HB 425-FN-A-LOCAL – AS AMENDED BY THE HOUSE
06Jan2010…2009-2383h
03Mar2010… 0650h
2009 SESSION
01/03
HOUSE BILL 425-FN-A-LOCAL
AN ACT relative to remedies under the right-to-know law.
SPONSORS: Rep. J. Garrity, Rock 6; Rep. Casey, Rock 11; Rep. Osborne, Merr 12; Rep. Watrous, Merr 12
AMENDED ANALYSIS
This bill clarifies the remedies for violations of the right-to-know law.
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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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
06Jan2010…2009-2383h
03Mar2010… 0650h
09-0520
01/03
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Nine
AN ACT relative to remedies under the right-to-know law.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Right-to-Know Law; Remedies. RSA 91-A:8 is repealed and reenacted to read as follows:
91-A:8 Remedies.
I. If any public body or public agency or officer, employee, or other official thereof, violates any provisions of this chapter, such public body or public agency shall be liable for reasonable attorney’s fees and costs incurred in a lawsuit under this chapter, provided that the court finds that such lawsuit was necessary in order to enforce compliance with the provisions of this chapter. Fees shall not be awarded unless the court finds that the public body, public agency, or person knew or should have known that the conduct engaged in was in violation of this chapter. Fees also shall not be awarded if the parties, by agreement, provide that no such fees shall be paid.
II. The court may award attorney’s fees to a public body or public agency or employee or member thereof, for having to defend against a person’s lawsuit under the provisions of this chapter, when the court finds that the lawsuit is frivolous or in bad faith.
III. The court shall invalidate an action of a public body taken at a meeting held in violation of the provisions of this chapter, unless the court makes a specific finding that the circumstances do not justify such invalidation.
IV. If the court finds that an officer, employee, or other official of a public body or public agency has violated this chapter in bad faith, the court may impose against such person a civil penalty of not more than $1,000. Upon such finding, such person or persons may also be required to reimburse the public body or public agency for any attorney’s fees or costs it paid pursuant to paragraph I unless the person or persons involved resign their office. For the purposes of this paragraph, a finding of bad faith shall mean that the officer, employee, or other official violated this chapter knowingly and without adequate justification.
V. The court may enjoin future violations of this chapter, and may require any officer, employee, or other official of a public body or public agency found to have violated the provisions of this chapter to undergo appropriate remedial training.
2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect January 1, 2011.
LBAO
09-0520
Amended 01/27/10
HB 425 FISCAL NOTE
AN ACT relative to remedies under the right-to-know law and continually appropriating a special fund.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The Department of Justice states this bill, as amended by the House (Amendment #2009-2383h), will increase state resticted revenues and expenditures by an indeterminable amount in FY 2011 and each year thereafter. This bill may increase state expenditures by an indeterminable amount in FY 2011 and each year thereafter. There will be no fiscal impact on county and local revenues or expenditures.
METHODOLOGY:
The Department of Justice states this bill authorizes a civil penalty against an officer, employee, or other official of a public body of not more than $1,000 for violating the law in bad faith. The penalties would be paid into a non-lapsing right-to-know remedies fund to be used by the Department for state, local, or regional remedial training programs deemed appropriate to receive such funding. The Department anticipates to draft and create a statewide training program will require 500 hours of time (25 percent of full-time equivalent) for an assistant attorney general in the first year of the program. Thereafter the program will require approximately 50 hours of an assistant attorney general (2.5 percent of full-time equivalent) annually to update the training.
The Department states it is not possible to estimate the number of violations. Therefore, the Department cannot estimate whether the increase in state restricted revenues and expenditures from the right-to-know fund will offset all training costs. The Department assumes training costs not offset by the right-to-know fund will increase state general fund expenditures.