New Hampshire Attorney General: Duties, Bureaus, and Complaints

The New Hampshire Attorney General runs the state’s Department of Justice and serves as its chief legal officer, chief law enforcement officer, and chief prosecutor. The office prosecutes homicides, enforces consumer protection and data privacy laws, oversees charitable organizations, protects civil rights, and supports crime victims. Unlike most states, the Attorney General here is appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Executive Council rather than elected.

What the Office Actually Does

The Attorney General has direct supervisory authority over criminal law enforcement across New Hampshire. Under RSA 7:6, the office oversees criminal cases in the supreme and superior courts and works with county attorneys to enforce state criminal law.¹ County prosecutors do not operate independently the way district attorneys do in many other states; the AG sets the standards, and county attorneys follow them.

The office also provides legal counsel to the Governor, state agencies, and the legislature. When an agency needs to interpret a statute, defend a lawsuit, or get constitutional guidance, the Department of Justice handles it through the Civil Law Bureau and the Office of the Solicitor General.

Beyond that advisory role, the DOJ is organized into more than 20 specialized bureaus and units covering areas including consumer protection, antitrust, civil rights, environmental protection, Medicaid fraud, charitable trusts, drug prosecution, cold cases, elder abuse and financial exploitation, and victim and witness assistance.²

Criminal Prosecution Role

One feature sets New Hampshire apart from most states: the Attorney General’s office directly prosecutes all homicides except negligent homicides. The Homicide Bureau handles these cases from the start of the investigation through trial rather than handing them off to local prosecutors.³

The Cold Case Unit extends that work backward in time. It reviews unsolved homicides and suspected homicides at least five years old that have no significant leads and are no longer being actively investigated by the original agency. The unit also looks at missing persons cases and unidentified remains where homicidal violence may have been involved.⁴

The Medicaid Fraud Control Unit investigates and prosecutes healthcare providers who defraud the Medicaid system, including theft by deception and outright provider fraud against Medicaid beneficiaries. In New Hampshire, Medicaid fraud is a class B felony carrying up to seven years in state prison and a $4,000 fine, and theft by deception can be charged as a class A felony carrying up to 15 years.⁵

Filing a Consumer Complaint

The Consumer Protection and Antitrust Bureau enforces RSA 358-A, the state’s Consumer Protection Act, which prohibits unfair and deceptive practices in trade or commerce. Investigations cover telemarketing scams, identity theft, price-fixing, and other corporate conduct that harms consumers or competition. Where the AG finds a violation, the office can seek a court injunction, request restitution for injured consumers, and pursue civil penalties of up to $10,000 per violation.

Filing a complaint is free. Before you start, gather the business’s full name, address, phone number, and the name of any representative you dealt with. Write a chronological account of what happened with exact transaction dates, and attach copies of receipts, contracts, written advertisements, or anything else that supports your claim. Keep your originals and send copies.⁶

You can file online through the Department of Justice portal or mail the completed form to the Consumer Protection and Antitrust Bureau, 33 Capitol Street, Concord, NH 03301.⁷ Online is faster.

After the bureau receives your complaint, it conducts an initial review and typically notifies the business and requests a formal response. The matter may then be referred to the bureau’s voluntary mediation program, where a neutral third party helps both sides try to reach a resolution. Participation and any proposed settlement are optional on both sides. Successful mediation can produce refunds or cancellation of disputed contracts. If mediation fails and the bureau finds evidence of a pattern of illegal activity, formal enforcement action may follow.⁶ Expect several weeks for routine complaints and longer for complex cases.

Data Privacy Rights

The New Hampshire Data Privacy Act (RSA 507-H) took effect on January 1, 2025. The AG’s office created a dedicated Data Privacy Enforcement unit inside the Consumer Protection and Antitrust Bureau to handle it.⁸

You have the right to:

Confirm whether a business is processing your personal data and get a copy of it.
Correct inaccuracies in your personal data.
Request deletion of personal data a business collected about you.
Obtain your data in a portable format you can transfer to another company.
Opt out of targeted advertising, sale of your data, and certain automated profiling.

Businesses must respond within 45 days and can extend by another 45 days if they tell you why. If a business denies your request, it must explain why and tell you how to appeal, then respond to the appeal in writing within 60 days.⁹ You can exercise these rights free of charge at least once every 12 months.¹⁰

Civil Rights Enforcement

The Civil Rights Unit investigates bias-motivated conduct. Under RSA 354-B, the Attorney General can bring a civil action against anyone who subjects a victim to violence, threats of violence, property damage, or trespass motivated by hostility toward the victim’s religion, race, sexual orientation, national origin, or sex. Civil penalties can include fines of up to $5,000 paid to the state, restitution for the victim’s out-of-pocket expenses, and injunctions against future offenses.

Victim Services and the Address Confidentiality Program

The Office of Victim/Witness Assistance, established under RSA 21-M:8-b, supports victims and witnesses in criminal cases prosecuted by the Attorney General. It connects victims with emergency social and medical resources, coordinates with county victim/witness offices and prosecutors, and distributes a crime victims’ rights card summarizing protections under state law.¹¹ Because the AG prosecutes all non-negligent homicides, this unit is involved from the start of a homicide investigation.³

The office also administers the Address Confidentiality Program under RSA 7:43. Victims of domestic violence, stalking, or sexual assault can apply to have the Attorney General’s office serve as their legal mailing address, shielding their actual location from public records. Participants designate the AG as their agent for service of process and mail receipt. Certification lasts four years and can be renewed. Applying with false information is a class B misdemeanor.¹²

Charitable Organization Registration

Any organization holding property for charitable purposes or soliciting charitable donations in New Hampshire falls under the AG’s supervision through the Charitable Trusts Unit. RSA 7:19 directs the Attorney General to maintain a register of all charitable trusts operating in the state and gives the office broad authority to supervise their administration, including trustees, charitable solicitors, and organizations running charitable sales promotions.¹³

Religious organizations holding property for charitable or religious purposes, their integrated auxiliaries, and conventions or associations of churches are exempt, as are government entities.¹³ If you run a nonprofit in New Hampshire that doesn’t fall into one of those categories, registration with the Charitable Trusts Unit is a baseline obligation.

How the Office Is Filled

New Hampshire is one of a handful of states where the Attorney General is appointed rather than elected. The Governor nominates a candidate, the five-member Executive Council votes on confirmation, and the AG then serves a four-year term.¹⁴ The office answers to the executive branch rather than directly to voters.

John Formella has served as Attorney General since April 2021 and was confirmed for a second term under Governor Kelly Ayotte.¹⁵

1
New Hampshire General Court. New Hampshire Code 7:6 – Powers and Duties as State’s Attorney
2
New Hampshire Department of Justice. Bureaus
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New Hampshire Department of Justice. Resources for Homicide Cases
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New Hampshire Department of Justice. New Hampshire Cold Case Unit
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New Hampshire Department of Justice. Conviction of Fawn Gobis for Theft and Medicaid Fraud
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Office of the Attorney General. Consumer Protection and Antitrust Bureau Consumer Complaint Form
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New Hampshire Department of Justice. Consumer Protection and Antitrust Bureau
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New Hampshire Department of Justice. Attorney General Formella Announces Creation of New Data Privacy Unit
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New Hampshire General Court. New Hampshire Code 507-H:4 – Consumer Expectation of Privacy
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New Hampshire Department of Justice. New Hampshire Data Privacy Act Frequently Asked Questions
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New Hampshire General Court. New Hampshire Code 21-M:8-b – Office of Victim/Witness Assistance
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New Hampshire General Court. New Hampshire Code 7:43 – Address Confidentiality Program
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New Hampshire General Court. New Hampshire Code 7:19 – Authority; Register Authorized; Pecuniary Benefit Limited
14
New Hampshire Executive Council. Welcome
15
Governor Kelly Ayotte. Governor Ayotte Congratulates Attorney General Formella on Confirmation to Second Term