Sudbury Resident Hopes to Find Out Why Public Safety Overtime Costs Are So High

Andrew MacEntee wants to analyze public safety payroll records to determine if there is abuse in the system, but his request for the public documents took more than two months for the town to release.

The Massachusetts Public Records Law says such requests shall be honored within 10 calendar days.

MacEntee, who sent several requests to town officials and copied all e-mails to the Town Crier, was recently informed he will get the Police and Fire Department payroll records for calendar year 2008.

MacEntee wants to analyze why public safety overtime is so high, similar to information the Boston Herald published.

Read more here.

Bill to Limit Inmates' Access to Records Passes House

The state's more than 18,000 prison inmates may soon be limited in the types of records they can obtain under the Public Records Act.

This morning, the House passed a Senate Bill 5130 with a vote of 94-2. Supporters say the bill will save corrections officers from inmates obtaining personal information about them.

The bill will go back to the Senate for approval of amendments that one Department of Corrections employee characterized as minor.

"This bill is about justice for our correctional officers," said Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson, D-Seattle.

Under the bill, a court could block an inmate from requesting certain records if a judge finds that the request is intended to harass an agency or its employees, or that fulfilling the request would threaten security or assist in criminal activity.

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Lawmakers Move to Carve Out Public Records Exemption for Teachers

A bill designed to protect teachers would exempt a school employees' name, photograph and other personal information from public records requirements.

“My concern is I don't want to wait until a child (gets a failing grade) … and a child goes ballistic or a parent goes ballistic and something impacts (a teacher) negatively,” said bill sponsor Rep. Mia Jones, D-Jacksonville.

The measure (HB 409) would exempt a school district employee’s name, social security number, home address, employment status, home telephone number, and photograph from the list of records that must be made public. It would also specifically exempt any information about the employee’s children.

Read more here.

Lawmakers Move to Carve Out Public Records Exemption for Teachers

A bill designed to protect teachers would exempt a school employees' name, photograph and other personal information from public records requirements.

“My concern is I don't want to wait until a child (gets a failing grade) … and a child goes ballistic or a parent goes ballistic and something impacts (a teacher) negatively,” said bill sponsor Rep. Mia Jones, D-Jacksonville.

The measure (HB 409) would exempt a school district employee’s name, social security number, home address, employment status, home telephone number, and photograph from the list of records that must be made public. It would also specifically exempt any information about the employee’s children.

Read more here.

AL Sherrifs Risk Being Sued After Violating Public Records Act

Alabama sheriffs need to respond to a request for documents on jail food allowances or risk being sued for violating the state's public-records law.

The case of county sheriffs and the money they pocket after feeding inmates just keeps getting curiouser and curiouser.

Last week, The Decatur Daily reported on a letter stamped "confidential" from Bobby Timmons, executive director of the Alabama Sheriffs Association, to county sheriffs around the state. Sheriffs had received a letter dated Jan. 29 from the Southern Center for Human Rights asking them for public records that would show how much money sheriffs had received in food allowances, how much they had spent feeding prisoners and how much they had left over for the years 2004 through 2008.

Read more here.