Revision: June 1, 2016, midnight
\t \t\t
12Mar2015… 0691h
01/14/2016 3065s
1June2016... 2036CofC
2015 SESSION
\t15-0570
\t01/09
HOUSE BILL\t\t606-FN-LOCAL
AN ACT\trelative to costs for public records filed electronically.
SPONSORS:\tRep. Bickford, Straf 3
COMMITTEE:\tJudiciary
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AMENDED ANALYSIS
This bill prohibits a public body or agency from charging a fee for the inspection or delivery, without copying, of governmental records.
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Explanation:\tMatter added to current law appears in bold italics.
\t\tMatter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
\t\tMatter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
12Mar2015… 0691h
01/14/2016 3065s
1June2016... 2036CofC\t15-0570
\t01/09
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Fifteen
AN ACT\trelative to costs for public records filed electronically.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
\t1 Right-to-Know Law; Information Filed Electronically. Amend RSA 91-A:4, IV to read as follows:
\t\tIV. 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 copy, which cost may be collected by the public body or agency. No fee shall be charged for the inspection or delivery, without copying, of governmental records, whether in paper, electronic, or other form. 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.
\t2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect upon its passage.
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t15-0570
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAmended 2/11/16
HB 606-FN-LOCAL- FISCAL NOTE
AN ACT\trelative to costs for public records filed electronically.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The Departments of Administrative Services and Justice state this bill, as amended by the Senate (Amendment #2015-3065s), will have an indeterminable impact on state revenue and expenditures in FY 2017 and each year thereafter. There will be no fiscal impact on county or local revenue and expenditures.
METHODOLOGY:
The Department of Administrative Services states this bill, requiring the agency to provide access to electronic files without a copying charge, would require the Department to make its information systems available to the public for viewing upon request. The Department indicates providing public access to electronic records in a manner that would protect the integrity of the Department’s systems and records would require the Department to make electronic copies of the electronic records. The copied records would be placed on a stand-alone computer on a closed system. This would protect the information systems from the risks of file corruption, access to confidential information, viruses, and tampering with or loss of data. The Department assumes other state agencies would have similar requirements in order to protect their systems and records. The Department states it would be required to either purchase additional computer hardware and software licenses or reassign existing in-use hardware and software licenses. The Department assumes it would incur additional labor costs associated with creating and supporting a publicly available workstation. The Department would still be required to review and redact certain information in accordance with RSA 91-A prior to making records available to the public. The Department states the costs associated with the bill are indeterminable and would vary with the number of requests, the material requested and the mechanism used for providing the information.
The Department of Justice states this bill would amend RSA 91-A to prohibit public bodies from charging for the inspection, without copying, of documents, and for delivery of governmental records that are stored and delivered in electronic form without copying to or from paper or to another separate storage medium. The Department indicates this is generally consistent with the current Department of Justice practice and any fiscal impact due to the loss of revenue would not exceed $10,000.
The New Hampshire Association of Counties does not expect any fiscal impact to the counties from this bill as amended.
The New Hampshire Municipal Association states this bill does not represent a significant change in existing law therefore it should not have a significant impact on local revenue or expenditures.