Grace Raih v. Department of State Police - Legal Office (SPR 20170954)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records July 19, 2017 SPR17/954 Dan Brunelli, Esq Staff Counsel Massachusetts State Police 470 Worcester Road Framingham, MA 01702 Dear Attorney Brunelli: I have received your petition on behalf of the Department of Massachusetts State Police (Department) seeking an extension of time to furnish copies of the requested public record, or any portion thereof. G. L. c. 66 § lO(c); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.06(4). On June 29, 2017 Grace Raih requested "any emails in computers or databases belonging to or in the custody of Massachusetts State Police, sent to or from an email addresses ending in '@kindermorgan.com. '" Petitions for an extension of time Under the Public Records Law, upon a showing of good cause, the Supervisor of Records (Supervisor) may grant a single extension to an agency not to exceed 20 business days and a single extension to a municipality not to exceed 30 business days. In determining whether there has been a showing of good cause, the Supervisor shall consider, but shall not be limited to considering: (i) the need to search for, collect, segregate or examine records; (ii) the scope of redaction required to prevent unlawful disclosure; (iii) the capacity or the normal business hours of operation of the agency or municipality to produce the request without the extension; (iv) efforts undertaken by the agency or municipality in fulfilling the current request and previous requests; (v) whether the request, either individually or as part of a series of requests from the same requestor, is frivolous or intended to harass or intimidate the agency or municipality; and (vi) the public interest served by expeditious disclosure. G. L. c. 66 § lO(c). One Ashburton Place, Room 1719, Boston, Massachusetts 02108 • (617) 727-2832• Fax: (617) 727-5914 sec.state.ma.us/pre• pre@sec.state.ma.us

Dan Brunelli, Esq. SPRl 7/954 Page 2 July19,2017 If the Supervisor determines that the request is part of a series of contemporaneous requests that are frivolous or designed to intimidate or harass, and the requests are not intended for the broad dissemination of information to the public about actual or alleged government activity, the Supervisor may grant a longer extension or relieve the agency or municipality of its obligation to provide copies of the records sought. Id. The filing of a petition does not affect the requirement that a Records Access Officer (RAO) shall provide an initial response to a requester within ten business days after receipt of a request for public records. 950 CMR 36.06(4)(b). The Department is advised that under the Public Records Law, an agency records access officer must provide a written response to the requester within ten business days of receipt of the request. G. L. c. 66 § lO(b). In this response the records access officer may identify a reasonable timeframe in which it shall produce the public records sought; provided, that for an agency the timeframe shall not exceed 15 business days following the initial receipt of the request. G. L. c. 66 § lO(b)(vi). The requestor may voluntarily agree to a response date beyond these timeframes. See id. Current petition In your petition you explain the Department is "seeking an extension based on the need to search for, collect, segregate, or examine records." The Department explains "there are 2,605 active mailboxes currently assigned to Department personnel" and it needs to "manually search every single e-mail account to complete this public records request." The Department estimates "that it would take approximately three (3) hours to download, access, and review a single mailbox of a Department employee." Conclusion As required by law, the Department must furnish a copy of this petition to the requester. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(c ) ("The records access officer shall, upon submitting the petition to the supervisor of records, furnish a copy of the petition to the requestor"). Based on the documents provided in its petition, the Department has not demonstrated that it complied with this requirement of G. L. c. 66, § 10( c ). Also, it is unclear how many additional business days the Department is seeking to produce responsive records. I understand a member of the Public Records Division contacted you but was unable to obtain a clarification regarding this matter. Therefore, I decline to opine on the Department's petition at this time. The Department may re-submit its petition within twenty business days after initial receipt of the request. G. L. c. 66, § lO(c).

Dan Brunelli, Esq. SPR17/954 Page 3 July 19, 2017 Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Grace Raih