Public Records Administrator Portal

Generally, the law will require the University to:

• Produce records in electronic form;
• Designate a records access officer at each campus to track and streamline the processing of requests;
• Produce the requested records within 10 business days, or if this is not possible, send a detailed response why the requested records cannot be readily produced;
• Limit the fees the University may charge for the production of records;
• Allow the courts to award attorney fees, litigation costs, and punitive damages in some cases; and
• Post commonly requested public records online.  

Yes, you may scan and email the paper records to the requestor.  The General Counsel’s Office encourages you to respond to all requests electronically.

There will be a sample response letter available, but it must include this information:

1. Confirmation of receipt of the request;
2. Identification of any record that is not held or maintained by the University;
3. Identification of the agency or municipality who may hold those records sought, if known;
4. Identification of any known records that the University intends to withhold, citing the law’s specific exemptions;
5. Identification of the records the University intends to produce, and a detailed statement on why these records cannot be produced within the 10 days;
6. Identification of a reasonable timeframe in which the University will provide the records, provided that the timeframe shall not exceed 15 business days following the initial receipt of the request or upon receipt of any fees charged;
7. If applicable, suggestions of reasonable modifications of the scope of the request to reduce the time and cost to produce the records;
8. An itemized, good-faith estimate of any fees that may be charged; and
9. A statement informing the requestor of the right to appeal our response to the Supervisor of Public Records, and the right to seek judicial review of an unfavorable decision.  

Always start out with the assumption that the information requested is public, as the majority of University records and emails are public.  If you need assistance with a request because some of the records appear not to be public, please contact the General Counsel’s Office to assist you in determining whether the public records law exemptions apply to the request.

The fee structure has changed under the new law, and the University must be careful not to charge more than the actual cost of reproducing the record.  The University cannot charge for time spent searching for records unless that time exceeds 4 hours; cannot charge more than $25/hour[1]; and the University cannot assess fees for time spent segregating or redacting records.  The University may charge for time spent segregating or redacting records only if such redaction is required by law (as in the records are not public), or approved in advance by the Supervisor of Public Records.  Paper copies may be charged at $0.05/page. 

If the University fails to respond to a request within 10 business days, or the response fails to include the required amount of information, the University cannot charge a fee to produce the records.  It is University policy to waive the fees to produce the records if the fee estimate is $100 or less.  If you have any questions about fees, please contact the General Counsel’s Office.

[1] If the search for records take more than 4 hours, you may charge no more than $25/hour for the labor required to complete the search.  The law still requires (as it did previously) that the hourly rate be equal to or less than the hourly rate attributed to the lowest paid employee who has the necessary skill required to search for, compile, segregate, redact or reproduce a record requested. 

You must make every effort to produce the records within 10 business days if the request reasonably describes the records sought, the records are in the University’s possession, and if the University has received payment.  At a minimum, within the 10 business days you must respond to the requestor and include all of the detailed information described above. 

If you have responded to the request within 10 business days as required but have not received payment, you are in compliance with the law and may wait until you receive payment to produce the records.  Failure to produce records may result in the requestor filing a lawsuit or enforcement from the Attorney General’s Office.

Yes.  A requestor may sue the University and the court may award reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs, and assess punitive damages ranging from $1,000-$5,000.

You need to contact the requestor and see if they will agree in writing to giving you an extension of time to produce the records.  If the requestor does not agree, you must file a request for an extension with the Supervisor of Public Records of the Secretary of State.  You may only seek an extension if the request is difficult to fulfill or if you have received multiple requests from same requestor making the response unduly burdensome.  The Supervisor shall make a decision on the extension within 5 business days of receipt, and may grant an additional 20 business days to respond.

The public records law limits what you can ask a requestor in regards to the reasons behind their request.  You can ask about the purpose of a request only to determine whether it is for a commercial purpose, or to determine whether you should waive fees.  For example, if the request comes in from a company known to compile publicly available information and then place it on their website and available for a fee, you may inquire if they are requesting the information in order to use it for a commercial purpose.

The law defines commercial purpose as “the sale or resale of any portion of the public record or the use of information from the public record to advance the requester's strategic business interests in a manner that the requester can reasonably expect to make a profit, and shall not include gathering or reporting news or gathering information to promote citizen oversight or further the understanding of the operation or activities of government or for academic, scientific, journalistic or public research or education.”  The regulations associated with the law go one step further and explicitly state that if someone is requesting names and addresses for the purposes of solicitation, that would be a commercial purpose.  Neither the statute nor the regulations provide any other examples, though.

No.  Neither the law nor the regulations allows the University to charge for the full amount of time spent searching for records, even if the request is for a commercial purpose.  You need to follow the regular fee schedule, where you may start charging once you have spent 4 hours working on a request.

Per guidance from the Supervisor of Public Records, all digits of a Social Security number should be redacted.

The Supervisor of Public Records for the Secretary of State has issued regulations, which are available at the Mass.gov site. The Supervisor has also updated the Guide to the Massachusetts Public Records Law.