HOUSE BILL No. 275
INTRODUCED BY: Rep. Bednar of Hillsborough Dist. 14
REFERRED TO: Judiciary
AN ACT relative to attorney's fees and court costs available under the right to know law.
ANALYSIS
This bill requires a person who is refused a public document, access to a public proceeding or corrective action taken for any violation by a public body or agency, to notify said body or agency by registered mail that the body or agency is in violation of RSA 91-A, and giving the body or agency a period not exceeding ten days to correct the violation, before said person would be entitled to reasonable attorney's fees and court costs if the court ruled against the body or agency or if a settlement admits the body or agency violated RSA 91-A.
HB 275
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the year of Our Lord one thousand nine hundred and seventy-five
AN ACT
relative to attorney's fees and court costs available under the right to know law.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Notice to Body or Agency as a Prerequisite to Recovery of Costs and Attorney's Fees. Amend RSA 91-A:8 (supp), as inserted by 1973, 113:1, by striking out said section and inserting in place thereof the following:
91-A:8 Attorney's Fees and Court Costs. Any body or agency which, in violation of the provisions of this chapter, refuses to provide a public document or refuses access to a public proceeding to a person who reasonably requests the same or refuses to take action to correct any violation of this chapter after a person requests same, shall be liable for reasonable attorney's fees and court costs incurred in making the information available, the proceeding open to the public or correcting the violation:
I. If the person sends a written request to the body or agency for the specific document, access to the particular public proceeding or requesting corrective action regarding the violation by registered mail; and
II. If the body or agency does not make the specific document available, grant access to the particular public proceeding or take the corrective action requested within ten days of the receipt of the registered request; and
III. If a court renders final judgment in favor of the request or the body or agency subsequent to the ten day period specified in paragraph II voluntarily grants the request, which granting shall be deemed to be an admission by the body or agency that the original refusal was in violation of the provisions of this chapter.
2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect sixty days after its passage.