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![handle is hein.sag/sagnh0020 and id is 1 raw text is: ATTORNEY GENERAL
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
33 CAPITOL STREET
CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE 03301-6397
MICHAEL A. DELANEY 11 - o
ATTORNEY GENERAL
June 29, 2011
Honorable William L. O'Brien
Speaker of the House
New Hampshire House of Representatives
State House
Concord, NH 03301-4988
Re: Request for Opinion regarding Legislative E-Mail
Dear Speaker O'Brien:
I am writing in response to your letter dated April 15, 2011, a copy of which is attached
hereto. In your letter, pursuant to RSA 7:71, you request an opinion as to whether an e-mail
sent to or received by a legislator via a legislative e-mail address constitutes a 'governmental
record' as defined by RSA 91-A:1-a, III.
As a preliminary matter, I am mindful that your request asks me to opine generally on the
applicability of the Right-to-Know law to unidentified emails of individual legislators. The New
Hampshire Supreme Court has determined that the Right-to-Know law's applicability to the
legislature, as least with respect to open meetings, merely codifies internal legislative procedural
rules. Statutory questions that pertain to internal legislative procedural rules are subject to the
complete control and discretion of the Legislature. See Hughes v. Speaker ofthe New
Hampshire House ofRepresentatives et. al., 152 N.H. 276, 284-288 (2005) (Right-to-Know law
merely establishes a rule of procedure concerning how the legislature has decided to conduct its
business, unless the procedure is mandated by the constitution). [E]ach branch of each
successive Legislature may proceed to make rules without seeking the concurrence or approval
of the other branch, or of the executive, and without being bound by action taken by an earlier
Legislature. The legislature, alone, 'has complete control and discretion whether it shall observe,
enforce, waive, suspend or disregard its own rules of procedure.' Id. at 284 (citations omitted).
As such, while we are happy to respond to your request for an opinion regarding the statute
generally, to the extent we opine regarding procedures adopted by the General Court for the
conduct of its own business within the parameters of its constitutional authority, we do so with
RSA 7:7 states the attorney general shall, when required by either branch of the general court, give his opinion
upon any question of law submitted to him therefrom.
Telephone 603-271-3658 * FAX 603-271-2110 * TDD Access: Relay NH 1-800-735-2964](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.sag/sagnh0020&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)