The Massachusetts Public Records Law was created in the spirit of the 1966 federal Freedom of Information Act in an effort to make government more accountable — but after its well-meaning conception the law became riddled with exemptions that tanked the Bay State’s transparency.
“Just look at how long it took just to get the compensation of every state worker,” said Ipswich Republican state Rep. Brad Hill, who supports making most of the Legislature’s records public.
“If we have a credit card for the House, it shouldn’t be that difficult to find how it was used. I think people deserve to know exactly where those dollars are being spent,” he said.
State officials must hand over a wide variety of official records — including government schedules, emails, receipts, video files and text messages — under the law.
But many seeking records had no way of fighting back if they were denied or outright ignored. Agency officials also imposed jaw-dropping fees as a deterrent.
A 2016 reform set a 10-business-day response window for records request responses and limited how much money public entities can charge to fulfill a request. But critics say the legislative exemption is a glaring exception to recent transparency efforts.
Deirdre Cummings, legislative director at MassPIRG, said state officials must open their books even further.
“We have made some strides in the public records law,” she said, “but we still have a way to go.”
