The Massachusetts public records law needs consequences
Back in 2018, WBJ News Editor Grant Welker, began asking 19 Central Mass. local governments to provide him with the tax breaks given to businesses since 1998. He called all the right people in the local governments and filed formal requests under the state Public Records Law.
According to that law, local governments have 10 days to respond. Yet, it took six months for Welker to compile all the information he requested.
During Sunshine Week, which runs from March 15-21, WBJ joins our fellow publications from the New England Newspaper & Press Association, along with the Boston Globe, to advocate for open government and the freedom of information principles, which have long made America one of the most open democracies on earth. While roadblocks and delays impeding access to records might spare a public official some embarrassment in the short term (or, more likely, a government worker’s time and effort in responding to such requests), it isn’t a healthy long-term practice for our society.
Welker’s investigation turned into the four-part Tax Breaks: Paying for Growth series in 2019. The stories showed tax-increment financing deals largely were successful in meeting the objectives of businesses and local governments, although 12% failed and some didn’t have clear-cut goals to begin with. Welker discovered TIF deals typically went to larger companies with more financial resources and were more likely to be granted by local governments with higher commercial property tax rates.
While public officials may become nervous when media organizations start filing records requests, the result of our series was an in-depth study of the taxing habits of key local governments, which gave our readers critical insights into the process as well as the return on investment of such incentives. Responding to record requests may prove somewhat burdensome, and officials often need several reminders to fulfill more complex requests.
These days, our region and state have fewer reporters making records requests, as newsrooms across the country have been reduced. Members of the public may even have a harder time getting their records requests fulfilled, if nothing else for the simple fact they aren’t doing so as part of a paying job and don’t have full-time hours to do so.
Massachusetts has a decent public records law, although legislators aren't subject to it and it lacks real teeth for enforcement, as there are few consequences when governments drag their feet. This is where the law needs to be changed. If the state wants to uphold its democratic ideals, then it needs to hold its ground on open records. In 2017, Massachusetts took a step in the right direction by limiting the amount governments could charge for public records and strengthened the power of the attorney general and secretary of state in enforcing the law. Still, there’s little incentive to go through the arduous appeals process with the state in order to access public records. Making the enforcement of these efforts more direct will help provide a needed incentive for our governments to be more timely.
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