NH considers fines for open meeting law violations

Print More

Public officials and employees could find refusing to adhere to New Hampshire’s Right-to-Know Law a costly experience under a proposed law change.

Lawmakers are considering strengthening penalties for bad faith violations of the law that especially target individuals. They could be hit with court costs and fines of between $250 and $1,000.

Representative Jim Splaine is a longtime advocate of a strong open meetings law. Splaine isn’t sure the penalties are a good thing. He thinks fining individuals could discourage people from serving on boards and commissions.

But Representative Shawn Jasper believes officials need to be held more accountable. He thinks New Hampshire needs an even stronger prohibition against violators, such as a "three strikes" provision that removes them from office for repeat offenses.

Comments are closed.