Colman Herman v. Massachusetts Department of Transportation - Registry of Motor Vehicles (SPR 20160089)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Shawn A. Williams Supervisor ofR ecords March 4, 2016 SPR16/089 Ms. Neha Dhupar Office of the General Counsel Massachusetts Department of Transportation 10 Park Plaza, Suite 3510 Boston, MA 02116 Dear Ms. Dhupar: I have received the petition of Colman Herman appealing the response of Massachusetts Department of Transportation-Registry of Motor Vehicles (Department) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66 § 10(b); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(2). Specifically, Mr. Herman requested records related to drunken driving data. Mr. Herman made his request on January 31, 2016 and Sofia DaSilva from the Department's Legal Department responded with an acknowledgment letter dated February 02, 2016. Having heard nothing further from the Department Mr. Herman appealed this office. Under the Public Records Law and the Access Regulations (Regulations) all requests for public records must be met with a response within ten (10) days of the request. G. L. c. 66, § 10(b); 950 C.M.R. 32.05. The response may be an offer to provide records, a fee estimate for provision of the records, or a denial. The Department is advised that all records custodians must comply with both the Public Records Law and the Regulations with respect to the timeliness of response. Subsequent to the opening of this appeal, you notified this office that the Department intends to provide a response to Mr. Herman's request. Accordingly, I will consider this appeal closed with the proviso that the Department provide a written response to Mr. Herman within ten (10) days. Mr. Herman may appeal the substantive nature of the Department's response within ninety (90) days. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(2). If the Department maintains that any portion of the responsive records are exempt from disclosure it must, within ten (1 0) days provide to Mr. Herman a written explanation, with specificity, how a particular exemption applies to each record. To meet the specificity requirement a custodian must not only cite an exemption, but must also state why the exemption OneAshburton Place, Room 1719, Boston, Massachusetts 02108 · (617) 727-2832 ·Fax (617) 727-5914 www.sec.state.ma. us/ pre

Ms. Neha Dhupar SPR16/089 Page2 March 4, 2016 applies to the withheld or redacted portion of the responsive record. A copy of any such response must be provided to this office. It is preferable to send an electronic copy of this response to this office at pre@sec.state.ma.us. If there are any fees associated with this response a written, good faith estimate must be provided. G. L. c. 66, § IO(a); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.06(2) (where cost of complying with a request for public records is expected to exceed ten dollars ($1 0. 00), custodian of records shall provide written good faith estimate). Once the fees are paid, you must provide the responsive records. To assist in responding to requests for public records I refer the Department to our publication, A Guide to the Massachusetts Public Records Law. This document is available on the Internet, free of charge, at http://www.sec.state.ma.us/pre/prepdf/guide.pdf. Attorneys on my staff are available during regular business hours to answer general questions regarding the Public Records Law. In addition, members of my staff will visit a records custodian in person to conduct training workshops on the Public Records Law upon equest. Please contact my office directly at the telephone number provided in this deter · tio for further information. ours, cc:Mr. Colman Herman