New Hampshire Legislative Service Requests (LSR's)

HB 1080 - AS INTRODUCED

2024 SESSION

24-2354

11/08

HOUSE BILL 1080

AN ACT relative to the legislative youth advisory council.

SPONSORS: Rep. J. Nelson, Rock. 13; Rep. DeSimone, Rock. 18; Sen. Lang, Dist 2; Sen. Birdsell, Dist 19

COMMITTEE: Legislative Administration

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ANALYSIS

This bill refines existing practices and procedures of the legislative youth advisory council.

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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

24-2354

11/08

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty Four

AN ACT relative to the legislative youth advisory council.

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

1 Legislative Youth Advisory Council. RSA 19-K is repealed and reenacted to read as follows:

19-K:1 Legislative Youth Advisory Council Established. A legislative youth advisory council is established to examine issues of importance to youth, such as education, employment, strategies to increase youth participation in local and state government, safe environments for youth, substance abuse, emotional and physical health, foster care, poverty, homelessness, and youth access to state and local services. The council shall advise the legislature on these issues and shall submit an annual report with any recommendations for future legislation.

19-K:2 Application and Membership. The council shall consist of 22 members, one of whom shall be a member of the house of representatives and one of whom shall be a member of the senate. The remaining 20 members shall be between the ages of 14 and 22, and either secondary students or postsecondary youth. Secondary students may attend a public, charter, or private school, be home schooled, or be enrolled in a program that leads to a high school equivalency certificate. Postsecondary youth may attend a 2 or 4 year New Hampshire college, university, private post secondary career school, or other New Hampshire training or education program, or be a member of the New Hampshire workforce.

I. Prospective youth members of the council must submit an application to be considered for appointment. Current members seeking reappointment must also submit a new application at the end of their term. This application may be physical or digital. If primarily digital, a physical copy shall be made available upon request. The application period to fill vacancies left from the end of a council year shall be from June 1 to August 1. The application must include:

(a) The student’s legal first name and surname;

(b) The student’s age;

(d) Email address;

(e) Phone number;

(f) Education status, including grade level when applicable;

(g) Extracurricular, leadership, and volunteer activities;

(h) A brief essay explaining why the applicant wants to join or be reappointed to the council. The exact length allowed shall be at the discretion of the co-chairs, but shall not exceed 1,000 words;

(i) A disclosure of any personal relationship that an applicant may have with any of the appointing officers, a member of their office or staff, or their immediate families;

(j) Any additional criteria the council deems necessary.

II. The application shall be created and maintained by the co-chairs. Responses shall be collected by the co-chairs who shall submit them all to the appointing authorities by August 5. The appointing authorities must have appointments confirmed within 30 days of their receipt of the applications. The offices of the appointing authorities shall coordinate to avoid duplicate appointments. An appointing officer with a disclosed relationship with an applicant under paragraph I, subparagraph (i) is prohibited from appointing that applicant. This information shall not be included on the applications submitted to the appointing authorities and the co-chairs shall not submit applications with disclosed relationships to that office. Should a relationship not be disclosed and later discovered, the co-chairs may request a replacement member, by which the appointing officer must abide. The council may choose whether or not to allow the application to remain open throughout the council year to fill any potential vacancies that open or to allow any such vacancies to be filled from the existing pool. If the application period is allowed to remain open, new applications shall be shared by the co-chairs with the appointing authorities as they are received. The offices of the authorities shall keep and maintain all applications until the end of the council year. The department of education shall make all public and public charter secondary schools, as well as all public post-secondary institutions, aware of the council. Guidance counselors, administrators, and social studies teachers shall ensure students are able to learn about the council and other civic education and engagement opportunities.

III. The president of the senate shall appoint the following 7 members:

(a) Four secondary students.

(b) Two postsecondary youth.

IV. The speaker of the house of representatives shall appoint the following 8 members:

(a) Four secondary students.

(b) Three postsecondary youth.

V. The governor shall appoint the following 4 members:

(a) Two secondary students.

(b) One postsecondary youth.

(c) One secondary student member of the governor’s youth advisory council on substance misuse and prevention, elected by the membership of said council, to serve as a non-voting, advisory liaison member between the two councils. This member shall not be required to submit an application.

VI. The secretary of state shall appoint the following 3 members:

(a) Two secondary students.

(b) One postsecondary youth.

VII. If there are not enough applicants to fill either the secondary or postsecondary positions under paragraph III, IV, V, or VI, the appropriate appointing authority shall fill those positions with other applicants, regardless of their secondary or post-secondary status.

VIII. The appointing authorities shall make appointments that foster geographic, socioeconomic, and ideological diversity among council members, while maintaining a primary focus on merit. The legislative members of the council shall serve a term coterminous with their term in office. Non-legislative members shall serve 2-year terms and may be reappointed. Except for legislative members, no member shall serve on the council for more than 4 years. The council year shall begin on September 1 and end on August 31 of the following year.

IX. If a member misses 3 consecutive meetings, without cause, the council may request that the appointing authority appoint a replacement member. Upon appointment of the replacement, the prior appointment shall terminate and the replacement shall serve for the remainder of the prior member's term. Members may be allowed to join an in-person meeting remotely at the discretion of the co-chairs.

X. A member shall not attend two consecutive in-person meetings remotely without cause or the second shall be considered a missed meeting. If a meeting is on a school day, the legislative co-chair shall write letters to school administrators excusing the students’ absences. The legislative co-chair may also write school excusal letters for other duties of the council, including testifying on legislation or other events deemed relevant to members’ duties.

19-K:3 Duties. The council shall:

I. Advise the legislature, the president of the senate, and the speaker of the house of representatives on proposed or pending legislation, state budget expenditures, and policy matters of concern to youth.

II. Advise the joint standing committees of the legislature and legislative study committees, commissions, and task forces on issues of concern to youth.

III. Conduct an annual seminar for council members regarding leadership, government, and the legislature within 30 days of receiving the final appointments of the council year. This seminar shall include a tour of the state house and an explanation of the legislative process and parliamentary procedure. The appointing officers shall attempt to be present for a portion of the seminar to meet their appointees and to answer questions. Members shall take the oath of office as described in part 2, article 84 of the constitution of the state of New Hampshire upon assuming their positions on the council at this seminar. The oath shall be administered by either the governor, the senate president, the speaker of the house of representatives, or the legislative co-chair, in that order, based on the attendance of each officer.

IV. Meet no fewer than 4 times per year on issues of importance to youth as the council deems necessary. At least two of these meetings shall be in person. No more than half of the meetings in a council year may be remote. To qualify toward the 4-meeting threshold, the meeting must have a quorum of youth members present. At the discretion of the co-chairs, regional subcommittees may be established.

V. Communicate with other councils and committees, including, but not limited to, house and senate committees, the state board of education, the governor’s youth advisory council on substance misuse and prevention, other New Hampshire youth advisory councils as formed, and other states’ youth advisory councils.

VI. File an annual report of its activities, including any recommendations for proposed legislation, on or before November 1 of each year with the speaker of the house, the senate president, the governor, the secretary of state, the house clerk, and the state library.

19-K:4 Council Administration.

I. The council member from the house of representatives shall serve as the co-chair of the council and shall call the first meeting of the council. At the first meeting after the annual seminar, the members shall elect council officers, including one youth member who shall serve as co-chair of the council for a term of one year. The legislative members shall not hold a vote, except for the member from the house of representatives, who shall, as legislative co-chair, decide any votes that are evenly divided. Prior to leaving office, council officers shall submit transactional documents to their successor through the legislative co-chair.

II. The council shall organize itself into subcommittees that shall research and explore policy topics and bills of importance to youth and make recommendations to the council at large to vote upon. The topics of the subcommittees shall decided on by the membership. An education subcommittee is mandatory. The size of a subcommittee shall not meet or exceed quorum. Each subcommittee shall be administered by a chair who shall report directly to the council co-chairs or their designee. Subcommittee chairs must be in good standing with council attendance to serve.

III. The council shall set priorities, determine the function of any subcommittees, and adopt procedures and rules governing the council's meetings and activities.

IV. The council may provide testimony on legislation pending before the legislature.

V. Members of the council shall not be compensated, except that legislative members of the council shall receive mileage at the legislative rate when attending to the duties of the council.

VI. Meetings of the council shall be open to the public, and all records of the council shall be public records. A complete archive of the council's records shall be kept in the house clerk's office.

VII. The council shall have 2 delegates as non-voting student members on the New Hampshire state board of education. One of these members shall be the chair of the education subcommittee and the other shall be elected by the membership. Members elected to the board positions must be in good standing with council attendance to serve. These members shall be responsible for coordinating education policy between the two bodies and serve as representatives and advocates of New Hampshire’s students at the state level. If a member misses 2 consecutive board meetings, without cause, the co-chairs may remove the member from the position and hold a new election among the membership. The youth board members shall be excluded from discussions and procedures of the board of education involving subjects which are confidential under RSA 91-A.

VIII. The office of the speaker of the house of representatives and the office of the senate president shall provide reasonable staff assistance to the council as requested by the co-chairs. Such assistance may include, but is not limited to:

(a) Scheduling meetings and putting them in the house and senate calendars;

(b) Reserving rooms in the legislative office building for meetings;

(d) Creating a website or page on the general court website for the council;

(e) Coordinating contact between the council or individual members and legislators on policy proposals or pieces of legislation.

2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect upon its passage.