Exemptions to Disclosure

The following records are exempt:

• “Policy deliberation” (for example inter-agency or intra-agency memoranda or letters relating to policy positions being developed by the agency; but this subclause shall not apply to reasonably completed factual studies or reports on which the development of such policy positions has been or may be based)
• Notebooks and other materials prepared by an employee of the commonwealth which are personal to him and not maintained as part of the files of the governmental unit
• Trade secrets or other proprietary information of the University of Massachusetts, including trade secrets or proprietary information provided to the University by research sponsors or private concerns

Access Rights

• Any person
• At reasonable times and w/o unreasonable delay
• One copy to be furnished upon payment of reasonable fee
• Custodian shall respond w/in 10 days
• Requests must be either hand-delivered or mailed via first class
• If custodian refuses access, requestor must go to supervisor of records; if custodian doesn’t listen to supervisor, supervisor may notify Attorney General or appropriate district attorney, and court can order compliance
• Purpose irrelevant
• Massachusetts has strong protections against disclosure of public employee personnel info, but very weak protections against disclosure of entity business matters (strong protections for human persons, not for non-human “persons”)
• Timeframe shall not exceed 15 days following the initial request for the public records
• Itemized good faith estimate of the fees associated with producing the requested documents

Destruction of Public Records

All records may be destroyed w/in 7 years of creation, but no such paper shall be destroyed without the written approval of the supervisor of records. M.G.L. § 8.