Revision: Dec. 14, 2011, midnight
HB 1497 – AS INTRODUCED
2012 SESSION
06/03
HOUSE BILL 1497
AN ACT relative to the writing of warrant articles.
SPONSORS: Rep. Mirski, Graf 10
COMMITTEE: Municipal and County Government
This bill prohibits proselytizing in warrant articles.
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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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
12-2415
06/03
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twelve
AN ACT relative to the writing of warrant articles.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Warrant. Amend RSA 39:2 to read as follows:
39:2 Warrant.
I. The warrant for any town meeting shall be under the hands of the selectmen, and shall prescribe the place, day, and hour of the meeting, and, if there is an election at said meeting, in which an official printed ballot containing more than one name is used, the warrant therefor shall prescribe the time the polls are to open and also an hour before which the polls may not close. A town meeting may vote to keep the polls open to a later hour but may not vote to close the polls at an earlier hour than that prescribed by the selectmen hereunder. The subject matter of all business to be acted upon at the town meeting shall be distinctly stated in the warrant in a nonpersuasive manner, and nothing done at any meeting, except the election of any town officer required by law to be made at such meeting, shall be valid unless the subject thereof is so stated. Provided that in a case where the article in the warrant calls for the appropriation of a specific sum of money, the sum of money appropriated thereunder may be decreased or increased by the vote of the town, provided further that in a town under the municipal budget act no increase shall be valid which would violate the provisions of RSA 32:18, except as provided in RSA 32:18-a.
II. Any description in a warrant posted under RSA 39:5 that proselytizes for or against the contents of a warrant article shall create a cause of action in favor of any voter in the town to have such warrant article declared null.
2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.