(US-MASS) Legislation to Update Massachusetts Public Records Access Law

[Jan Meisels Allen janmallen@att.net]

X-No-archive: yes
Three bills have been introduced in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Legislature seeking to update their outdated public records access law. The
three bills are:

H 3665 (which appears from the legislative website to be the bill that is
the new draft of the other two bills and will be one heard in the House Ways
and Means Committee mentioned in the Boston Globe editorial below:
https://malegislature.gov/Bills/BillHtml/150264?generalCourtId=12 ); H 2772 (
mentioned in the ACLU link below and S 1676.

The July 22, 2016 editorial in the Boston Globe spells out the issues
-giving the public records access law some "teeth" by capping some of the
fees for public records, and making it easier for requestors to obtain
information electronically and other ease of administration. See:
http://tinyurl.com/pqjhyct
Original url:
http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/editorials/2015/07/21/where-charlie-baker-public-records-overhaul/Ls5VbjyLLqrfzSWMaXwstI/story.html#

Speaking to the Ways and Means staff, they do not have as of this posting
have a date for a hearing before the Ways and Means Committee.

When more information is available it will appear on the IAJGS Records
Access Alert which can be registered by going to:
http://lists.iajgs.org/mailman/listinfo/records-access-alerts and follow
the instructions to enter your email address, full name and which
JGS/JHS/SIG/JewishGen is your affiliation. You will receive an email response
that you have to reply to or the subscription will not be finalized.

Thank you to David Rosen, JGS of Greater Boston for bringing the bills to
our attention.

Jan Meisels Allen
Chairperson, IAJGS Public Records Access Monitoring Committee
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