This bill mandates that public bodies must periodically review the minutes of meetings that were held in nonpublic session to decide if they should remain confidential. Specifically, it introduces a new requirement for public bodies to assess, at least every 10 years, whether the reasons for initially withholding the minutes from public disclosure under RSA 91-A:3, III still apply. If a public body does not have an established procedure for this review, they must create one and conduct the review by a majority vote within the 10-year timeframe. If the circumstances justifying confidentiality no longer exist, the minutes must be released to the public.

The bill also stipulates that if the minutes have not been reviewed within 10 years, they will automatically be made available for public disclosure. This includes minutes that were kept from the public prior to the effective date of this new legislation. The act was approved on August 4, 2023, and will become effective on October 3, 2023. There are no specific insertions or deletions from the current law mentioned in the provided text, but the bill adds a new paragraph to RSA 91-A:3, which deals with nonpublic session minutes.

Statutes affected:
Introduced: 91-A:3
As Amended by the Senate: 91-A:3
Version adopted by both bodies: 91-A:3
CHAPTERED FINAL VERSION: 91-A:3