Better late than never

Two months after it was supposed to file its final report a Beacon Hill committee charged with studying the legislative exemption to the state’s public records law has finally held its first meeting. Hey, who says politicians in Massachusetts aren’t interested in openness and transparency?

The committee, chaired by Rep. Jennifer Benson of Lunenberg and Sen. Walter Timilty of Milton, is charged with examining whether the state’s public records law can be or should be expanded to include the Legislature, the judiciary and the governor’s office.

After the committee’s first meeting last week Benson described to the State House News Service the many issues the committee will have to examine — one of them being the matter of privacy for constituents who seek help from their elected representatives.

But Massachusetts is hardly reinventing the wheel here. It is one of only a handful of states to exempt the Legislature from its public records law entirely. Heck, in Florida a request for Senate records can be submitted by email. “Most public records requests can be produced electronically,” the Florida Senate assures visitors to its website, “and are able to be fulfilled without a charge.”

And Massachusetts is the only state where the Legislature, judiciary and governor’s office are considered exempt.

Other states have figured this out; Massachusetts can, too.