, financial, or educational record, or if a proposed contract, the security of the state or nation, or the good name, character, or reputation of a person is involved; provided further that inspection of public records shall not be refused for the purpose of avoiding disclosure of fraud, crime, or malfeasance or misfeasance in office by a public official.
91-A:5 Minutes. All boards shall maintain minutes of their meetings and executive sessions which shall state names of members present, and record votes and official actions taken but need not include a verbatim record of discussions.
91-A:6 Waivers. The attorney general may waive the provisions of this chapter as it pertains to his own department, or as it pertains to any other law enforcement agency upon request if he deems such waiver to be necessary for the proper administration of justice. The governor may upon request waive the provisions of this chapter in any exceptional case which in his judgment might otherwise damage the state or unjustly jeopardize the rights of an individual. A public record of waivers granted showing the reason therefor shall be maintained and be open for public inspection.
91-A:7 Violations. Any person who shall willfully violate the provisions of this chapter shall be fined not less than twenty-five nor more than five hundred dollars for each separate violation.
2 Takes Effect. This act shall take effect sixty days after its passage.
Tuesday, March 24, 1959
[SJ 190] Committee Reports
[SJ 196] Senator Bennett, for the Committee on Judiciary:
SB 8, An Act relative to public meetings and records.
Report: Ought to pass with amendment:
Amend said bill by striking out all after the enacting clause and inserting in place thereof the following:
91-4:1 Declaration of Policy. Pursuant to the fundamental philosophy of constitutional representative government, which upholds the principle that government is accountable to the people, and in consonance with our New Hampshire constitution, Bill of Rights Art. 8, it is hereby declared to be the public policy of this state that governmental bodies or agencies hereinafter referred to as boards, and elected and appointed public officials and employees, of the state, counties, municipalities and sub-divisions thereof, are agents of the people and that the people are, unless otherwise provided by law, entitled to be fully informed of all official actions taken by these agents. To that end the provisions of this chapter shall be liberally construed to effectuate this policy.
91-4:2 Definitions. As used in this chapter "board" shall mean any state, county, municipal or school board, body, agency, department, commission, authority, or committee established by law to serve a public purpose in the state. "Public records" shall mean any written or printed record, report, book, paper, map or plan which is the official property of any board, and in which or on which any entry has been made, or is required to be made by law, including minutes of meetings and executive sessions.
91-A:3 Public Meetings. Except at otherwise provided herein or by statute, all board meetings shall be open to the public, however unless otherwise provided by statute, nothing contained in this chapter shall be construed to prevent boards from holding executive sessions from which the public may be excluded, provided that no board shall, in executive session, take final and conclusive actions without recording same in the minutes of the session.
91-A:4 Public Records. Public records shall be open [SJ 197] during regularly established business hours or if a board has no regularly established business hours then at reasonable times upon request, for inspection by any citizen of the state and those in custody of such records shall not refuse this right, provided that this right may be refused if inspection of records is in violation of statute, Federal grant-in aid requirements, or would disclose matters of a personal or confidential nature regarding an individual's personal, health, financial, or educational record, or if a proposed contract, the security of the state or nation, or the good name, character, or reputation of a person is involved; provided further that inspection of public records shall not be refused for the purpose of avoiding disclosure of fraud, crime, or malfeasance or misfeasance in office by a public official.
91:A:5 Minutes. All boards shall maintain minutes of their meetings and executive sessions which shall state names of members present, and record votes and official actions taken but need not include a verbatim record of discussiones.
91-A:6 Waivers. The attorney general may waive the provisions of this chapter as it pertains to his own department, or as it pertains to any other law enforcement agency upon request if he deems such waiver to be necessary for the proper administration of justice. The governor may upon request waive the provisions of this chapter in any exceptional case which in his judgment might otherwise damage the state or unjustly jeopardize the rights of an individual. A public record of waivers granted showing the reason therefor shall be maintained and be open for public inspection.
91-A:7 Violations. Any person who shall willfully violate the provisions of this chapter shall be fined not less than twenty-five nor more than five hundred dollars for each separate violation.
2 Takes Effect. This act shall take effect sixty days after its passage.
Senator Humphreys moved that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with in view of the fact that the proposed amendment had been printed in the Journal for two days and a copy of same had been distributed to each Senator.
Senator Karkavelas stated that he was very much opposed to this amendment and requested that it be read.
[SJ 198] The President requested the Clerk to read the amendment.
Senator Adams presiding.
Senator Humphreys explained the original bill and the proposed amendment, as follows:
"Mr. President: For convenience and clarity I will explain the original bill, SB8, and the proposed committee amendment at the same time. The amendment revises practically the entire bill and thereby cuts its length by about one-half, mostly by elimination of duplication.
"Section 1 of the original bill is a declaration of policy regarding certain rights of the people, which upon study, did not seem to the committee to have a clear cut derivation by language and meaning from the Bill of Rights of the Constitution of New Hampshire. The committee, therefore, rewrote this section, so as to base the bill definitely on the generally accepted fundamental philosophy of constitutional legislative government, as set forth in our N. H. Constitution Bill of Rights Art. 8, which states that all power residing in and being derived from the people, all officers of government are their agents and at all times accountable to them. The committee feels that the changes made by the amendment are an improvement over the language of the original bill in that the amendment sets forth public policy definitely in line with our constitutional provision. The original bill, as to the "right to know" policy, referred only to public boards and agenices. The committee amendment makes this declaration of policy applicable to elected and appointed public officials as well, thereby strengthening the bill in this respect.
"Section 2 of the original bill defined the meaning of the word "board" and sec. 6 defined the meaning of the words "public records" as used in the bill. In the proposed amendment the committee has combined the two definitions as paragraph 2 of the amended bill with some changes to make the definitions more specific and to eliminate surplus wordage.
"Section 3 of the original bill, provided that "except as otherwise provided herein all meetings of every board shall be open to the public, and section 4 required a 2/3 vote to hold an executive session and narrowly limited such sessions to discussion of matters which by statute or federal aid requirement or for security or welfare reasons in negotiating contracts could not be made public, and further provided in effect [SJ 199] that practically nothing of importance could be finally acted upon in an executive session.
"These two sections have been revised and combined in section 3 of the proposed amendment to provide as follows:
"Section 91-A:3 Public Meetings. Except as otherwise provided herein or by statute, all board meetings shall be open to the public, however unless otherwise provided by statute, nothing contained in this chapter shall be construed to prevent boards from holding executive sessions from which the public may be excluded, provided that no board shall, in executive session, take final and conclusive actions without recording same in the minutes of the session.
"In regard to keeping minutes of meetings, the original bill provided that all boards would maintain accurate minutes of their meetings setting forth the action taken at each meeting. The minutes of all boards to be open to public inspection during the established business hours. Said minutes to record votes taken and other official actions but not requiring verbatim record of discussions unless required by higher governing authorities.
"As to minutes to be kept, the proposed amendment is substantially the same as the original bill but specifically requires that minutes of executive sessions shall be kept and adds the requirement that names of members present shall be recorded and eliminates the provision that higher governing authority may prescribe verbatim recording of minutes since such higher authorities would normally have such authority in any case.
"The provision (Sec. 9) in the original bill to the effect that when a city charter has provisions relative to public meetings and public records which are more stringent than those provided for in this law the provisions of said city charter shall apply, has been eliminated in the proposed amendment, as such a provision is superfluous, the same being covered by the use of the words 'except as provided by statute' and 'unless otherwise provided by statute' in other sections of the proposed amendment.
"The original bill provided that all public records be open during business hours for inspection excepting where in violation of statute, federal aid requirements or where contracts are involved. The committee amendment adds 'at reasonable [SJ 200] times' when a board has no regularly established business hours. The committee also believed that in order for this law to be workable and just it required specification as to other exceptions. Accordingly, the committee amendment provides that public records need not be open for public inspection in cases where such inspection would be in violation of statute, federal grant-in-aid requirements, or would disclose matters of a personal or confidential nature regarding an individual's personal, health, financial, or educational record, or if a proposed contract, the security of the state or nation, or the good name, character, or reputation of a person is involved; provided further that inspection of public records shall not be refused for the purpose of avoiding disclosure of fraud, crime, or malfeasance or misfeasance in office by a public official.
"Sec. 10 of the original bill was eliminated by the committee as it is understood that this provision regarding constitutionality is effective by reason of court decisions.
"The wording of the original bill regarding the attorney general's authority to determine what records in his office shall be open for public inspection has been changed somewhat in the proposed amendment so as to include other law enforcement agencies under his waiver authority when necessary for proper administration of justice.
"The committee amendment adds a new provision to the bill which will permit the governor, upon request, to waive the provisions of this chapter in any exceptional case which, in his judgment, might otherwise damage the state or unjustly jeopardize the rights of an individual. Also, a new sentence requires that a record of any waivers granted, showing the reason therefor, shall be kept and be open for public inspection.
In hearings held and in later studying the bill, it became obvious to the committee that it would be practically impossible for anyone to foresee every contingency, example, or situation where it might be contrary to the common good or the welfare of the state or its citizens, to expose proceedings or records of the government to the general public, particularly in preliminary stages of certain governmental activities such as investigations. It is for this reason, and not for the purpose of lessening the constitutional responsibilities of public officials as agents of the people, that the committee amendment provides [SJ 201] for the waiver authority of the attorney general and the governor. The constitution of this state itself recognizes the need for secrecy in some instances since it provides in Art. 8, Part 2, that the doors of the legislature itself may be closed when the welfare of the state in the opinion of either branch, shall require secrecy.
"Penalties provided by the original bill are unchanged in the committee amendment.
"The effective date is changed in the amendment to sixty rather than thirty days, as provided in the original bill.
"The committee devoted many hours to consideration and revision of this bill. Two public hearings were held, with approximately thirty persons appearing in favor and only one or two in opposition. Five revised drafts were made, and we feel that we have come in with an excellent revised bill that will serve well the purpose for which it is intended, that is, to require that our governmental agencies make knowledge of their official actions available to the people but at the same time provide sufficient safeguards for our citizens' individual rights and safety and security of the state and its people collectively.
"The final result of our committee work on this bill may not be perfect, but we think it represents a good compromise between the rights of individuals and the requirements for orderly government and collective security.
"In this process of compromise, the principle of the people's right to know as covered by the original bill has been modified only a little in some respects, but has been immeasurably strengthened in overall coverage.
"This bill is being presented by a unanimous vote of the seven-member committee that it ought to pass with amendment. I move, Mr. President, that the report of the committee be accepted and that the committee amendment be adopted."
The President in the Chair.
Senator Bennett spoke in support of the Committee Report and complimented the Chairman of the Committee, Senator Humphreys, for the amount of time and interest that he had put into the matter.
Senator Karkavelas spoke against the bill, stating that this bill was innocuous, vicious, and nothing but a nuisance bill.
[SJ 202] Senator Lamontagne spoke in support of the amendment as presented by the Committee.
Senator Holmes stated that she wished to be recorded as favoring this bill, and thanked the Committee for their consideration of her suggestions which she had presented to the Committee.
Senator Martin spoke in support of the Committee Report and stated that she would like to add that she felt that the Chairman of the Committee, Senator Humphreys, did a tremendous amount of work as well as the other Committee members.
Senator Eaton spoke in support of the bill and the amendment.
Senator Dunlap spoke in support of the amendment.
The amendment was adopted, and the bill as amended was ordered to a third reading.
[SJ 203] Third Reading of Bills and Joint Resolution
SB 8, An Act relative to public meetings and records.
[SJ 204] Personal Privilege
Senator Humphreys stated that he wished to thank, on behalf of the Judiciary Committee, Senators Holmes, Eaton, and Rogers for their help and suggestions in connection with SB 8, An Act relative to public meetings and records.
Wednesday, March 25, 1959
[HJ 346] Senate Message
The Senate Message announced that the Senate has passed bills with the following titles, in the passage of which it asks the concurrence of the House of Representative:
Senate Bill No. 8, An Act relative to public meetings and records.
[HJ 347] The following Senate bills were severally introduced, read a first and second time, and referred as follows:
Senate Bill No. 8, An Act relative to public meetings and records, to the Joint Committee on Judiciary and Municipal and County Government.
Thursday, September 17, 1959
[HJ 1361] Indefinitely Postponed
In Accordance with the resolution that all bills and joint resolutions pending in either branch on Thursday, September 17, at 5:00 o'clock, EDST, be indefinitely postponed, the following entitled bills and captioned joint resolutions were indefinitely postponed:
[HJ 1362] Senate Bill No. 8, An Act relative to public meetings and records.
[HJ 1369] APPENDIX I
Final Disposition of Bills and Resolutions
[HJ 1421] SENATE BILLS
Senate Bill No. 8, An Act relative to public meetings and records.
Killed.