Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 66, § 17A - Public assistance records; public inspection; destruction

• Cite as: Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 66, § 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 118E 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; an...