New Hampshire HB 1408: prohibiting public disclosure of personal information on the Internet by an elected official.

Bill Text

HB 1408-FN - AS INTRODUCED

2026 SESSION

 26-3077

 09/06

HOUSE BILL 1408-FN

AN ACT prohibiting public disclosure of personal information on the Internet by an elected official.

SPONSORS: Rep. A. Murray, Hills. 20; Rep. Hegner, Hills. 41; Rep. Haskins, Rock. 11; Rep. C. Harvey, Ches. 6; Rep. Manohar, Hills. 9; Rep. Lucas, Graf. 7; Rep. Lovett, Graf. 8; Rep. Vail, Hills. 6; Rep. O'Rorke, Ches. 7

COMMITTEE: Criminal Justice and Public Safety

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ANALYSIS

 This bill creates a misdemeanor offense for an elected official to publicly disclose on the Internet personal information of a constituent with the intent to harass.

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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.

 Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]

 Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

 26-3077

 09/06

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty-Six

AN ACT prohibiting public disclosure of personal information on the Internet by an elected official.

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

 1 New Section; Abuse of Office; Public Disclosure of Personal Information on the Internet by an Elected Official. Amend RSA 643 by inserting after section 2 the following new section:

 643:3 Public Disclosure of Personal Information on the Internet by an Elected Official.

 I. For purposes of this section:

 (a) “Personal information" means the name or any part thereof, home address or any part thereof, city or unincorporated area of residence, age, marital status, relationship to the elected official, race or ethnic background, telephone number, personal mobile telephone number, pager number, personal e-mail address, social media accounts or profiles, online identifiers, contact information, or a personal photograph or video of a constituent; directions to the home of a constituent; current or former employers of a constituent; current or former educational systems in which a constituent is enrolled; or photographs or videos of the home or vehicle of a constituent.

 (b) Of a “harassing nature” means of a nature that a reasonable person would consider as seriously alarming, seriously annoying, seriously tormenting, or seriously terrorizing of the person and that serves no legitimate purpose.

 (c) “Online identifiers” means any personally identifying information or signifiers that would tie an individual to a particular electronic service, device, or Internet application, website, or platform account, including, but not limited to, access names, access codes, account names, aliases, avatars, credentials, gamer tags, display names, handles, login names, member names, online identities, pseudonyms, screen names, user accounts, user identifications, usernames, Uniform Resource Locators (URLs), domain names, Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, and media access control (MAC) addresses.

 II. An elected official is guilty of a misdemeanor if the elected official knowingly makes the personal information of a constituent, or a constituent’s immediate family, publicly available on the Internet:

 (a) With the intent to threaten, intimidate, or incite the commission of a crime of violence against that person; or

 (b) With the intent and knowledge that the personal information will be used to threaten, intimidate, or facilitate the commission of a crime of violence against that person.

 III. An elected official who is convicted for a violation of paragraph II shall be fined not more than $500 or confined in jail for not more than one year, or both.

 IV.(a) A constituent may submit a written request to a state or local government official to remove personal information from records that are available on the Internet. If a state or local government receives the written request, then the state or local government official shall not knowingly make available on the Internet personal information about the constituent or the constituent’s immediate family. A constituent’s written request to a state or local government official to remove records that the official makes available on the Internet shall include:

 (1) Evidence that the person submitting the request is a constituent of said elected official; and

 (2) An affirmation stating under penalty of perjury that the person submitting the request has reason to believe that the dissemination of the personal information contained in the records that the official makes available on the Internet poses an imminent and serious threat to the person’s safety or wellbeing, or the safety or wellbeing of the person’s immediate family.

 (b) Falsification of the evidence proffered to satis