S. Howey v. Boston, City of - Public Health Commission (SPR 20200145)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records February 6, 2020 SPR.20/0145 Batool Raza, Esq. Assistant General Counsel Boston Public Health Commission Office of the General Counsel 1010 Massachusetts A venue, 6th Floor Boston, MA 02118 Dear Attorney Raza: I have received the petition of S. Howey appealing the response of the Boston Public Health Commission (Commission) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 1O A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, on December 5, 2020, S. Howey requested: "all Computer Aided Dispatch Transcripts (CADs), all incident repmis, Calls for Service reports, all incident reports, all reports, all documents, all audio files for 911 calls, all digital files, all log book entries, all 911 documents pertaining to an [identified address] pe1iaining to December 29, 2019 to the present." In its January 22, 2020 response the Commission informed S. Howey it is withholding the responsive records under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIP AA) and its regulations as they operate through Exemption (a), and under Exemption (c) of the Public Records Law. As a result, S. Howey petitioned the Supervisor of Records (Supervisor), and this appeal was opened. Based on communication with this office, it is my understanding the Commission indicated that it will provide a subsequent response. Conclusion Accordingly, the Commission is to provide S. Howey with a response to the request, in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations within 10 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 atpre@sec.state.ma.us. 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

Batool Raza, Esq. SPR20/0I45 Page 2 February 6, 2020 Sincerely, ~~ Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: S. Howey