Testimony on bill that paves way for digital access to RTK docs set for Wednesday

Inset, Strafford 3 Rep David Bickford, sponsor of HB 1696

Editor's note: This is one in an occasional series focusing on The Rochester Voice v. City of Rochester complaint over the city's refusal to honor digital Right to Know requests made by The Rochester Voice. The city of Rochester contends it doesn't have to comply with such requests, because Rochester Voice editor Harrison Thorp is not a New Hampshire citizen.

Testimony from the public and legislators on two bills seeking to amend the state's Right to Know law will occur Wednesday at the State House in Concord, including one that will mandate that digital request for Right to Know documents must be honored by municipalities.
House Bill 1696, sponsored by Strafford 3 Rep. David Bickford, R-New Durham, would "clarify a public body or agency's ability to accept record requests by electronic means and to provide such records electronically."
The Right to Know law, as it reads now, says that every citizen may show up during regular business hours and request to inspect documents held by the government or governmental agencies.
What Bickford proposes is that digital requests and delivery by the government to the requestor be also honored. His addendum to the RTK includes that "Nothing in this section shall prevent the public body or agency from accepting a governmental record request by electronic means or from providing such records electronically, without requiring the physical appearance of the citizen making the request."
Meanwhile, several municipalities around the state - including Rochester - along with the New Hampshire Municipal Association are spouting a narrative that says the requestor must show up in person at the department or agency.
Bickford says that policy is more inefficient, more time consuming and more convoluted than it need be.
The Rochester Voice found that out last month when after being told by City of Rochester attorney Terence O'Rourke to show up in person to request RTK documents, editor Harrison Thorp drove to the city's DPW at 209 Chestnut Hill Road to ask for documents only to be asked to put the request in an email and send it to Deputy DPW Director Lisa Clark, who forwarded the request to O'Rourke.
Thorp contends that it would've been far more efficient, far more "Green," and far more respectful for O'Rourke to have simply allowed The Rochester Voice to email the RTK request directly to him eliminating the rigamarole.
Bickford believes actions like this erode citizens' trust in government and is taking us back to the days of horse and buggy technology wise.
"Transparency in government is critical for a free society to thrive," he told The Rochester Voice last month. "We especially learned that during the Vietnam Conflict. We the people had a lot of information withheld from us then. It was at this time the Freedom of Information Act was created and in New Hampshire the Right to Know Law known as RSA 91-A. At that time most documentation was on paper. Today most of it is stored electronically or can be easily scanned and sent with the click on a computer the taxpayers have bought."
"Digital RTK compliance is easier for both the requestor and the municipality and was being done in many municipalities until the New Hampshire Municipal Association told municipalities to stop," Bickford said.