New Hampshire's law is RSA chapter 91-A, and section 91-A:4 gives every citizen, during the regular business hours of a public body or agency and on its regular business premises, the right to inspect all governmental records in its possession, custody or control, including the minutes of meetings, and to copy them or make memoranda and abstracts. To copy is defined broadly as reproduction by whatever method, including photography, photostatic copy, printing, or electronic or tape recording, so a requester with a phone camera is exercising a statutory right rather than asking a favour. After a meeting, the same right extends to the notes, materials, tapes and other sources used to compile the minutes.
Two provisions deal with the electronic age. Records created or kept in electronic form must be retained for the same periods as their paper counterparts and must remain accessible, and an electronic record stops being disclosable only once it has been initially and legally deleted, meaning it is no longer readily accessible to the body itself; moving a file to a deleted items folder or similar location does not count. Against that, nothing in the chapter requires a body to compile, cross reference or assemble information into a form in which it is not already kept or reported. For New Hampshire records held locally, see the New Hampshire county pages.
- Immediately, or five business days: records immediately available are produced at once; otherwise the body has five business days to produce, refuse, or explain with a date and a cost estimate.
- Inspection is always free: no cost or fee may be charged for inspecting or delivering records without copying, in paper, electronic or any other form.
- Two hundred and fifty free emails: per communication charges apply only above that number and may not exceed a dollar each, with threads counted as single communications.
- Twenty five dollars to complain: an aggrieved party may petition the superior court or file with the Right to Know Ombudsman, who can order disclosure.
Written by SearchSystems.net from New Hampshire's own systems: RSA 91-A:4, minutes and records available for public inspection, RSA 91-A:7-b, the complaint process, the New Hampshire Law Library guide to the Right to Know Law, a state request form under RSA 91-A, each read on October 15, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
Five business days, and the three allowed answers
On a request for any governmental record reasonably described, the body must make it available for inspection and copying where the record is immediately available, or, where the record has already been uploaded to a website under the municipal posting statute, provide the domain name of that site. Where the body cannot make the record available immediately, paragraph IV(b) gives it five business days to do one of three things: make the record available, deny the request, or provide a written statement of the time reasonably necessary to determine whether the request will be granted or denied and the reason for the delay, together with an itemised estimate of the cost of making the record available where a charge would be incurred.
The third option is the one agencies use most, and the statute requires both parts of it, a reason and an itemised estimate, not simply a holding note. A denial in whole or in part must give a written statement of the specific exemption authorising the withholding and a brief explanation of how that exemption applies to the record withheld.
What is free, and what a copy costs
Paragraph IV(d) draws a sharp line. Where the body's own computer, photocopier or other device is used to copy a record, the requester may be charged the actual cost of providing the copy. But no cost or fee may be charged for the inspection or delivery, without copying, of governmental records, whether in paper, electronic or other form, apart from the electronic communications charge described below. Where another law already fixes a fee for a particular copy, that fee applies and nothing may be added on top.
A body may suggest a reasonable modification of the scope of a request where that would let it produce the records more efficiently and affordably, which is a suggestion rather than a condition.
The electronic communications charge, and how threads are counted
Paragraph VIII, in its current form, allows a reasonable per communication charge in addition to the actual copying cost for requests covering more than two hundred and fifty electronic communications, capped at one dollar per communication, and chargeable whether the records are delivered on paper or electronically. No charge at all may be incurred for the first two hundred and fifty. The counting rules matter as much as the rate: attachments count as part of a single communication, emails and responses under a single subject line count as one communication, and text or chat message threads on the same topic count as one communication unless they exceed fifty individual messages, after which each further group of fifty counts as one more.
Multiple requests from the same person or entity to the same body within a thirty day period are treated as one request. Every body must adopt a policy making its practice transparent, uniform and consistent, including the waiver provision. Where a requester believes the estimated cost is unreasonable, or that a waiver was improperly refused, they may seek a determination under the complaint process, the burden is on the public body to establish that the cost is reasonable, and the determination must be made within ten business days.
Who gets the charges waived
Paragraph IX requires a body to waive the per communication charge for search or retrieval where the requester is an indigent individual as established by the federal poverty line, or where disclosure of the information is in the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations or activities of government and is not primarily in the requester's commercial interest. Media requestors are excepted from the commercial interest limitation, and the statute defines them as organisations or individuals who publish information in accepted digital, print or broadcast formats to standards generally recognised by professional news organisations, and that do not serve primarily as a platform to promote the interests or opinions of a special interest group, government, individual or cause.
The ombudsman, for twenty five dollars
Since 2022 an aggrieved party has had a choice under RSA 91-A:7-b: petition the superior court, or file a signed written complaint with the Right to Know Ombudsman together with a twenty five dollar fee, which the ombudsman may waive on a finding of inability to pay. The complaint should attach the request served on the public agency and its written response, and is sufficient if it states facts constituting a violation. Once the complaint reaches the body it has twenty calendar days to acknowledge and answer, including the applicable law and any justification for refusing or delaying, extendable for good cause.
The ombudsman's powers are substantial: compelling timely delivery of records within not less than fourteen and not more than thirty days unless an expedited hearing is warranted, conducting confidential in camera review where necessary, compelling interviews with the parties, ordering attendance at hearings, issuing written findings, ordering a body to disclose records or otherwise comply subject to appeal, and making any finding or ordering any remedy a court could under RSA 91-A:8.
Negative inferences may be drawn from a party that fails to participate or comply with orders. A ruling is due within thirty calendar days after the deadline for the parties' submissions, extendable for good cause, or within ten business days on an expedited complaint. Records given to the ombudsman stay confidential, are exempt from disclosure during the review and are returned when it ends, and nothing in the section stops a person going to the superior court instead.
Two New Hampshire particulars
Severance is public. Records of any payment made to an employee of a covered body, or to the employee's agent or designee, on resignation, discharge or retirement, paid in addition to regular salary and accrued vacation, sick or other leave, must immediately be made available without alteration for public inspection, and that applies even where the matter was considered or acted on in nonpublic session. Settlements are public too, and for a long time: every agreement settling a lawsuit against a governmental unit, a threatened lawsuit or other claim, entered into by a political subdivision or its insurer, must be kept on file at the municipal clerk's office and made available for public inspection for at least ten years from the date of settlement.
One protection runs the other way, encouraging bodies to release rather than withhold: a body is not liable in damages for disclosing exempt information where it acted in good faith to redact, including by using automated redaction software together with spot checks, unless it acted in a wanton or reckless manner.
Questions about public records requests in New Hampshire
Related New Hampshire records
New Hampshire's other public records guides on this site are the New Hampshire background check guide for the State Police criminal record service, the New Hampshire court records guide for the judicial branch case access, the New Hampshire arrest records guide for what a booking makes public, and the New Hampshire county pages for every county office.