HB606 (2015) Detail

Relative to costs for public records filed electronically.


HB 606-FN-LOCAL - AS AMENDED BY THE HOUSE

12Mar2015… 0691h

2015 SESSION

15-0570

01/09

HOUSE BILL 606-FN-LOCAL

AN ACT relative to costs for public records filed electronically.

SPONSORS: Rep. Bickford, Straf 3

COMMITTEE: Judiciary

AMENDED ANALYSIS

This bill prohibits a public body or agency from charging a fee for making a governmental record available for inspection or from charging a fee for inspection of such record.

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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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

12Mar2015… 0691h

15-0570

01/09

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Fifteen

AN ACT relative to costs for public records filed electronically.

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

1 Right-to-Know Law; Information Filed Electronically. Amend RSA 91-A:4, IV to read as follows:

IV. 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. If a public body or agency is unable to make a governmental record available for immediate inspection and copying, it shall, within 5 business days of request, make such record available, deny the request in writing with reasons, or furnish written acknowledgment of the receipt of the request and a statement of the time reasonably necessary to determine whether the request shall be granted or denied. 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 paper copy, which cost may be collected by the public body or agency. No fee shall be charged for records online. No fee shall be charged to make such governmental record available for inspection and no fee shall be charged for inspection of such record. 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.

2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect January 1, 2016.

LBAO

15-0570

Revised 01/30/15

HB 606-FN-LOCAL FISCAL NOTE

AN ACT relative to costs for public records filed electronically.

FISCAL IMPACT:

    The Department of Administrative Services and Department of Justice state this bill, as introduced, will have an indeterminable fiscal impact on state revenue and expenditures in FY 2016 and each year thereafter. The New Hampshire Association of Counties states this bill will increase county expenditures by an indeterminable amount in FY 2016 and each year thereafter. There will be no fiscal impact on local revenue and expenditures or county revenue.

METHODOLOGY:

    The Department of Administrative Services states this bill prohibits a public body or agency from charging for governmental records filed electronically but may charge a fee for “actual costs” of sending such information electronically. The Department is not clear what this language would mean in practice. Current law allows a fee for copies, regardless of whether the copies are electronic or hardcopy, thus acknowledging that a provision of copies in either format may involve an expenditure of public funds. The legislation is not clear what types of costs, such as employee time, may be permissible when factoring the actual costs. The Department is not able to determine the fiscal impact of this bill because application of the proposed language is uncertain. Additionally, different agencies and public bodies may have different fees and practices for handling record requests making any overall fiscal impact indeterminable.

    The Department of Justice states it frequently scans paper documents into electronic format in order to review the records and redact confidential information. The Department currently charges $0.20 per page for the documents scanned in response to a right to know request. Some requests involve scanning one or more banker’s boxes of documents. The Department states this bill would prohibit the Department from charging for the production of paper records that are scanned and produced on CD. The Department does not track the number of pages produced in response to right to know requests so it is not able to determine the fiscal impact of this bill on the Department. The Department does estimate any fiscal impact would be less than $10,000.

    The New Hampshire Association of Counties states the cost of providing a public record does not take into account the staff or time associated with locating the public record. This bill could have a significant impact on the use and cost of staff time, resulting in an increase in county expenditures. There is no fiscal impact on county revenue.

    The New Hampshire Municipal Association states this bill does not change existing law therefore it will have no fiscal impact on local revenues or expenditures.