HOUSE BILL NO. 714 Introduced by
Rep. Dion of Hillsborough Dist. 29
Referred to Committee on Judiciary
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the year of Our Lord one thousand nine hundred and seventy-one
AN ACT
relative to the right to know law.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Open Meetings. Amend RSA 91-A:2 (supp) as inserted by 1967, 251:1 and amended by 1969, 482:1 by striking out said section and inserting in place thereof the following: 91-A:2 Meetings Open to the Public. All public proceedings shall be open to the public, and all persons shall be permitted to attend any meetings of those bodies or agencies. 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 seventy-two hours of the public meeting, except as provided by section 5 of this chapter, and shall be treated as permanent records of any body or agency, without exception. All regular, special or unscheduled meetings of municipal government, its agencies and subcommittees shall be open, without restriction, to the general public. It shall be deemed unlawful for more than four persons representing a governing body to meet privately or at an unscheduled gathering for the purpose of discussing municipal business, or to decide courses of action regarding municipal business, unless the general public has been publicly informed of such a meeting and said meeting shall be open without restriction to the public. If the charter of any city or guidelines set down by the appointing authority requires a broader public access to official meetings and records than herein described, such charter provisions or guidelines shall take precedence over the requirements of this chapter.
2 Penalties for Noncompliance. Amend RSA 91-A by inserting after section 2 the following new section: 91-A:2-a Penalties. Any person or group who shall violate the provisions of RSA 91-A:2 shall be individually fined not less than five hundred dollars not more than one thousand dollars for each offense, and all actions undertaken as a result of such violations shall be considered null and void. Upon presentation that a violation may have been perpetrated, court action shall be immediately instituted to protect the rights, welfare and safety of the general public. Where court action shall result in a decision that there may exist, does presently exist or did exist a violation of the provision of this law, then the offending officials shall be temporarily suspended from all public offices they may then hold. If the final court action shall find an individual guilty of violation of this section, he shall be immediately and permanently removed from office. No person found guilty of violations of these provisions may legally be qualified or found eligible to hold either elected or appointed public office from that time forth.
3 Repeal. RSA 91-A:3, I, as inserted by 1967, 251:1 and amended by 1969, 482:2 relative to executive sessions is hereby repealed.
4 Effective Date. This act shall take effect sixty days after its passage.