John D. Rousseau v. Massachusetts State Police (SPR 20180466)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords April 23, 2018 SPR18/466 Alycia DeAngelis, Esq. Staff Counsel Massachusetts State Police 4 7 0 Worcester Rd Framingham, MA O1 702 Dear Attorney DeAngelis: I have received the petition of John Rousseau appealing the response of the Massachusetts Department of State Police (Department) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § lOA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, Mr. Rousseau sent a letter on April 5, 2018 appealing the Department's March 26, 2018 fee estimate to Mr. Rousseau's February 26, 2018 public records request. Mr. Rousseau believes he does not have to pay the fee because the Department was "4 business days over the 10 business day timeframe allowed by state law." Fee estimates An agency may assess a reasonable fee for the production of a public record except those records that are freely available for public inspection. G. L. c. 66, § 10(d ). The fees must reflect the actual cost of complying with a particular request. Id. A maximum fee of five cents ($.05) per page may be assessed for black and white copies for both single and double-sided copies of a public record. G. L c. 66, § lO(d)(i). Agencies may not assess a fee for the first four hours of employee time to search for, compile, segregate, redact or reproduce the record or records requested. G. L. c. 66, § 10(d )(ii). Where appropriate, agencies may include as part of the fee an hourly rate equal to or less than the hourly rate attributed to the lowest paid employee who has the necessary skill required to search for, compile, segregate, redact or reproduce a record requested, but the fee shall not be more than $25 per hour. Id. However, agencies may charge more than $25 per hour if such rate is approved by the Supervisor of Records under a petition under G. L. c. 66, § lO(d)(iv). A fee shall not be assessed for time spent segregating or redacting records unless such segregation or redaction is required by law or approved by the Supervisor of Records under a petition under G. L. c. 66, § lO(d)(iv). See G. L. c. 66, § lO(d)(ii); 950 C.M.R. 32.06(4). 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

Alycia DeAngelis, Esq. SPRI8/466 Page 2 April 23, 2018 Appeal A records access officer (RAO) may not charge a fee unless the RAO provides a written response is provided in 10 business days following the receipt of the request in compliance with G. L. c. 66, § 1 O(b) . G. L. c. 66, § 10(e ). The Department may not be permitted to charge fees associated with its March 26th request if the Department did not provide a response to this request in compliance with this provision of the law. See G. L. c. 66, § IO(e); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.06(2)(c ). It is unclear whether the Department complied with G. L. c. 66, § 10(e ) and 950 C.M.R 32.06(2)(c). Therefore, I find the bepartment must demonstrate whether it responded to the March 26th request within ten business days following receipt of the request in compliance with G. L. c. 66, § IO(e) and 950 C.M.R32.06(2)(c). Order Accordingly, the Department is ordered to review the requests made by Mr. Rousseau and provide a written response to Mr. Rousseau, made in accordance with the Public Records Law, its Access Regulations and this order within ten business days. This administrative appeal is now closed. 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. Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Mr. John Rousseau