Posted on 03/14/2002 7:48:57 PM PST by AStack75
Massachusetts Attorney General Attempts to Block Further Investigation
A bill that the Attorney General Tom Reilly is backing has recently gotten more attention than he had hoped. House Bill 2198, “An Act Relative To Attorney Client Privilege And Attorney Work Product Materials” has recently caught the attention of many activist groups across the Commonwealth and is now coming under fire.
House Bill 2198 would amend the “public records” laws to exclude access to any records produced by an attorney. The bill’s language is so broad that it would prevent any citizen from obtaining materials/documents produced by the Attorney General’s legal staff. The danger of the legislation is simple; it would allow a rogue governmental agency to operate without public scrutiny. For instance, if this bill had been passed into law prior to GOAL’s investigation on the Attorney General’s Fraudulent Handgun Regulations, it would have prevented the investigation from taking place.
It is important to note that the language in this bill would affect any records that were produced by any attorney working for our state government.
House Bill 2198 is currently being held by the Joint Committee on the Judiciary (the language can be seen below). Please contact the Committee and let them know your feelings on the bill.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
Section 7 of chapter 4 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 1998 Official Edition, is hereby amended in clause 26 by adding, after line 192 thereof, the following:—
(n) attorney work product and attorney-client privileged material.
Massachusetts General Law, Section 7 of Chapter 4
http://www.state.ma.us/legis/laws/mgl/4%2D7.htm
Joint Committee On The Judiciary
http://www.state.ma.us/legis/comm/j19.htm
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.