Massachusetts Public Records Law: 10 Business Days, Fees, and Supervisor of Records Appeals

The Massachusetts Public Records Law requires a records access officer to respond within 10 business days, caps copy fees at 5 cents per page, and gives denied requesters something most states do not have: a free administrative appeal to the Supervisor of Records, decided in 10 business days.

This page covers records held by Massachusetts state agencies and municipalities under M.G.L. c. 66 and the definition and exemptions in c. 4 section 7, clause 26. Federal agency records run under the separate federal Freedom of Information Act: see how to file a FOIA request. For the rules in every other state, start at our public records laws by state hub.

Who can request, and who receives the request

Chapter 66 section 10 places its duties on the "records access officer," a role every agency and municipality must fill under c. 66 section 6A. That matters procedurally: the 10 business day clock runs from the records access officer's receipt, so sending a request to a general information address can cost you days before anything starts.

The statute imposes no residency or citizenship qualifier. It does not contain an explicit "any person" definitional sentence either, so the accurate statement is narrower than the one you will read elsewhere: section 10 obliges the records access officer to respond to requesters, and nothing in it conditions that duty on where you live.

You also do not have to explain yourself. Section 10(d)(viii) provides that a records access officer "may not require the requester to specify the purpose for a request, except to determine whether the records are requested for a commercial purpose or whether to grant a request for a fee waiver." Those two exceptions exist because both bear on the fee, not on whether you get the record.

The 10 business day rule and what happens after

Production or a substantive response in 10 business days. Section 10(a) requires the records access officer to "permit inspection or furnish a copy of any public record... or any segregable portion of a public record, not later than 10 business days following the receipt of the request."

A written response with nine required elements. If the agency does not intend to produce, or if the magnitude or difficulty of the request, or of multiple requests from the same requester, unduly burdens its other responsibilities, section 10(b) requires a written response by first class or electronic mail within 10 business days of initial receipt. Among its required contents are a reasonable timeframe for production and a statement informing you of your right of appeal to the Supervisor of Records under section 10A(a) and your right to seek judicial review of an unfavorable Supervisor decision in superior court under section 10A(c).

Capped extensions. The timeframe the agency identifies cannot exceed 15 business days from initial receipt for a state agency, or 25 business days for a municipality, unless you voluntarily agree to a later date.

One more extension, from the Supervisor. Under section 10(c) the records access officer may petition the Supervisor of Records within 20 business days of initial receipt, or within 10 business days after a Supervisor determination that the record is public, for additional time. On a showing of good cause the Supervisor may grant a single extension not exceeding 20 business days for an agency or 30 business days for a municipality, and must decide within 5 business days. If the Supervisor finds the request is part of a series of contemporaneous requests that are frivolous or designed to intimidate or harass, and not intended for broad dissemination of information to the public about actual or alleged government activity, the Supervisor may grant a longer extension or relieve the agency of the obligation entirely.

Fees, the waiver, and the missed-deadline forfeiture

The labor rate is tied to "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," so an agency cannot bill a senior salary for clerical work.

Two provisions give the fee rules real force. First, section 10(e): no fee may be charged at all "unless the records access officer responded to the requestor within 10 business days under subsection (b)." Missing the response deadline forfeits the fee. Second, section 10(d)(v) allows the officer to waive or reduce any fee on a showing that disclosure is in the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of government operations and is not primarily in the requester's commercial interest, or on a showing that the requester lacks the financial ability to pay. Both branches are worth stating in the request itself.

If a municipality petitions the Supervisor for permission to charge more than $25 per hour, or an agency petitions to bill redaction time, section 10(d)(iv) requires the Supervisor to consider the public interest in limiting the cost of public access, your financial ability to pay, and any other extenuating circumstances, and the agency must furnish you a copy of its petition.

How to file a Massachusetts public records request

1. Find the records access officer. Every agency and municipality designates one under c. 66 section 6A, and most publish the contact on their website. Addressing the request to that person starts the clock cleanly.
2. Put the request in writing and keep the date. All of the section 10 deadlines run from receipt.
3. Describe the records specifically enough to be located: subject, date range, department, and any incident, permit or case number.
4. Do not volunteer a purpose. You are not required to give one, and the only reasons the officer may ask are to determine commercial status or fee-waiver eligibility.
5. If you want a fee waiver, make the showing in the request and identify which branch of section 10(d)(v) you are relying on.
6. Ask for a fee estimate before authorizing work, and diary the 10 business day date.

Our free FOIA request generator will draft a Massachusetts-specific letter with the right citations, and nothing you enter is saved or transmitted.

The Supervisor of Records: Massachusetts's real differentiator

Most states leave a denied requester with one option, which is to hire a lawyer and sue. Massachusetts does not. Chapter 66 section 10A(a) creates a free administrative appeal to the Supervisor of Records, an office within the Secretary of the Commonwealth.

If an agency or municipality fails to comply with section 10, or issues a response you believe violates it, you may petition the Supervisor for a determination as to whether a violation occurred. In assessing that, the Supervisor may inspect the record or a copy in camera. Where a record is withheld on attorney-client privilege grounds the Supervisor does not inspect it, and instead requires the agency to provide a detailed description of the record as part of the decision-making process, including the names of the author and recipients, the date, the substance of the record and the grounds for the privilege claim. Voluntarily providing a privileged record for in camera inspection does not waive the privilege.

The Supervisor must issue a written determination "not later than 10 business days following receipt of the petition," and on finding a violation "shall order timely and appropriate relief."

If an agency refuses or fails to comply with that order, section 10A(b) allows the Supervisor to notify the Attorney General, who may take whatever measures are necessary to ensure compliance, including filing suit in Suffolk Superior Court for a state agency or in the county superior court for a municipality. The Attorney General must designate a specific person as the standing point of contact for the Supervisor.

Going to court

Two different paths lead to superior court, and they are not interchangeable.

Reviewing a Supervisor decision. A requester aggrieved by an order the Supervisor issued, or by the Supervisor's failure to issue a timely determination, "may obtain judicial review only through an action in superior court seeking relief in the nature of certiorari under section 4 of chapter 249."

An independent enforcement action. Section 10A(c) preserves a separate right: notwithstanding the Supervisor procedure, a requester may initiate a civil action to enforce the chapter, filed in Suffolk Superior Court for agencies and in the county superior court for municipalities. In that action the court has jurisdiction to enjoin agency or municipal action, determines the propriety of the withholding de novo, may inspect records in camera without waiving privileges, and shall expedite the proceeding when feasible.

The remedies are unusually favorable to requesters. Section 10A(d)(2) permits an award of reasonable attorney fees and costs whenever the requester obtains relief through a judicial order, a consent decree, or the provision of the documents after a complaint is filed, and creates a presumption in favor of that award unless the agency establishes a listed defense, such as that the Supervisor found no violation or that the agency reasonably relied on a published Attorney General opinion on substantially similar facts. A court that denies fees must issue written findings explaining why. Where fees are awarded, section 10A(d)(3) requires the court to order the agency to waive any fee assessed under section 10(d). And section 10A(d)(4) allows punitive damages of not less than $1,000 and not more than $5,000, deposited into the Public Records Assistance Fund, where the requester demonstrates the agency did not act in good faith.

Police records and body camera footage

The Public Records Law does not contain a body-worn camera provision. The nearest statutory hook is c. 4 section 7, clause 26(f), the general exemption for investigatory materials compiled out of the public view by law enforcement, which is not camera specific and which turns on whether disclosure would probably so prejudice the possibility of effective law enforcement that it would not be in the public interest.

Research for this page did not confirm a separate dedicated Massachusetts body-camera public-records statute, and some of what governs release in practice sits in department policy rather than in statute. Rather than assert a rule the statute does not state, here is the procedure that actually resolves it: file the request, and if it is denied, note that section 10(b) requires the written response to identify the exemption relied on. Take that citation to the Supervisor of Records under section 10A. Testing a contested exemption is exactly what the Supervisor's determination process is for, it costs nothing to file, and the answer arrives in 10 business days.

What the Public Records Law does not cover

Birth, death and marriage certificates run through the Registry of Vital Records and Statistics under separate eligibility rules, not through c. 66. See our Massachusetts death records guide for who may order a certified copy.

Emergency call audio raises questions about active investigations and privacy that differ from ordinary agency paperwork; we cover the general framework in Are 911 calls public records?.

Federal agency records run under 5 U.S.C. 552, not state law. See our guide to filing a federal FOIA request.

Information on this page reflects Massachusetts law as of August 2026 and is general legal information, not legal advice. For advice on a specific denial, appeal or fee dispute, consult an attorney licensed in Massachusetts.