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County Registrars Seek Relief From Statutory Microfilm Requirement as Records Move Online
Summary
Worcester District Register of Deeds Catherine Toomey testified that because 80% of land records are now submitted electronically, the decades‑old statutory requirement to create microfilm is fiscally burdensome, costly and uses obsolete equipment; she urged the committee to update the law or guidance.
Catherine Toomey, Worcester District Register of Deeds, told the committee that the longstanding statutory requirement to produce microfilm copies of land records is increasingly impractical as most documents arrive electronically. "When I came into office, we had a different environment pre‑COVID. About 50% of our documents were actual paper documents... As a result of the COVID pandemic, we are at a consistent 80% electronic," Toomey said. She said microfilm production is costly, supplies and service options are limited and some older film‑reading machines are obsolete and cannot be repaired. Toomey urged the committee to revise the statute to allow registries to adopt modern preservation methods such as digital storage and cloud backups; she said registries retain records going back to 1731 and have disaster recovery plans in place. Discussion only: the committee and several registrars exchange updates; representatives of other counties were cited as supporting similar changes. No committee vote was taken. Why it matters: a statutory requirement that forces small registries to produce and store microfilm can impose material costs and operational burdens when reliable electronic records and backup systems are in use. The committee accepted testimony and asked witnesses to coordinate with the Secretary of the Commonwealth and submit written comments.
