An Act to improve access to public records

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Bill H.5004

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No. 5004

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
——————

INITIATIVE PETITION OF

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY.

BOSTON, JANUARY 3, 2018.

Timothy Carroll
Clerk of the House of Representatives
State House
Boston, Massachusetts 02133

Sincerely,

WILLIAM FRANCIS GALVIN
Secretary of the Commonwealth.

AN INITIATIVE PETITION.

Pursuant to Article XLVIII of the Amendments to the Constitution of the Commonwealth, as amended, the undersigned qualified voters of the Commonwealth, ten in number at least, hereby petition for the enactment into law of the following measure:

FILED ON: 2/4/2026

SECTION 1. The first paragraph of Clause Twenty-Sixth of Section 7 of Chapter 4 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after the words “chapter 32” the following phrase “or by the general court, or by the office of the governor of the commonwealth,”.

SECTION 2. Said Clause Twenty-Sixth of Section 7 of Chapter 4 of the General Laws is hereby further amended by inserting the following new subparagraphs following subparagraph (v):-

(w) communications between a member of the general court, or such member’s employee, agent, or representative, and any constituent of such member; provided, however, that the communications reasonably relate to a constituent’s request for assistance in obtaining government-provided benefits or services or otherwise interacting with a state or federal agency.

(x) communications, memoranda, drafts or other documents relating to developing policy positions of members of the general court or the governor of the commonwealth.

SECTION 3. The third sentence of the first paragraph of Section 6A of Chapter 66 of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking said third sentence and inserting in place thereof the following:-

For the purposes of this chapter the term ''agency'' shall mean any entity, other than a municipality, that is identified in clause twenty-sixth of section 7 of chapter 4 as possessing ''public records,'' as defined therein, including the general court and the office of the governor of the commonwealth.

SECTION 4. Section 18 of Chapter 66 of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking said Section 18 and inserting in place thereof the following:-

Section 18. Declarations, affidavits and other papers filed by claimants in the office of the secretary of veterans’ services or records kept by the secretary for reference by the officials of their office, shall not be considered public records for the purposes of this chapter.

SECTION 5. This act shall take effect on January 1, 2027.

FIRST TEN SIGNERS
Name
Residence
City or Town

CERTIFICATE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL.

Honorable William Francis Galvin
Secretary of the Commonwealth
One Ashburton Place, Room 1705
Boston, Massachusetts 02108

RE:

Initiative Petition No. 25-14: An Act to improve access to public records

Dear Secretary Galvin:

In accordance with the provisions of Article 48 of the Amendments to the Massachusetts Constitution, I have reviewed the above-referenced initiative petition, which was submitted to me on or before the first Wednesday of August of this year.

I hereby certify that this measure is in proper form for submission to the people; that the measure is not, either affirmatively or negatively, substantially the same as any measure which has been qualified for submission or submitted to the people at either of the two preceding biennial state elections; and that it contains only subjects that are related or are mutually dependent and which are not excluded from the initiative process pursuant to Article 48, the Initiative, Part 2, Section 2.

In accordance with Article 48, I enclose a fair, concise summary of the measure.

Sincerely,

INSPECTOR GENERAL,
Attorney General.

Summary of 25-14.

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