NH bill would require vaccine association to publish recordings, association warns mandate would raise costs

Representative Barbara Comtoire, sponsor of House Bill 233, told the House Executive Departments and Administration Committee that the bill seeks “more transparency in our government” by requiring the New Hampshire Vaccine Association to make meeting recordings and question-and-answer exchanges publicly available and by establishing a physical meeting location for in-person attendance.

Comtoire (Representative Barbara Comtoire, Belknap 7) said the measure would add two items to the underlying bill so “the public can review” meetings after they occur and also receive a complete list of vaccines and pharmaceutical products purchased by the association. “Whether you’re for them or against them, we need to let it be transparent so that we can gain the public trust,” she told the committee.

The association’s executive director, Patrick Miller, and the group’s outside counsel, Mark McHugh of Hinckley Allen, opposed the measure at the hearing. Miller said the association is a not-for-profit voluntary corporation formed under RSA…