relative to authorizing the commissioner of the department of education to issue subpoenas.

This bill would authorize the New Hampshire Department of Education commissioner to issue subpoenas to investigate specific serious misconduct allegations against licensed educators. The commissioner could use these legal orders to compel individuals to appear for questioning or to produce documents and other items in cases involving sexual or physical assault, drug possession, failure to report abuse, and other violations of educator codes of conduct. The legislation also adds a provision stating that records from these investigations and related closed hearings would be exempt from public access under state open records laws. Additionally, the bill sets specific rules for how subpoenas must be served, including different timeframes for compliance depending on whether the recipient is a licensee or a non-licensee.