History of New Hampshire- Public Record Laws
New Hampshire is one of the original 13 colonies located in the New England region of the U.S. and was admitted to the union on June 21st 1788, making it the 9th to gain statehood. Named the Granite state due to its early economy of natural resources, tourism such as skiers from southern states make up today’s leading revenues. With a population of 1,316,470 it is the 41st most populous state and and 46th largest in territory with over 9,300 square miles.
The state of New Hampshire has 3 branches of governments that comprise of the executive, legislative and the judicial branch. The executive branch is headed by the governor, a 5 member executive council and the state’s agencies. Directors of agencies are appointed by the governor and council members. The legislative branch is made of 2 chambers that include the house of representatives with 400 members and the senate with 24 members making it the second largest legislature in the U.S after the U.S. congress. Another name used to describe the legislature is the general court of New Hampshire. The judicial branch is the state’s court system. Courts in New Hampshire serve in 4 levels, the state’s supreme court being the highest and hearing appeals from lower courts, the county level superior courts with general jurisdiction over trials, district courts with presiding over smaller cases and small claims courts.
There are 10 counties and 234 towns and cities in New Hampshire. The provincial act of April 29, 1769 initially divided areas into 5 counties. Counties play a vital role as an extension of the state government. Counties elect a sheriff, operate prisons and other citizen services governed by county commissioners. However, local cities and towns perform most governments functions to its residents. Cities and towns include police departments, tax collectors, commissions, committees and departments with town clerks and managers.
The New Hampshire open records and meeting laws were enacted to make the agencies of all levels in the state transparent to its residents. Anyone without being required to show a purpose can request records held by government agencies with some exceptions for reasons of confidentiality and personal information. Many open record request are made by reporters looking to uncover internal information or concerned citizens in New Hampshire that are looking into possible abuses, operations, budgets, elections and meetings. One of the primary functions of governments were to record documents and information. As governments are custodians of many records, residents request information for reasons other than oversight. Open record laws extend to information being held by agencies such as the department of state division of vital records administration which provide marriage, divorce, birth and death certificates. The New Hampshire department of public safety provides criminal history background checks. A resident can view, copy and obtain property records, court cases and filings.
NewHamshirePublicRecord.com specializes in listing best site to obtain records. We strive to find sites containing instructions, instant searches, direct access to online databanks, forms and the simplest way to obtain records. By browsing a free portal to public records, you can see which agencies are the custodian of the information you are seeking.