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USA Statutes : massachusetts
Title : PART I. ADMINISTRATION OF THE GOVERNMENT
Chapter : TITLE X. PUBLIC RECORDS
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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 see that the records of churches, parishes or religious societies are kept in the custody and condition contemplated by the various laws relating to churches, parishes or religious societies, and for these purposes he may expend from the amount appropriated for expenses such amount as he considers necessary. The supervisor of records shall adopt regulations pursuant to the provisions of chapter thirty A to implement the provisions of this chapter.
presumption; exceptions Section 10. (a) Every person having custody of any public record, as defined in clause Twenty-sixth of section seven of chapter four, shall, at reasonable times and without unreasonable delay, permit it, or any segregable portion of a record which is an independent public record, to be inspected and examined by any person, under his supervision, and shall furnish one copy thereof upon payment of a reasonable fee. Every person for whom a search of public records is made shall, at the direction of the person having custody of such records, pay the actual expense of such search. The following fees shall apply to any public record in the custody of the state police, the Massachusetts bay transportation authority police or any municipal police department or fire department: for preparing and mailing a motor vehicle accident report, five dollars for not more than six pages and fifty cents for each additional page; for preparing and mailing a fire insurance report, five dollars for not more than six pages plus fifty cents for each additional page; for preparing and mailing crime, incident or miscellaneous reports, one dollar per page; for furnishing any public record, in hand, to a person requesting such records, fifty cents per page. A page shall be defined as one side of an eight and one-half inch by eleven inch sheet of paper.
(b) A custodian of a public record shall, within ten days following receipt of a request for inspection or copy of a public record, comply with such request. Such request may be delivered in hand to the office of the custodian or mailed via first class mail. If the custodian refuses or fails to comply with such a request, the person making the request may petition the supervisor of records for a determination whether the record requested is public. Upon the determination by the supervisor of records that the record is public, he shall order the custodian of the public record to comply with the person’s request. If the custodian refuses or fails to comply with any such order, the supervisor of records may notify the attorney general or the appropriate district attorney thereof who may take whatever measures he deems necessary to insure compliance with the provisions of this section. The administrative remedy provided by this section shall in no way limit the availability of the administrative remedies provided by the commissioner of administration and finance with respect to any officer or employee of any agency, executive office, department or board; nor shall the administrative remedy provided by this section in any way limit the availability of judicial remedies otherwise available to any person requesting a public record. If a custodian of a public record refuses or fails to comply with the request of any person for inspection or copy of a public record or with an administrative order under this section, the supreme judicial or superior court shall have jurisdiction to order compliance.
(c) In any court proceeding pursuant to paragraph (b) there shall be a presumption that the record sought is public, and the burden shall be upon the custodian to prove with specificity the exemption which applies.
(d) The clerk of every city or town shall post, in a conspicuous place in the city or town hall in the vicinity of the clerk’s office, a brief printed statement that any citizen may, at his discretion, obtain copies of certain public records from local officials for a fee as provided for in this chapter.
The executive director of the criminal history systems board, the criminal history systems board and its agents, servants, and attorneys including the keeper of the records of the firearms records bureau of said department, or any licensing authority, as defined by chapter one hundred and forty shall not disclose any records divulging or tending to divulge the names and addresses of persons who own or possess firearms, rifles, shotguns, machine guns and ammunition therefor, as defined in said chapter one hundred and forty and names and addresses of persons licensed to carry and/or possess the same to any person, firm, corporation, entity or agency except criminal justice agencies as defined in chapter six and except to the extent such information relates solely to the person making the request and is necessary to the official interests of the entity making the request.
The home address and home telephone number of law enforcement, judicial, prosecutorial, department of youth services, department of social services, department of correction and any other public safety and criminal justice system personnel, and of unelected general court personnel, shall not be public records in the custody of the employers of such personnel or the public employee retirement administration commission or any retirement board established under chapter 32 and shall not be disclosed, but such information may be disclosed to an employee organization under chapter 150E, a nonprofit organization for retired public employees under chapter 180 or to a criminal justice agency as defined in section 167 of chapter 6. The name and home address and telephone number of a family member of any such personnel shall not be public records in the custody of the employers of the foregoing persons or the public employee retirement administration commission or any retirement board established under chapter 32 and shall not be disclosed. The home address and telephone number or place of employment or education of victims of adjudicated crimes, of victims of domestic violence and of persons providing or training in family planning services and the name and home address and telephone number, or place of employment or education of a family member of any of the foregoing shall not be public records in the custody of a government agency which maintains records identifying such persons as falling within such categories and shall not be disclosed.
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 of their department, county, city or town, other than the records in the custody of teachers of the public schools, and shall furnish such rooms with fittings of non-combustible materials only.
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 provided for them.
Section 13. Whoever is entitled to the custody of public records shall demand the same from any person 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 court shall have jurisdiction in equity to compel any person unlawfully having such record in his possession to deliver the same to the complainant.
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, according as they are the records of the commonwealth or of a county, city or town, before the state secretary, the clerk of the county commissioners or the city or town clerk, who shall, respectively, make a record of such oath.
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 nor more than five hundred dollars, or by imprisonment for not more than one year, or both. Any public officer who refuses or neglects to perform any duty required of him by this chapter shall for each month of such neglect or refusal be punished by a fine of not more than twenty dollars.
superior court 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 persons having the care of any records or registries of such body, or of any officers thereof, shall deliver all such records, except records essential to the control of any property or trust funds belonging to such body, to the custodian of a depository provided by the state organization of the particular denomination or to the clerk of the city or town where such body is situated and such clerk may certify copies thereof upon the payment of the fee as provided by clause (25) of section thirty-four of chapter two hundred and sixty-two. If any such body, the records or registries of which, or of any officers of which, have been so delivered, shall resume meetings under its former name or shall be legally incorporated, either alone or with a similar body, the clerk of such city or town or the custodian of said depository shall, upon written demand by a person duly authorized, deliver such records or registries to him if he shall in writing certify that to the best of his knowledge and belief said meetings are to be continued or such incorporation has been legally completed. The superior court shall have jurisdiction in equity to enforce this section.
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, city or town to which they originally belonged, and if not in his custody shall be demanded by him of the person having possession thereof, and shall forthwith be delivered by such person to him. Whoever refuses or neglects to perform any duty required of him by this section shall be punished by a fine of not more than twenty dollars.
destruction 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 of the commonwealth, which term shall include members of the general court, representatives of the federal government and those responsible for the preparation of annual budgets for such public assistance, the making of recommendations relative to such budgets, or the approval or authorization of payments for such assistance, or for any purposes directly connected with the administration of such public assistance or with the administration of chapter 118G or with the administration of child support enforcement under chapter one hundred and nineteen A, including the use of said records in set-off debt collections under chapter sixty-two D, and including the use of said records by the department of transitional assistance, in concert with related wage reports to ascertain or confirm any fraud, abuse or improper payments to an applicant for or recipient of public assistance; and provided, further, that data from said records may be made available to representatives of the department of education and local school committees solely for the purpose of targeting school attendance areas with the largest concentrations of low income children pursuant to 20 USC 2701 et seq. and that such access shall be supervised by the department of transitional assistance and the department of education in accordance with an interagency agreement between said departments that safeguards confidentiality; and provided, further, that information relative to the record of an applicant for public assistance or a recipient thereof may be disclosed to him or his duly authorized agent; provided, however, that nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit disclosure to or access by the bureau of special investigations to the department’s records or files for the purposes of fraud detection and control. The state police, including the state police violent fugitive arrest squad, and local police departments, shall also be provided with identifying and locating information upon request from the department’s records or files for the sole purpose of identifying and locating individuals wanted on default or arrest warrants. Only identifying information including, but not limited to, the name, date of birth, all pertinent addresses, telephone number and social security number of such individuals shall be made available to the state police and local police departments pursuant to this section. The commonwealth shall destroy public assistance records ten years after the discontinuance of aid granted under the provisions of chapter sixty-nine, one hundred and seventeen, one hundred and eighteen, one hundred and eighteen A, one hundred and eighteen D and one hundred and nineteen, in such manner as the commissioner or director may prescribe.
orders to maintain 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 by this chapter for maintaining public records, a justice of the supreme judicial or the superior court sitting within and for the county in which such governmental body acts or, in the case of a governmental body of the commonwealth, sitting within and for any county, shall issue an appropriate order requiring such governmental body or member or officer thereof to carry out the provisions of this chapter. Such order may be sought by complaint of three or more registered voters, by the attorney general, or by the district attorney for the county in which the governmental body acts. The order of notice on the complaint shall be returnable no later than ten days after the filing thereof and the complaint shall be heard and determined on the return day or on such day thereafter as the court shall fix, having regard to the speediest possible determination of the cause consistent with the rights of the parties; provided, however, that orders with respect to any of the matters referred to in this section may be issued at any time on or after the filing of the complaint without notice when such order is necessary to fulfill the purposes of this section. In the hearing of any such complaint the burden shall be on the respondent to show by a preponderance of the evidence that the actions complained of in such complaint were in accordance with and authorized by section eleven B of chapter thirty A, by section nine G of chapter thirty-four or by section twenty-three B of chapter thirty-nine. All processes may be issued from the clerk’s office in the county in which the action is brought and, except as aforesaid, shall be returnable as the court orders.
Any such order may also, when appropriate, require the records of any such meeting of a governmental body to be made a public record unless it shall have been determined by such justice that the maintenance of secrecy with respect to such records is authorized by section eleven B of chapter thirty A, by section nine G of chapter thirty-four or by section twenty-three B of chapter thirty-nine. The remedy created hereby is not exclusive, but shall be in addition to every other available remedy.
species program data base; division records; site-specific rare species information 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 of the commonwealth and the federal government for the purposes of protecting and preserving species and subspecies of nongame wildlife and indigenous plants. Except as otherwise determined by the administrator of the said data base, site-specific rare species information shall be released only upon the receipt of a statement, in writing, by the recipient that he shall keep such information confidential.
Commercial Code records; revised Article 9 records 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 filing office”, a filing office, other than the office of the state secretary, that is designated as the proper place to file a financing statement under Section 9–401(1) of former Article 9. The term applies only with respect to a record that covers a type of collateral as to which the filing office is designated in that section as the proper place to file.
(4) “Former Article 9 records”:(A) financing statements and other records that have been filed in a local filing office before July 1, 2001, and that are, or upon processing and indexing will be, reflected in the index maintained, as of June 30, 2001, by the local filing office for financing statements and other records filed in the local filing office before July 1, 2001, and(B) the index as of June 30, 2001.
The term shall not include records presented to a local filing office for filing after June 30, 2001, whether or not the records relate to financing statements filed in the local filing office before July 1, 2001.
(5) “Mortgage”, “as-extracted collateral”, “fixture filing”, “goods” and “fixtures” have the meanings set forth in revised Article 9 for those terms.
(b) A local filing office shall not accept for filing a record presented after June 30, 2001, whether or not the record relates to a financing statement filed in the local filing office before July 1, 2001.
(c) Until July 1, 2008, each local filing office shall maintain all former Article 9 records in accordance with former Article 9. A former Article 9 record that is not reflected on the index maintained at June 30, 2001, by the local filing office shall be processed and indexed, and reflected on the index as of June 30, 2001, as soon as practicable but in any event no later than July 30, 2001.
(d) Until at least June 30, 2008, each local filing office shall respond to requests for information with respect to former Article 9 records relating to a debtor and issue certificates, in accordance with former Article 9. The fees charged for responding to requests for information relating to a debtor and issuing certificates with respect to former Article 9 records shall be the fees in effect under former Article 9 on June 30, 2001, unless a different fee is later set by the local filing office, but the different fee shall not exceed $20 for responding to a request for information relating to a debtor or $20 for issuing a certificate.
(e) After June 30, 2008, each local filing office may remove and destroy, in accordance with any then applicable record retention law of the commonwealth, all former Article 9 records, including the related index.
(f) This section shall not apply, with respect to financing statements and other records, to a filing office in which mortgages or records of mortgages on real property are required to be filed or recorded, if:(1) the collateral is timber to be cut or as-extracted collateral, or(2) the record is or relates to a financing statement filed as a fixture filing and the collateral is goods that are or are to become fixtures.
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 commissioner of veterans’ services, or records kept by him for reference by the officials of his office, be public records.
and film; microfilm records 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 with animal sizing and well finished or on one hundred per cent bond paper sized with animal glue or gelatin, and preference shall be given to paper of American manufacture marked in water line with the name of the manufacturer. All photographs, microphotographs, maps and plans which are public records shall be made of materials approved by the supervisor of records. Public records may be made by handwriting, or by typewriting, or in print, or by the photographic process, or by the microphotographic process, or by any combination of the same. When the photographic or microphotographic process is used, the recording officer, in all instances where the photographic print or microphotographic film is illegible or indistinct, may make, in addition to said photographic or microphotographic record, a typewritten copy of the instrument, which copy shall be filed in a book kept for the purpose. In every such instance the recording officer shall cause cross references to be made between said photographic or microphotographic record and said typewritten record. If in the judgment of the recording officer an instrument offered for record is so illegible that a photographic or microphotographic record thereof would not be sufficiently legible, he may, in addition to the making of such record, retain the original in his custody, in which case a photographic or other attested copy thereof shall be given to the person offering the same for record, or to such person as he may designate.
Subject to the provisions of sections one and nine, a recording officer adopting a system which includes the photographic process or the microphotographic process shall thereafter cause all records made by either of said processes to be inspected at least once in every three years, correct any fading or otherwise faulty records and make report of such inspection and correction to the supervisor of records.
mandamus 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 ribbon, pad, device, stamping pad or carbon paper, shall be used upon any permanent public record, nor shall any photographic machine or device or chemical used in connection therewith be used in making any permanent public record, except such as has been approved by the supervisor of records, who may cancel his approval if he finds that any article so approved is inferior to the standard established by him. The supreme judicial or superior court shall have jurisdiction in mandamus, on petition of the supervisor of records and pursuant to section five of chapter two hundred and forty-nine, to order compliance with the provisions of this section.
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 thereto, to be made for their county, city or town, whether such records are within or without the commonwealth, and such records within the commonwealth may be delivered by their custodians to any county, city or town for such copying. City councils and selectmen may also cause copies to be made of the records of births, baptisms, marriages and deaths kept by a church or parish in their city or town.
contents 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 exactly the votes and other official actions taken by such boards and commissions; but unless otherwise required by the governor in the case of state boards, commissions and districts, or by the county commissioners in the case of county boards and commissions, or the governing body thereof in the case of a district, or by ordinance or by-law of the city or town, in the case of municipal boards, such records need not include a verbatim record of discussions at such meetings.
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 custody of such books, and the department, board, commission or office shall designate an employee or employees to have the custody of its other public records. Every sole officer in charge of a department or office of the commonwealth or of a county, city or town having public records in such department or office shall have the custody thereof.
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 proprietors have ceased to be a body politic. The state secretary, clerks of the county commissioners and city or town clerks shall respectively have the custody of all other public records of the commonwealth or of their respective counties, cities or towns, if no other disposition of such records is made by law or ordinance, and shall certify copies thereof.
papers 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 destroyed, every town warrant, every deed to the commonwealth or to any county, city or town, every report of an agent, officer or committee relative to bridges, public ways, sewers or other state, county or municipal interests not required to be recorded in a book and not so recorded, shall be preserved and safely kept; and every other paper belonging to such files shall be kept for seven years after the latest original entry therein or thereon, unless otherwise provided by law or unless such records are included in disposal schedules approved by the records conservation board for state records or by the supervisor of public records for county, city, or town records; and no such paper shall be destroyed without the written approval of the supervisor of records. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the register of deeds in any county may, without such written approval, destroy any papers pertaining to attachments or to the dissolution or discharge thereof in the files of his office following the expiration of twenty years after the latest original entry therein or thereon, unless otherwise specifically provided by law, and he may destroy all original instruments left for record and not called for within five years after the recording thereof.
clerks if micro-photographed 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 embodied in section fifteen of chapter forty-one or any original record made by any such clerk under any of the provisions of law now embodied in section eleven of chapter two hundred and nine, section three of chapter two hundred and fifty-five, or any similar statute; provided, that such index or record, as the case may be, has been, or shall have been, micro-photographed, and that twenty years has, or shall have, expired after the making of such index or record. The micro-photograph of any index or record so destroyed shall have the same force and effect as the original index or record from which such micro-photograph was made.
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 from the files and usual memoranda, so far as practicable. He shall cause fair and legible copies to be seasonably made of any books which are worn, mutilated or are becoming illegible, and cause them to be repaired, rebound or renovated. He may cause any such books to be placed in the custody of the supervisor of records, who may have them repaired, renovated or rebound at the expense of the commonwealth, county, city or town to which they belong. Whoever causes such books to be so completed or copied shall attest them, and shall certify, on oath, that they have been made from such files and memoranda or are copies of the original books. Such books shall then have the force of the original records.
Section 1. As used in this chapter, the following words shall have the following meanings unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:—“Agency”, any agency of the executive branch of the government, including but not limited to any constitutional or other office, executive office, department, division, bureau, board, commission or committee thereof; or any authority created by the general court to serve a public purpose, having either statewide or local jurisdiction.
“Automated personal data system”, a personal data system in which personal data is stored, in whole or in part, in a computer or in electronically controlled or accessible files.
“Computer accessible”, recorded on magnetic tape, magnetic film, magnetic disc, magnetic drum, punched card, or optically scannable paper or film.
“Criminal justice agency”, an agency at any level of government which performs as its principal function activity relating to (a) the apprehension, prosecution, defense, adjudication, incarceration, or rehabilitation of criminal offenders; or (b) the collection, storage, dissemination, or usage of criminal offender record information.
“Data subject”, an individual to whom personal data refers. This term shall not include corporations, corporate trusts, partnerships, limited partnerships, trusts or other similar entities.
“Holder”, an agency which collects, uses, maintains or disseminates personal data or any person or entity which contracts or has an arrangement with an agency whereby it holds personal data as part or as a result of performing a governmental or public function or purpose. A holder which is not an agency is a holder, and subject to the provisions of this chapter, only with respect to personal data so held under contract or arrangement with an agency.
“Manual personal data system”, a personal data system which is not an automated or other electronically accessible or controlled personal data system.
“Personal data”, any information concerning an individual which, because of name, identifying number, mark or description can be readily associated with a particular individual; provided, however, that such information is not contained in a public record, as defined in clause Twenty-sixth of section seven of chapter four and shall not include intelligence information, evaluative information or criminal offender record information as defined in section one hundred and sixty-seven of chapter six.
“Personal data system”, a system of records containing personal data, which system is organized such that the data are retrievable by use of the identity of the data subject.
Section 2. Every holder maintaining personal data shall:—(a) identify one individual immediately responsible for the personal data system who shall insure that the requirements of this chapter for preventing access to or dissemination of personal data are followed;(b) inform each of its employees having any responsibility or function in the design, development, operation, or maintenance of the personal data system, or the use of any personal data contained therein, of each safeguard required by this chapter, of each rule and regulation promulgated pursuant to section three which pertains to the operation of the personal data system, and of the civil remedies described in section three B of chapter two hundred and fourteen available to individuals whose rights under chapter sixty-six A are allegedly violated;(c) not allow any other agency or individual not employed by the holder to have access to personal data unless such access is authorized by statute or regulations which are consistent with the purposes of this chapter or is approved by the data subject whose personal data are sought if the data subject is entitled to access under clause (i). Medical or psychiatric data may be made available to a physician treating a data subject upon the request of said physician, if a medical or psychiatric emergency arises which precludes the data subject’s giving approval for the release of such data, but the data subject shall be given notice of such access upon termination of the emergency. A holder shall provide lists of names and addresses of applicants for professional licenses and lists of professional licensees to associations or educational organizations recognized by the appropriate professional licensing or examination board. A holder shall comply with a data subject’s request to disseminate his data to a third person if practicable and upon payment, if necessary, of a reasonable fee; provided, however, that nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit disclosure to or access by the bureau of special investigations to the records or files of the department of transitional assistance for the purposes of fraud detection and control;(d) take reasonable precautions to protect personal data from dangers of fire, theft, flood, natural disaster, or other physical threat;(e) comply with the notice requirements set forth in section sixty-three of chapter thirty;(f) in the case of data held in automated personal data systems, and to the extent feasible with data held in manual personal data systems, maintain a complete and accurate record of every access to and every use of any personal data by persons or organizations outside of or other than the holder of the data, including the identity of all such persons and organizations which have gained access to the personal data and their intended use of such data and the holder need not record any such access of its employees acting within their official duties;(g) to the extent that such material is maintained pursuant to this section, make available to a data subject upon his request in a form comprehensible to him, a list of the uses made of his personal data, including the identity of all persons and organizations which have gained access to the data;(h) maintain personal data with such accuracy, completeness, timeliness, pertinence and relevance as is necessary to assure fair determination of a data subject’s qualifications, character, rights, opportunities, or benefits when such determinations are based upon such data;(i) inform in writing an individual, upon his request, whether he is a data subject, and if so, make such data fully available to him or his authorized representative, upon his request, in a form comprehensible to him, unless doing so is prohibited by this clause or any other statute. A holder may withhold from a data subject for the period hereinafter set forth, information which is currently the subject of an investigation and the disclosure of which would probably so prejudice the possibility of effective law enforcement that such disclosure would not be in the public interest, but this sentence is not intended in any way to derogate from any right or power of access the data subject might have under administrative or judicial discovery procedures. Such information may be withheld for the time it takes for the holder to complete its investigation and commence an administrative or judicial proceeding on its basis, or one year from the commencement of the investigation or whichever occurs first. In making any disclosure of information to a data subject pursuant to this chapter the holder may remove personal identifiers relating to a third person, except where such third person is an officer or employee of government acting as such and the data subject is not. No holder shall rely on any exception contained in clause Twenty-sixth of section seven of chapter four to withhold from any data subject personal data otherwise accessible to him under this chapter;(j) establish procedures that (1) allow each data subject or his duly authorized representative to contest the accuracy, completeness, pertinence, timeliness, relevance or dissemination of his personal data or the denial of access to such data maintained in the personal data system and (2) permit personal data to be corrected or amended when the data subject or his duly authorized representative so requests and there is no disagreement concerning the change to be made or, when there is disagreement with the data subject as to whether a change should be made, assure that the data subject’s claim is noted and included as part of the data subject’s personal data and included in any subsequent disclosure or dissemination of the disputed data;(k) maintain procedures to ensure that no personal data are made available in response to a demand for data made by means of compulsory legal process, unless the data subject has been notified of such demand in reasonable time that he may seek to have the process quashed;(l) not collect or maintain more personal data than are reasonably necessary for the performance of the holder’s statutory functions.
Section 3. The secretary of each executive office shall promulgate rules and regulations to carry out the purposes of this chapter which shall be applicable to all agencies, departments, boards, commissions, authorities, and instrumentalities within each of said executive offices subject to the approval of the commissioner of administration. The department of housing and community development shall promulgate rules and regulations to carry out the purposes of this chapter which shall be applicable to local housing and redevelopment authorities of the cities and towns. Any agency not within any such executive office shall be subject to the regulations of the commissioner of administration. The attorney general, the state secretary, the state treasurer and the state auditor shall adopt applicable regulations for their respective departments.
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