Maya Shaffer v. Office of the State Auditor (SPR 20180017)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords January 19, 2018 SPRlS/017 Michael P. Ruane, Esq. Office of the State Auditor Suzanne M. Bump One Ashburton Place, Room 1819 Boston, MA 02108 Dear Attorney Ruane: I have received a petition from Maya Shaffer appealing the Office of the State Auditor's (Office) response to her request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § lOA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically on December 12, 2017, Ms. Shaffer requested "all guidelines/policies/memos/etc. in place for accessing the MassHealth patients medical information" and "all correspondence between your office and the MassHealth office in 2017 related to medical records access." The Office indicates that on December 21, 2017 it provided Ms. Shaffer with a response suggesting a modification of the scope of the request. See G. L. c. 66, § IO(b)(vii) (providing that an agency or municipality may "suggest a reasonable modification of the scope of the request or offer to assist the requestor to modify the scope of the request if doing so would enable the agency or municipality to produce records sought more efficiently and affordably"). It should be noted the Office's response to Ms. Shaffer's initial request was within ten business days of receipt of the request. G. L. c. 66, § lO(b); 950 CMR 36.06(2)(a)-(b). I understand the Office provided Ms. Shaffer with certain records responsive to part one of the request on January 3, 2018. The Office contacted Ms. Shaffer asking if she would agree to a ten day extension for the production of records. After receiving no response, the Office petitioned the Supervisor of Records on December 28, 2017 for a time extension to produce records. This petition was properly filed within twenty business days from the Office's receipt of Ms. Shaffer's December 12, 2017 request. See G. L. c. 66, § IO(c) ("a records access officer may, as soon as practical and within 20 business days after initial receipt of the request ... petition the supervisor of records for an extension of the time for the agency or municipality to furnish copies of the requested record, or any portion of the requested record, that the agency or municipality has within its possession, custody or control and intends to furnish"). On January 11, 2018, the Office 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

Michael P. Ruane, Esq. SPR18/017 Page2 January 19, 2018 informed Ms. Shaffer that after performing a thorough search, the Office determined it does not possess any records responsive to part two of the request. Given that the Office was timely in their initial ten day response to the December 12th request in which the Office suggested and received a modified request from the requestor, as well as the Office's filing of a petition for a time extension with the Supervisor of Records within the statutory timeframe, I will consider this administrative appeal closed. Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Maya Shaffer