Attorney General Maura Healey
Attorney General Maura Healey (Republican Photo by Mark M. Murray)
(Mark Murray//The Republican)
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey will not issue an opinion on whether the Legislature should be exempt from the state's Open Meeting Law, despite a request by the conservative-leaning think tank, the Pioneer Institute.
Healey wrote in a letter to the Pioneer Institute that she does not have the authority, under state law, to issue an advisory opinion. The attorney general's authority, she wrote, "does not extend to the constitutional analysis that Pioneer requests."
Under current Massachusetts law, the Legislature - and the governor's office - are exempt from the state's open meeting and open records laws.
The Pioneer Institute believes the Legislature and governor should open their meetings and records to the public.
Although lawmakers are currently considering reforms to the public records law, they have not talked about changing the legislative or gubernatorial exemptions.
The institute asked Healey for an advisory opinion on the constitutionality of the legislative exemption, which allows committees to, for example, vote on bills in private without revealing how individual committee members voted.
"Accountability cannot be achieved if the Legislature exercises its authority behind closed doors without public oversight of the legislative process," wrote the Pioneer Institute's John Sivolella and Mary Connaughton in a letter to Healey's office.
However, First Assistant Attorney General Chris Barry-Smith responded in a letter earlier this month that under the state's Open Meeting Law and under precedent from the Supreme Judicial Court, Healey's office can interpret the law, but it does not have authority to issue that kind of constitutional analysis.
The Pioneer Institute has also urged Gov. Charlie Baker to get rid of the governor's exemption.
Baker has said previously that he is following law and precedent in maintaining the governor's exemption.