This Op-Ed By MassFiscal Executive Director Paul Craney Was Published in the March 22, 2026 issue of the Boston Herald: https://www.bostonherald.com/2026/03/22/opinion-our-state-of-hypocrisy-over-transparency/

As Sunshine Week comes to a close, government officials across the country will once again talk about transparency and accountability. In Massachusetts, however, a series of recent transparency failures shows just how far we still have to go.

For years, watchdog groups, journalists, and ordinary citizens have warned that Massachusetts has one of the weakest public records systems in the country. Deadlines are ignored. Fees are inflated. Enforcement is weak. When state or local officials would rather keep information hidden, the burden too often falls on private citizens to bring those records to light.

This is hardly a partisan critique.

Even groups that rarely agree politically recognize the same problem. Journalists have been forced to sue for access. Citizens have waited months or years for information that should have been produced promptly. Transparency should not be a left- or right-wing issue; it should be the bare minimum in a functioning democracy.

Recent examples are hard to ignore. One police department demanded $1.8 million for license-plate reader records before that fee was later reduced. In Lexington, a school employee was caught discussing whether production costs could be inflated in hopes a requester would give up. In Somerville, public officials spent years fighting over parking permit data.

Then there is the state’s climate litigation against Exxon Mobil.

Massachusetts sued Exxon for allegedly misleading the public about climate change. Whatever one thinks of that lawsuit, the state put honesty, disclosure, and accountability at the center of its case. Yet when Exxon sought records related to Massachusetts’ own climate regulations and enforcement, officials resisted disclosure and triggered a separate legal battle.

What surfaced from that fight was deeply troubling.

A regulation adopted under Massachusetts climate law requires state agencies with large vehicle fleets to track emissions and submit annual compliance reports beginning in 2019. But according to sworn testimony from state environmental officials, not a single agency has submitted them. Regulators also acknowledged they had not conducted inspections or taken enforcement actions to verify compliance.

While Massachusetts was accusing Exxon of climate deception, it was also fighting a records request that exposed its own failure to comply with its own rules.

That hypocrisy should concern everyone.

These reporting requirements exist to measure whether the state is doing what it claims. If agencies are not filing reports and regulators are not enforcing the rules, the public has every right to question whether Massachusetts is serious about its climate commitments.

Taxpayers also have every right to ask how much public money is being spent to keep that failure hidden.

That was the focus of a recent letter to Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper. According to state spending records, since last April, the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs paid a Boston law firm over $534,000, including $417,620 from “Climate Adaptation and Preparedness” funds and more than $117,000 from “Environmental Affairs Administration” funds. When underlying payment records were requested, both the Department of Environmental Protection and the Comptroller reportedly said they had no responsive records.

Ironically, money spent defending the state’s failure to comply with open records laws could have gone toward actual climate compliance or easing the burden on ratepayers and taxpayers. Instead, it appears to have been spent on legal efforts tied to the state’s non-compliance with its own mandates.

This concern is even more urgent given projections about the cost of the state’s climate agenda. The Healey administration has estimated costs could reach $130 billion by 2050, while an independent study by the Fiscal Alliance Foundation estimated costs exceeding $400 billion. If taxpayers are expected to shoulder these burdens, they should at least be able to trust that existing laws are being followed.

Massachusetts officials are often quick to demand transparency from corporations and federal administrations. But transparency cannot be a one-way demand.

Elected leaders on Beacon Hill must hold themselves to the same standards they impose on others. It is the foundation of public trust and a problem Massachusetts has ignored for far too long.

Paul Diego Craney is the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance.