victory is ours!
WHILE some harassing individual was flagrantly out there attacking public access TV and saying the public records law should be more restrictive (we did our civic duty and got a restraining order on that person who was interfering in your First Amendment rights,) the governor did the right thing and is now opening up the treasure chest of information that the frauds at Medford City Hall don't want to hand over to you.
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A BIG VICTORY FOR THE PEOPLE
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/06/03/how-will-new-public-records-law-make-government-more-transparent/7DOIWWJDXsF2tC2r32dFXO/story.html#comments
How will the new public records law make government more…
How will Massachusetts’ new public records allow more access to government records?
Massachusetts is currently one of only three states in the country where citizens have no hope at all of recovering their legal fees — let alone damages — even if they win a public records lawsuit. The new law says “there shall be a presumption” that citizens are entitled to recoup their legal fees in many cases. That still falls short of the standard in many other states, however. The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts found most other states make recovery of legal fees mandatory in at least some cases.
Under the new law, state agencies will only be able to charge labor fees for requests that take more than four hours, while cities and towns with more than 20,000 residents will only be able to charge labor fees for requests that take more than two hours.
The law also limits the labor fee to $25 per hour, though cities and towns will be able to seek permission from the Supervisor of Records to charge more. And government agencies of all sizes will need permission to charge labor fees to redact documents (unless the redactions are required by law).
