Revision: Nov. 9, 2023, 11 a.m.
2024 SESSION
24-2582.0
11/08
HOUSE BILL [bill number]
AN ACT limiting conflicts of interest and excessive concentration of power for municipal body members.
SPONSORS: [sponsors]
COMMITTEE: [committee]
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
ANALYSIS
This bill limits conflicts of interest and excessive concentration of power for municipal body members.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
24-2582.0
11/08
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty Four
AN ACT limiting conflicts of interest and excessive concentration of power for municipal body members.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Municipal Bodies; Incompatible Offices. Amend RSA 669:7 to read as follows.
669:7 Incompatibility of Offices.
I. [No person shall at the same time hold any 2 of the following offices: selectman, treasurer, moderator, trustee of trust funds, collector of taxes, auditor and highway agent. No person shall at the same time hold any 2 of the following offices: town treasurer, moderator, trustee of trust funds, selectman and head of the town's police department on full-time duty. No person shall at the same time hold the offices of town treasurer and town clerk. No full-time town employee shall at the same time hold the office of selectman. No official handling funds of a town shall at the same time hold the office of auditor. No selectman, moderator, town clerk or inspector of elections shall at the same time serve as a supervisor of the checklist. No selectman, town manager, school board member except a cooperative school board member, full-time town, village district, school district except a cooperative school district, or other associated agency employee or village district commissioner shall at the same time serve as a budget committee member-at-large under RSA 32.] For the purposes of this section, "serving on a municipal body" means holding office or serving on a board of a county, city, town or unincorporated place in a managerial, legally authorized, or advisory capacity, whether elected or appointed, and whether paid or volunteer.
II. No board or committee member serving on any municipal body shall serve simultaneously on more than 2 municipal boards or committees.
III. No member serving on any municipal body shall simultaneously hold office and be appointed to or serve on more than one other volunteer board or committee of that municipality.
IV. No full-time municipal employee or department head shall serve on:
(a) any budget, finance, planning, or zoning board or committee of the same municipality; or
(b) any other board or committee that has jurisdiction over any subject within the scope of their employment responsibilities.
[I-a.] V No person shall at the same time file a declaration of candidacy for any 2 or more elected offices that are incompatible under paragraph I.
[II.] VI [The provisions of paragraph I refer to the actual holding of office, and are not to] The provisions of paragraphs I and II shall not be construed to prevent the transfer between offices of information obtained in the regular conduct of business nor to prevent the personnel in any office from furnishing clerical assistance to any other office.
2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.