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HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 219 FILED ON: 1/11/2023
HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 1522
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
_________________
PRESENTED BY:
Carmine Lawrence Gentile
_________________
To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:
The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:
An Act relative to the Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act.
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PETITION OF:
NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :DATE ADDED:Carmine Lawrence Gentile13th Middlesex1/11/2023Sal N. DiDomenicoMiddlesex and Suffolk2/8/2023 1 of 6
HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 219 FILED ON: 1/11/2023
HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 1522
By Representative Gentile of Sudbury, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 1522) of
Carmine Lawrence Gentile and Sal N. DiDomenico that certain legal material in electronic
records be designated as official. The Judiciary.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
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In the One Hundred and Ninety-Third General Court
(2023-2024)
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An Act relative to the Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority
of the same, as follows:
1 SECTION 1. The General Laws are hereby amended by inserting after chapter 4:--
2 CHAPTER 5
3 UNIFORM ELECTRONIC LEGAL MATERIAL ACT
4 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This chapter may be cited as the Uniform Electronic
5Legal Material Act.
6 SECTION 2. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
7 (1) “Electronic” means relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic,
8 wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities.
9 (2) “Legal material” means, whether or not in effect:
10 (A) the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts 2 of 6
11 (B) the Session Laws;
12 (C) the General Laws;
13 (D) a state agency rule or decision that has or had the effect of law;
14 (E) other material published in the Massachusetts Register or the Code of Massachusetts
15Regulations; or
16 (F) the reported decisions and rules of the following state courts: the Supreme Judicial
17Court, the Appeals Court and the Trial Court.
18 (3) “Official publisher” means:
19 (A) for the material recited in subsections (2)(A)-(C), the Secretary of the
20Commonwealth;
21 (B) for the material recited in subsection (2)(D) that is not published in the Massachusetts
22Register or the Code of Massachusetts Regulation, the state agency;
23 (C) for the material recited in subsection (2)(E), the Secretary of the Commonwealth; or
24 (E) for the material recited in subsection (2)(F), the reporter of decisions of the Supreme
25Judicial Court.
26 (4) “Publish” means to display, present, or release to the public, or cause to be displayed,
27presented, or released to the public, by the official publisher.
28 (5) “Record” means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in
29an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form. 3 of 6
30 (6) “State” means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the
31United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of
32the United States.
33 SECTION 3. APPLICABILITY. This chapter applies to all legal material in an
34electronic record that is designated as official under section 4 and first published electronically
35on or after the effective date of this Act.
36 SECTION 4. LEGAL MATERIAL IN OFFICIAL ELECTRONIC RECORD.
37 (a) If an official publisher publishes legal material only in an electronic record, the
38publisher shall:
39 (1) designate the electronic record as official; and
40 (2) comply with sections 5, 7, and 8.
41 (b) An official publisher that publishes legal material in an electronic record and also
42publishes the material in a record other than an electronic record may designate the electronic
43record as official if the publisher complies with sections 5, 7, and 8.
44 SECTION 5. AUTHENTICATION OF OFFICIAL ELECTRONIC RECORD. An
45official publisher of legal material in an electronic record that is designated as official under
46section 4 shall authenticate the record. To authenticate an electronic record, the publisher shall
47provide a method for a user to determine that the record received by the user from the publisher
48is unaltered from the official record published by the publisher.
49 SECTION 6. EFFECT OF AUTHENTICATION. 4 of 6
50 (a) Legal material in an electronic record that is authenticated under section 5 is
51presumed to be an accurate copy of the legal material.
52 (b) If another State has adopted a law substantially similar to this Act, legal material in an
53electronic record that is designated as official and authenticated by the official publisher in that
54State is presumed to be an accurate copy of the legal material.
55 (c) A party contesting the authentication of legal material in an electronic record
56authenticated under section 5 has the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that
57the record is not authentic.
58 SECTION 7. PRESERVATION AND SECURITY OF LEGAL MATERIAL IN
59OFFICIAL ELECTRONIC RECORD.
60 (a) An official publisher of legal material in an electronic record that is or was designated
61as official under section 4 shall provide for the preservation and security of the record in an
62electronic form or a form that is not electronic.
63 (b) If legal material is preserved under subsection (a) in an electronic record, the official
64publisher shall:
65 (1) ensure the integrity of the record;
66 (2) provide for backup and disaster recovery of the record; and
67 (3) ensure the continuing usability of the material.
68 SECTION 8. PUBLIC ACCESS TO LEGAL MATERIAL IN OFFICIAL
69ELECTRONIC RECORD. An official publisher of legal material in an electronic record that is 5 of 6
70required to be preserved under section 7 shall ensure that the material is reasonably available for
71use by the public on a permanent basis.
72 SECTION 9. STANDARDS. In implementing this Act, an official publisher of legal
73material in an electronic record shall consult the persons identified in section 17 of chapter 110G
74and consider:
75 (1) standards and practices of other jurisdictions;
76 (2) the most recent standards regarding authentication of, preservation and security of,
77and public access to, legal material in an electronic record and other electronic records, as
78promulgated by national standard-setting bodies;
79 (3) the needs of users of legal material in an electronic record;
80 (4) the views of governmental officials and entities and other interested persons; and
81 (5) to the extent practicable, methods and technologies for the authentication of,
82preservation and security of, and public access to, legal material which are compatible with the
83methods and technologies used by other official publishers in this state and in other states that
84have adopted a law substantially similar to this chapter.
85 SECTION 10. UNIFORMITY OF APPLICATION AND CONSTRUCTION. In
86applying and construing this uniform act, consideration must be given to the need to promote
87uniformity of the law with respect to its subject matter among states that enact it.
88 SECTION 11. RELATION TO ELECTRONIC SIGNATURES IN GLOBAL AND
89NATIONAL COMMERCE ACT. This Act modifies, limits, and supersedes the federal
90Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act, 15 U.S.C. section 7001, et seq., but 6 of 6
91does not modify, limit, or supersede section 101(c) of that Act, 15 U.S.C. section 7001(c), or
92authorize electronic delivery of any of the notices described in section 103(b) of that Act, 15
93U.S.C. section 7003(b).
94 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect on July 1, 2022.