Patrick Turrietta v. Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation (SPR 20171118)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords August 28, 2017 SPR17/1118 Jackie Horigan Records Access Officer Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation Ten Park Plaza, Suite 5170 Boston, MA 02116 Dear Ms. Horigan: I have received the petition of Patrick Turrietta appealing the response of the Office of Consumer affairs and Business Regulation (Office) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § lOA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically on August 16, 2017, Mr. Turrietta requested "a list of all Horne Improvement Contractors registered in the State of Massachusetts." In a response dated August 17, 201 7, the Office provided a response directing Mr. Turrietta to the online search function on the Office's website. Unsatisfied with the response, Mr. Turrietta petitioned this office and this appeal was opened as a result. The Public Records Law The Public Records Law strongly favors disclosure by creating a presumption that all governmental records are public records. G. L. c. 66, § lOA(d); 950 C.M.R. 32.03(4). "Public records" is broadly defined to include all documentary materials or data, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received by any officer or employee of any town of the Commonwealth, unless falling within a statutory exemption. G. L. c. 4, § 7(26). It is the burden of the records custodian to demonstrate the application of an exemption in order to withhold a requested record. G. L. c. 66, § lO(b)(iv); 950 C.M.R. 32.06(3); see also Dist. Attorney for the Norfolk Dist. v. Flatley, 419 Mass. 507, 511 (1995) (custodian has the burden of establishing the applicability of an exemption). To meet the specificity requirement a custodian must not only cite an exemption, but must also state why the exemption applies to the withheld or redacted portion of the responsive record. ~~~~~~~~~~~£there are any£ees associated with arespoose~i~gaad faith estimate must he provided. G. L. c. 66, § 1O (b )(viii); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.07(2). Once fees are paid, a records custodian must' provide the responsive records. One Ashburton Place, Room 1719, Boston, Massachusetts 02108 • (617) 727-2832• Fax: (617) 727-5914 sec.state.ma.us/pre • pre@sec.state.rna.us

Jackie Horigan SPRl 7/1118 Page 2 August 28, 2017 The Office's August 11" response In its response, the Office indicated that "[t]he information you are seeking is currently available online on the Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation's website." The Office provided a link to the Website and indicated that, "there are over 28,000 registered contractors in Massachusetts." The Office further instructed Mr. Turrietta to "search by Registration Number; Registrant Company name; Registrant Last name; or by City/Town." The Office also indicated that "[t]he look-up tool also shows the registration status of contractors who are currently registered with this Office and contractors who at one point held an HIC registration with this Office, as well as their mailing address." The Office further indicated that, "[s]ince the requested records are available on our agency's public website, we do not provide a copy of HIC registrants in any other format." G. L. c. 66, § 6A( d) provides in pertinent part: If the public record requested is available on a public website pursuant to subsection (b) of section 19 of this chapter, section 14C of chapter 7 or any other appropriately indexed and searchable public website, the records access officer may furnish the public record by providing reasonable assistance in locating the requested record on the public website. I understand a Public Records Division staff attorney contacted you about this matter. You indicated the Office would provide a supplemental response to Mr. Turrietta that provides information about how to best search for all contractors responsive to Mr. Turrietta's public request. Conclusion Accordingly, I will consider this appeal closed with a proviso that the Office provides said response in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations within ten business days. 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. Mr. Turrietta may appeal the substantive nature of the response within ninety calendar days. 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1 ). Sincerely, ~~ Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Patrick Turrietta