Sen. Ross Joins Senate in Passing Public Records Reform Bill

NATICK, MA -- Last week, the Massachusetts State Senate unanimously passed legislation last week that marked the first update to public records laws since the early 1970s.

Sen. Richard Ross, who represents the east side of Natick, Wayland, Wellesley and others in the Norfolk, Bristol and Middlesex district, joined in a unanimous vote to pass legislation reforming how the state handles public records.

“Updating our public records law has been long overdue and I believe the bill we passed today made important strides to improve public access to information while also being mindful of the needs of our cities and towns,” said Sen. Ross in a statement.

The legislation passed by the Senate will reduce costs for records requestors and ensure timely compliance with public records requests. Under the legislation, said the announcement, each state agency and municipality is required to appoint at least one public records access officer to serve as the point of contact for all public records requests and coordinate a timely and thorough response. The public records officer does not have to be a new employee.

The bill also limits the amount that state agencies and municipalities can charge for production of the records. The limits are set at 5 cents per page for copies, down from 20 to 50 cents per page under current law, and the cost of a storage device. The bill requires state agencies to provide four free hours of employee time and two free hours for municipalities. Charges for requests that require more time are limited to $25 per hour.

The bill prohibits charging for records if the agency or municipality does not provide the record within 15 days of the request or does not respond to the requestor within ten days. It also requires punitive damages up to $5,000 if a court determines the government entity did not act in good faith.

Sen. Ross filed two amendments that were not included in the final Senate version of the bill. The first would have required the Legislature to appropriate funding to support the duties of records access officers in an amount not less than 15 cents per registered voter in municipalities with 25,000 registered voters or fewer. The second would have given a public records access officer the authority to deny a public records request if the requestor has failed to pay the agency or municipality for their previous request.

“There were many difficult components of this bill that we had to consider,” said Sen. Ross in the release. “As a legislator, I have heard from many of my constituents on this issue and understand the importance of efficient and timely access to information. As a former selectman, I also understand many of the burdens placed upon our municipalities. In the end, I believe this legislation does a decent job at serving both our communities and our hardworking taxpayers.”

Finally, the bill requires state entities and encourages municipalities to post online many commonly requested public records. In addition, records are required to be provided in electronic format unless requested otherwise.