The New England First Amendment Coalition testified June 2, 2021, in support of Massachusetts legislation that would preserve the ability of people to attend public meetings either remotely or in-person. “The legislation will make permanent one of the few silver linings of the ongoing pandemic: remote access to public meetings and the increased engagement between […]
Tag: Massachusetts
Local journalism and transparency laws are focus of Massachusetts Sunshine Week event
The New England First Amendment Coalition and the Medfield Insider, a local news organization, will host a panel discussion about local journalism and the need for transparency in Massachusetts. The Sunshine Week 2021 event is 5:30 p.m. Eastern Time, Friday, March 19. Panelists include media attorney Peter Caruso, Boston Globe health reporter Kay Lazar, Report […]
First Amendment scores a win in federal court
The First Amendment won a round in US District Court this week with a ruling that a 50-year-old Massachusetts law was never intended to apply to the recording of police or other government officials by activists or journalists. The ruling narrows considerably the scope of a law passed long before the invention of cell phones […]
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Advocates press Massachusetts lawmakers to work in public
Open government advocates on Wednesday called on lawmakers to make more government offices subject to the state’s public records laws. Massachusetts is the only state where the Legislature, governor’s office and judiciary all claim to be exempt from the state’s public records law. That has led open government groups and others to consistently label the […]
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Massachusetts police abuse exemption in public-records law, reform panel is told
A number of exemptions allow public agencies to keep secret routine documents that are easily accessible in most other states. Now, for the first time in more than four decades, Massachusetts lawmakers are in the midst of revamping the state’s weak public records law. As part of the overhaul, a state working group has been charged with reviewing and evaluating the way in which law enforcement agencies have used public records exemptions and will recommend changes to the Legislature by year’s end.
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Massachusetts: New website will detail state payroll, spending data
Massachusetts’ notoriously opaque state government is about to get more transparent, with the launch of a website detailing state payroll and spending data.
Comptroller Thomas G. Shack III says his office’s site, dubbed “CTHRU” and set to go live Sept. 14, will give the news media, public interest groups, and others an important tool to uncover waste and fraud.
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Should all voter addresses be publicly listed?
As the presidential election approaches in November, Secretary of State William F. Galvin is pushing a proposal that would allow victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking to register to vote without making their addresses public in voter rolls.
“They shouldn’t have to give up the right to vote to be safe,” Galvin said last Wednesday in a telephone interview. “We’ve had many inquiries, especially this year as the presidential elections have been ramping up.”
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Massachusetts committee will debate public records law changes in public
Adopting a spirit perhaps befitting the first major overhaul of a public records law, six lawmakers reconciling House and Senate versions of the legislation plan to keep their meetings accessible to the public as they solicit commentary from interested parties.
The conference committee met for the first time Wednesday afternoon in a backroom off the House chamber where Rep. Peter Kocot invited advocates to share their thoughts on the differing bills (H 3858/S 2120).
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Group: Massachusetts lawmakers’ open meeting exemption unconstitutional
The Massachusetts Legislature’s exemption from the requirements of the state’s open meetings law is unconstitutional, a conservative-leaning think tank said Thursday.
Attorney General Maura Healey declined to wade into the dispute, however.
The Boston-based Pioneer Institute said the self-exemption restricts public access to certain legislative meetings and undermines the constitutional tenet that government be accountable for its actions.
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Massachusetts passes public records reform bill
The Massachusetts Senate unanimously passed a bill Thursday revamping the state’s much-maligned public records law, considered one of the least effective in the country.
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