In late August, the Pioneer Institute in Massachusetts published an Emerson College poll that showed that Massachusetts residents are strongly in favor of ending a public records exemption that affects the legislature, governor’s office and the Supreme Judicial Court. 

According to an article in the Massachusetts Daily Collegian, “Massachusetts is the only state in the country where the legislature, governorship and judiciary are exempt from its Public Records Law.”

“Clearly, that doesn’t sit well with voters.” said Pioneer Institute Director of Transparency Mary Connaughton, and the numbers in the poll bear her out. In fact, 80% of registered voters included in the survey supported eliminating the exemptions, while only 6% reported that they believed in keeping the records private.

A similar portion of registered voters also supported an effort by state auditor Diana DiZoglio to audit the state legislature, according to the survey.

While Massachusetts may currently be the most extreme state in the nation when it comes to this lack of transparency, battles rage in other states over the degree to which the public can have access to documents that good government advocates argue should be made available. 

Earlier this summer, for example, Louisiana’s Governor Jeff Landry signed a bill that “allows government officials to ignore the state’s public records law without consequence,” according to the Louisiana Illuminator, which wrote that the bill “removes all personal liability from the records custodian of a government agency who unreasonably withholds records or fails to respond to a public records request.”

On the flip side, in May, Alabama’s Governor Kay Ivey “signed legislation requiring state agencies to acknowledge and respond to public records requests within set time frames,” reported the Alabama Reflector.

Meanwhile, back in late June, just before the legislature closed for summer break, “the Michigan Senate made a significant move toward directing more sunshine inside the offices of governor and state lawmakers . . . by voting overwhelmingly to make them subject to Michigan's open records law for the first time,” reported the Detroit Free Press.

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