Revision: May 15, 2024, 1:14 p.m.
Senate Judiciary
May 14, 2024
2024-1966s
05/02
Amendment to HB 1069
Amend the bill by replacing section 2 with the following:
2 Minutes and Records Available for Public Inspection; Electronic Record Requests. Amend RSA 91-A:4, I to read as follows:
I. [Every citizen] Any person during the regular or business hours of all public bodies or agencies, and on the regular business premises of such public bodies or agencies, has the right to inspect all governmental records in the possession, custody, or control of such public bodies or agencies, including minutes of meetings of the public bodies, and to copy and make memoranda or abstracts of the records or minutes so inspected, except as otherwise prohibited by statute or RSA 91-A:5. In this section, "to copy" means the reproduction of original records by whatever method, including, but not limited to photography, photostatic copy, printing, or electronic or tape recording.
Amend the bill by inserting after section 3 the following and renumbering the original sections 4-5 to read as 5-6, respectively:
4 New Paragraph; Access to Governmental Records and Meetings; Minutes and Records Available for Public Inspection. Amend RSA 91-A:4 by inserting after paragraph V the following new paragraph:
V-a.(a) Any person may request governmental records electronically or by mail without physically appearing at the regular business premises of public bodies or agencies to request governmental records.
(b) At the election of the person requesting the records, the public body or agency shall provide such records electronically or by mail without requiring the person's physical appearance at its business premises to receive delivery of the records. If the person requests that the records be provided by mail, the public body or agency may charge the person the cost of postage. No charge shall be made for records delivered electronically.
(c) The public body or agency shall not be required to provide records electronically in a format other than the format under which the public body or agency regularly maintains such records, unless the application, program, or format in which the records are stored or accessed is capable of producing the records into a standard or common file format, in which case the public body or agency shall provide the records in the standard or common file format requested.
(d) The public body or agency shall not be required to provide records electronically if it lacks the technological capability to do so, if doing so would be unduly burdensome, or if doing so would compromise the security of its record-keeping system.