Chapter 66

Section 1. The supervisor of public records, in this chapter called the supervisor of records, shall take necessary measures to put the records of the commonwealth, counties, cities or towns in the custody and condition required by law and to secure their preservation. He shall s…

Section 10. (a) A records access officer appointed pursuant to section 6A, or a designee, shall at reasonable times and without unreasonable delay permit inspection or furnish a copy of any public record as defined in clause twenty-sixth of section 7 of chapter 4, or any segregab…

Section 10A. (a) If an agency or municipality fails to comply with a requirement of section 10 or issues a response the requestor believes in violation of section 10, the person who submitted the initial request for public records may petition the supervisor of records for a dete…

Section 10B. The commissioner of the department of criminal justice information services, the department of criminal justice information services and its agents, servants, and attorneys including the keeper of the records of the firearms records bureau of said department, or any …

Section 11. Officers in charge of a state department, county commissioners, city councils and selectmen shall, at the expense of the commonwealth, county, city or town, respectively, provide and maintain fireproof rooms, safes or vaults for the safe keeping of the public records …

Section 12. All such records shall be kept in the rooms where they are ordinarily used, and so arranged that they may be conveniently examined and referred to. When not in use, they shall be kept in the fireproof rooms, vaults or safes or buildings, vaults or file rooms that comp…

Section 13. Whoever is entitled to the custody of public records shall demand the same from any person unlawfully having possession of them, who shall forthwith deliver the same to him. Upon complaint of any public officer entitled to the custody of a public record, the superior …

Section 14. Whoever has custody of any public records shall, upon the expiration of his term of office, employment or authority, deliver over to his successor all such records which he is not authorized by law to retain, and shall make oath that he has so delivered them, accordin…

Section 15. Whoever unlawfully keeps in his possession any public record or removes it from the room where it is usually kept, or alters, defaces, mutilates or destroys any public record or violates any provision of this chapter shall be punished by a fine of not less than ten no…

Section 16. If a church, parish, religious society, monthly meeting of the people called Friends or Quakers, or any similar body of persons who have associated themselves together for holding religious meetings, shall cease for the term of two years to hold such meetings, the per…

Section 17. Except as otherwise provided by law, all public records shall be kept in the custody of the person having the custody of similar records in the county or municipality to which the records originally belonged; provided, however, that the custodian of public records may…

Section 17A. The records of the department of transitional assistance, relative to all public assistance, and the records of the commission for the blind relative to aid to the blind, shall be public records; provided that they shall be open to inspection only by public officials…

Section 17C. Upon proof of failure of a governmental body as defined in section eleven A of chapter thirty A, section nine F of chapter thirty-four and section twenty-three A of chapter thirty-nine, or by any member or officer thereof to carry out any of the provisions prescribed…

Section 17D. Records of the division of fisheries and wildlife in the department of fish and game known as the Massachusetts natural heritage and endangered species program data base shall not be public records; provided, however, that they shall be open for inspection by agents …

Section 17E. (a) In this section the following words shall have the following meanings: (1) ''Former Article 9'', Article 9 of chapter 106 as in effect on June 30, 2001. (2) ''Revised Article 9'', Article 9 of said chapter 106 as in effect on or after July 1, 2001. (3) ''Local fi…

Section 18. This chapter shall not apply to the records of the general court, nor shall declarations, affidavits and other papers filed by claimants in the office of the secretary of veterans' services or records kept by the secretary for reference by the officials of his office,…

Section 19. (a) When designing or acquiring an electronic record keeping system or database, records access officers shall, consistent with section 17 of chapter 110G, consult with their chief executive officer, chief administrative officer or the Massachusetts office of informat…

Section 1A. The supervisor of records shall: (i) create educational materials or guides for agencies and municipalities, and may make available training in order to foster awareness and compliance with this chapter; and (ii) prepare forms, guidelines and reference materials for a…

Section 20. For requests of payroll, financial and other data residing in the centralized state accounting and payroll systems, or associated data warehouses, the comptroller shall make available guidelines on how agencies using these systems may access and disclose public record…

Section 21. A document made or received by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Retirement Board or any other legal entity, public or private, which receives funds from the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority for the payment or administration of pensions for empl…

Section 3. The word ''record'' in this chapter shall mean any written or printed book or paper, or any photograph, microphotograph, map or plan. All written or printed public records shall be entered or recorded on paper made of linen rags and new cotton clippings, well sized wit…

Section 3A. Recommendations for employment submitted in support of candidates who are hired by the commonwealth, or any political subdivision of the commonwealth, in the position to which the recommendations were applicable, shall be considered public records under section 7 of c…

Section 4. No ink shall be used upon any permanent public record except ink of such a standard as established and approved by the supervisor of records, and no ribbon, pad or other device used for printing by typewriting machines, or stamping pad, or any ink contained in such rib…

Section 5. County commissioners, city councils and selectmen may cause copies of records of counties, cities or towns, of town proprietaries, of proprietors of plantations, townships or common lands, relative to land situated in their county, city or town or of easements relating…

Section 5A. The records, required to be kept by sections eleven A of chapter thirty A, nine F of chapter thirty-four and twenty-three B of chapter thirty-nine, shall report the names of all members of such boards and commissions present, the subjects acted upon, and shall record …

Section 6. Every department, board, commission or office of the commonwealth or of a county, city or town, for which no clerk is otherwise provided by law, shall designate some person as clerk, who shall enter all its votes, orders and proceedings in books and shall have the cust…

Section 6A. (a) Each agency and municipality shall designate 1 or more employees as records access officers. In a municipality, the municipal clerk, or the clerk's designees, or any designee of a municipality that the chief executive officer of the municipality may appoint, shall…

Section 7. Every town clerk shall have the custody of all records of proprietors of towns, townships, plantations or common lands, if the towns, townships, plantations or common lands to which such records relate, or the larger part thereof, are within his town and the proprietor…

Section 8. Every original paper belonging to the files of the commonwealth or of any county, city or town, bearing date earlier than the year eighteen hundred and seventy, every book of registry or record, except books which the supervisor of public records determines may be dest…

Section 8A. Any provision of general or special law to the contrary notwithstanding, the clerk of any city or town, with the written approval of the supervisor of records, may destroy any index of instruments made by any clerk of such city or town under the provision of law now e…

Section 8B. Records or documents required to be destroyed or disposed of in this chapter shall be destroyed or disposed of in the manner set forth in chapter 93I.

Section 9. Every person having custody of any public record books of the commonwealth, or of a county, city or town shall, at its expense, cause them to be properly and substantially bound. He shall have any such books, which may have been left incomplete, made up and completed f…