Andrew Ryan v. Massachusetts Parole Board (SPR 20190186)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords February 5, 2019 SPR19/0186 Shara Benedetti, Esq. Counsel Massachusetts Parole Board 12 Mercer Road Natick, MA 01760 Dear Attorney Benedetti: I have received your petition on behalf of Massachusetts Parole Board (Board) seeking an extension of time to furnish copies of a requested record, or any portion thereof. G. L. c. 66, § IO(c). As required by law, the Board furnished a copy of this petition to the requestor. Id. Specifically, Andrew Ryan on January 9, 2019, requested an electronic list and electronic copies "of all petitions for executive clemency, pardons, and commutations since Jan. 1, 2015." 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

Shara Benedetti, Esq. SPR19/186 Page2 February 5, 2019 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 requestor within ten business days after receipt of a request for public records. 950 C.M.R. 36.06(4)(b). Current petition In the Board's petition dated January 25, 2019, the Board requests "an extension of time to furnish copies of records." The Board explains "after locating the requested records, the RAO determined that production of the requested records would take longer than four hours' time" and the Board "produced a cost estimate to the Requestor." In its initial response to Mr. Ryan on January 22, 2019, the Board indicated "that the RAO needed additional time to process the request." The Board explains "in order to produce the requested records, the RAO will be required to segregate. review, and redact 86 clemency petitions that are not currently in electronic format and must be digitized prior to redactions." The Board notes, "[a]n additional 103 documents have already been prepared and redacted." The Board indicates in its January 25th fee estimate to Mr. Ryan that "the Board will redact social security numbers, military identification numbers, personal telephone numbers, personal email addresses, as disclosure of this information would constitute an unwarranted invasion of persona privacy." The Board also states it will redacts names and addresses of persons in applications for licenses to carry or possess firearms, as well has any other "intimate details of a highly personal nature." The Board estimates "that the time to locate, review and produce the requested petitions will take approximately 8 minutes per petition ... for a total of 11.46 hours of labor" which is "based on the time it took to compile, segregate, review and redact a sample of 16 petitions." I find that in light of the need segregate and redact the records, the scope of the redaction, and efforts undertaken by the Board in fulfilling the current request, the Board has established good cause to permit an extension of time of 5 business days. G. L. c. 66 § lO(c)(i)-(iv).

Shara Benedetti, Esq. SPR19/186 Page 3 February 5, 2019 Conclusion For the reasons discussed above, the Board is granted an extension of 5 business days to produce responsive records. The records must be provided consistent with the Public Records Law and its Access Regulations. The requestor may appeal the substantive nature of the Board's response within ninety days. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Additionally, the requestor may seek judicial review of this decision by commencing a civil action in the superior court under G. L. c. 66, § lOA(c). Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Andrew Ryan