The New Hampshire Senate Judiciary committee will take up two bills Tuesday that take differing stances on how far the public’s right to know extends into the conduct of law enforcement.
Senate Bill 39, sponsored by Republican Sen. Sharon Carson, would modify the state’s Right to Know law to shield all law enforcement personnel records and files related to internal investigations from public view.
The bill comes less than a year after a landmark state Supreme Court case that found such records were not categorically exempt under current law. The ruling, which overturned a 25-year precedent, found “only a narrow set of governmental records, namely those pertaining to an agency’s internal rules and practices governing operations and employee relations” should be automatically exempt from disclosure.
The justices found that trial court judges should perform a balancing test in each case, weighing the public’s interest in the material against the privacy rights of the public employees.
The Senate Judiciary Committee will also take up Senate Bill 41, sponsored by Republican Senators Harold French and John Reagan, which seeks to broaden public access to law enforcement oversight processes.
The measure would make disciplinary hearings before the state’s Police Standards and Training Council open to the public, though parties could request portions of any hearing be closed in certain circumstances.
The hearings will be conducted remotely Tuesday beginning at 1:15 pm, with a livestream provided to the public.
