Sunshine Week
March 10-16, 2024
Updated Public Records Law By the Numbers
2024 Sunshine Week Infographic PDF
The latest version of the Massachusetts Public Records law took effect on January 1, 2017. The revised law updated the following processes:
- Specified time periods for the Supervisor of Records to issue determinations on public records appeals
- Limited fees charged by government Records Access Officers (RAOs)
- Created new requirements for state agencies to track and report public record requests
Read below and learn how the updated Law impacted public records processes in its first few years.
2022 Breakdown
In 2022, the Public Records Division (Division) closed a significant number of cases. These cases included:
- Petitions from RAOs to charge additional fees
- Requests from RAOs for extra time to respond to requests or remove their obligation to respond
- Requests for reconsideration of Supervisor orders
- In camera reviews of Supervisor-requested records
- Supervisor determinations on appeals from requestors alleging Law violations
- Appeals: 2,701
- Fee petitions: 197
- Time petitions: 57
- In-camera review: 51
- Reconsiderations: 72
Cases Opened by Public Records Division (2012-2022)
If the Division denies access to a request, the requestor may appeal to the Supervisor to review the public status of the requested records. The Division has seen a significant increase in the number of these cases, both because of the 10-business day timeline for Supervisors to issue appeal determinations, as well as the ability of RAOs to easily submit petitions.
Number of cases opened (2012-2022)
- 2012 – 392
- 2013 – 286
- 2014 – 783
- 2015 – 944
- 2016 – 1,251
- 2017 – 1,778
- 2018 – 2,303
- 2019 – 2,714
- 2020 – 2,767
- 2021 – 3,512
- 2022 – 3,104
Substantive appeals and non-responses in 2022
In 2022, the Division received more substantive appeals than non-response appeals. Substantive appeals occur when a requestor receives an unsatisfactory response from the custodian, while a non-response appeal occurs when the custodian fails to respond within 10 business days. The Division received 1,765 substantive appeals and 929 non-responses.
- Substantive Appeals: 1,765
- Non-Responses: 929
Monthly Appeal Numbers
In 2022, the Division opened and closed a significant number of appeals. Many cases occurred each month throughout the year, but November and March were the busiest months.
Cases open per month during Year 2022
- Jan – 221
- Feb – 276
- March – 290
- April - 267
- May – 258
- June – 269
- July – 261
- August – 249
- September - 237
- October – 250
- November – 290
- December – 236
Cases closed per month during Year 2022
- January – 231
- February – 266
- March – 292
- April - 274
- May – 241
- June – 269
- July – 241
- August – 276
- September - 235
- October – 211
- November – 303
- December – 239
Requests Received by Massachusetts Agencies (2017-2022)
In 2017, updates to the law required agencies to log public records requests and submit them to the Secretary of the Commonwealth. Numerous agencies filed information relating to 33,608 requests that they received in 2022.