Scare tactics threaten to kill a widely supported bill that would fix Massachusetts' broken public records law, which often leaves the media, good government groups, environmental protection and health care groups and other organizations in the dark.
Executive director Carol Rose sets the record straight in MetroWest Daily, writing:
"The proposed fix to the law would bring Massachusetts in line with 47 other states and the federal law by enabling courts to award attorney's fees to people who are forced to go to court to obtain the public records to which they are already entitled.
"The bill, An Act to Improve Public Records, would not change the basic requirements of the law—there's no new "mandate." Instead, the bill would require that local bureaucrats obey the existing law. It also would help local city and town clerks do their job by creating incentives for government to bring their departments into the digital age."
Read her op-ed, Fixing the public records law
