49:1 Right-to-Know; Fees for Records. Amend RSA 91-A:4, IV to read as follows:

IV.(a) Each public body or agency shall, upon request for any governmental record reasonably described, make available for inspection and copying any such governmental record within its files when such records are immediately available for such release.

(b) If a public body or agency is unable to make a governmental record available for immediate inspection and copying the public body or agency shall, within 5 business days of a request:

(1) Make such record available;

(2) Deny the request; or

(3) Provide a written statement of the time reasonably necessary to determine whether the request shall be granted or denied and the reason for the delay, and an itemized estimate of the cost of making the record available if a charge would be incurred under paragraph VIII.

(c) A public body or agency denying the request in whole or in part shall provide a written statement of the specific exemption authorizing the withholding of the record and a brief explanation of how the exemption applies to the record withheld.

(d) If a computer, photocopying machine, or other device maintained for use by a public body or agency is used by the public body or agency to copy the governmental record requested, the person requesting the copy may be charged the actual cost of providing the copy, which cost may be collected by the public body or agency. No cost or fee shall be charged for the inspection or delivery, without copying, of governmental records, whether in paper, electronic, or other form, except as provided in paragraph VIII. Nothing in this section shall exempt any person from paying fees otherwise established by law for obtaining copies of governmental records or documents, but if such fee is established for the copy, no additional costs or fees shall be charged.

(e) A public body or agency may suggest to the requestor a reasonable modification of the scope of the request, if doing so would enable the body or agency to produce records sought more efficiently and affordably.

(f) A public body or agency responsible for responding to a records request shall not be liable for damages in a civil action caused by its fault or by fault attributable to it, arising out of disclosure of information exempt from disclosure pursuant to this chapter, provided that the public body or agency acted in good faith to redact any information that may be exempt from disclosure, unless the public body or agency can be shown to have acted in a wanton or reckless manner. The use of automated software to produce redactions or other automated processes to speed production in concert with spot checks shall qualify as good faith.

49:2 New Paragraphs; Fees for Records. Amend RSA 91-A:4 by inserting after paragraph VII the following new paragraphs:

VIII. A reasonable per electronic communication charge in addition to the actual cost of providing the copy under paragraph IV(d) may be made for requests for electronic communications in excess of 250 communications. Per electronic communication charges may not exceed $1.00 per communication and may be charged whether the records are delivered in hard copy or electronically. No charge may be incurred for the first 250 electronic communications. For the purposes of this paragraph, attachments to electronic communications shall be considered part of a single communication, and e-mails and responses under a single subject line shall be considered a single communication. Text or chat message threads regarding the same topic shall be considered a single communication unless exceeding 50 individual messages at which point each additional group of 50 messages shall be considered another single message. The public body or agency shall create a policy so that practices are transparent, uniform, and consistent, including a provision consistent with paragraph IX for the waiver of such fees for requestors who are deemed indigent, or who can demonstrate that such fees would present a financial hardship. Multiple requests from any person or entity to the same public body within a 30 day time period shall be considered one request. If a party believes that the estimated cost to make the records available is unreasonable or that a waiver under paragraph IX was improperly denied by the public body or agency, the party may seek relief according to RSA 91-A:7-b for a determination of whether the cost is reasonable or whether any waiver under paragraph IX applies. The burden shall be on the public body in establishing that the cost to make the records available is reasonable. A determination shall be made within 10 business days.

IX. The public body or agency shall waive any per electronic communication charge provided for in paragraph VIII for search or retrieval when the person requesting the records is an indigent individual as established by the federal poverty line or if the disclosure of the information is in the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations or activities of the government and is not primarily in the commercial interest of the requestor, except media requestors. Media requestors are organizations or individuals who publish information in accepted digital, print, or broadcast formats and to standards generally recognized by professional news organizations that do not serve primarily as a platform to promote the interest and/or opinions of a special interest group, government, individual or cause.

109:1 New Section; County Commissioner and Delegation Meetings; Public Notice and Comment. Amend RSA 91:A by inserting after section 2-b the following new section:

91-A:2-c County Commissioner and Delegation Meetings; Public Notice and Comment.

I. In addition to all requirements set forth in RSA 91-A:2, county commissions and delegations shall allow public comment from county residents during a period specified by the chair of the delegation.

II. Any person who resides in the county for which the meeting is being held shall be permitted, within the parameters of this section, to participate in public comment session as designated by the chair. Every county resident wishing to provide spoken comment at a meeting shall be granted at least 3 minutes to speak. The allotted time for comment shall be the same for every person.

III. Notice for all non-emergency county commission and delegation meetings shall be posted as required in RSA 91-A:2.

112:1 Access to Governmental Records and Meetings; Meetings Open to Public. Amend RSA 91-A:2, II to read as follows:

II. Subject to the provisions of RSA 91-A:3, all meetings, whether held in person, by means of telephone or electronic communication, or in any other manner, shall be open to the public. 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 nonpublic sessions, shall include the names of members, persons appearing before the public bodies, and a brief description of the subject matter discussed and final decisions, the start time and end time of the meeting, and name of the person who produced the minutes. The names of the members who made or seconded each motion shall be recorded in the minutes. Subject to the provisions of RSA 91-A:3, minutes shall be promptly recorded and open to public inspection not more than 5 business days after the meeting, except as provided in RSA 91-A:6, and shall be treated as permanent records of any public body, 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 one of which may be the public body's Internet website, if such exists, or shall be printed in a newspaper of general circulation in the city or town at least 24 hours, 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 public body, who shall post a notice of the time and place of such meeting as soon as practicable, and shall employ whatever further means are reasonably 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 town or guidelines or rules of order of any public body 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. For the purposes of this paragraph, a business day means the hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday through Friday, excluding national and state holidays.

141:206 Office of Right-to-Know Ombudsman. Amend the introductory paragraph of RSA 91-A:7-a to read as follows:

There is hereby established the office of the right-to-know ombudsman to be administratively attached to the department of state under RSA 21-G:10 office of state and public sector labor relations under RSA 273-E. The right-to-know ombudsman shall be paid a stipend of $200 in each biweekly state payroll cycle for such work performed outside of scheduled sessions. The right-to-know ombudsman shall also be paid $400 for each day devoted to the work of the office and shall be reimbursed for travel, professional development, and other business-related expenses. The right-to-know ombudsman shall be paid $50 per hour for time spent on the drafting of final decisions. The ombudsman shall be appointed by the governor and council and shall have the following minimum qualifications:

141:207 Repeal. The following are repealed:

I. 2022, 250:5, relative to the right-to-know ombudsman.

II. 2022, 250:6, relative to repealing certain provisions relative to the right-to-know ombudsman.

III. 2022, 250:7, relative to the effective date of the repeal of certain provisions of the right-to-know ombudsman.

141:208 Effective Date. Section 207 of this act shall take effect June 30, 2025.

279:1 New Section; Anonymity of Lottery Prize Winner. Amend RSA 91-A by inserting after section 5-a the following new section:

91-A:5-b Anonymity of Lottery Prize Winner.

Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the name, town or residence, date of prize, and the gross and net amounts of the annual prize payment of a winner which may be released by the lottery commission pursuant to RSA 287-F:10, I-i shall not be released if the winner makes a written request to the lottery commission that they wish to remain anonymous and provided that the winner satisfies at least one of the following conditions:

I. The winner is a victim of domestic violence pursuant to RSA 173-B:1, I;

II. The winner has an active restraining order against another person; or

III. The winner files a petition in superior court, which may be filed using a pseudonym, with the winner's true identity maintained under seal, seeking an order that the winner be allowed to remain anonymous, and the court, for good cause shown, grants the petition. The petition shall be served upon the commissioner, who shall have 20 days within which to respond.

269:6 Access to Governmental Records and Meetings; Exemptions; Certification Records Modified. Amend RSA 91-A:5, V to read as follows:

V. Teacher Educator certification records in the department of education, provided that the department shall make available teacher educator certification status information.

206:1 Local Records; Public Access. Amend RSA 5:35 to read as follows:

5:35 Local Records.

The director shall accept for storage in the state archives such local records as the municipal records board established under RSA 33-A:4-a may require. The director shall designate, with the approval of the municipal records board, a publicly accessible website for the retention and public access to local electronic records.

206:2 Local Government Records Manager; Website Development. Amend RSA 5:49, II to read as follows:

II. It shall be the responsibility of the local government records manager to advise the municipal records board concerning local government records policies and procedures, state services and financial support needed to assist or advise local officials, and regulations pertaining to local government records, and grants for local government records management improvement pursuant to RSA 5:51.

206:3 New Paragraph; Duties of Local Government Records Manager. Amend RSA 5:49 by inserting after paragraph II the following new paragraph:

II-a. The local government records manager, or if the role is not filled, the state archivist, is authorized to employ specialists in records management, archives, and administration, consultants, and/or other specialists necessary to provide a publicly accessible website pursuant to RSA 5:35 and issue guidance for its proper use.

206:4 New Paragraph; Electronic Records. Amend RSA 33-A:5-a by inserting after paragraph II the following new paragraph:

III. Electronic municipal records, including paper municipal records transferred to electronic records in accordance with the provisions of paragraph I, may be stored on a publicly accessible website designated by, and in accordance with, guidance issued by the state archivist. If electronic municipal records are stored in this manner, no additional copy need be kept by the municipality if the municipality provides the public at least one cost-free method of accessing the website.

206:5 Minutes and Records Available for Public Inspection. Amend RSA 91-A:4, IV(a) to read as follows:

IV.(a) Each public body or agency shall, upon request for any governmental record reasonably described, make available for inspection and copying any such governmental record within its files when such records are immediately available for such release or, if the record has been uploaded to the website in accordance with RSA 33-A:5-a, III, provide the domain name of the website.

206:6 Appropriation. The sum of $50,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2027 is hereby appropriated to the secretary of state, division of archives and records management for the creation and maintenance of a publicly accessible website for the retention and public access to local electronic records, and the implementation of provisions of this act. Such funds shall be non-lapsing. The governor is authorized to draw a warrant for said sum out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated.