GLOGood Lookin’ Out

Massachusetts regulations: details

Copied from the PDFs of the CMR that the Massachusetts Trial Court Law Libraries post on mass.gov (https://www.mass.gov/law-library/code-of-massachusetts-regulations-cmr), saved through a person’s browser, on October 26, 2026 (103 and 120 CMR) and October 31, 2026 (the other titles). Check the official page before you rely on a rule.

What is here

  • Massachusetts: 149 titles of the Code of Massachusetts Regulations, only the sections GLO could read, as the Trial Court Law Libraries’ posted PDFs on mass.gov print them, saved 2026-10-26 (103 CMR, Department of Correction; 120 CMR, Parole Board) and 2026-10-31 (the rest) and read by GLO. 321 CMR (posted as HTML only) and 527 CMR (its list is empty) were not saved; a title, part or section not here is not absent from the Code. The library notes that the official version is the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s printed CMR; this text is not official. Each part’s Register line is as its PDF prints it, and nothing was checked against the Massachusetts Register, so GLO does not say any section is current. 13,031 sections are served with their text (841 in 103 CMR, 92 in 120 CMR, 12,098 in the other titles); 3,786 section numbers are held by name and not shown, and 237 saved files are held whole, by first reason: 608 a line outside the body’s margin; 601 small type such as note marks; 377 on a page that carries an image; 371 a line repeated across the file’s pages may be in the text; 332 a bare page number may be in the text; 306 a word broken by a hyphen and a space, which GLO does not rejoin; 265 words run together in the PDF; 149 a hidden hyphen; 151 whole files that are bulletins, forms, spreadsheets, guidance or rate tables, not regulations; 116 the two readers disagree; 114 listed in the part’s contents but not found in its body; 107 a line between the margin and the body; 92 a heading wrapped onto a second line; 75 a symbol-font character; 74 a heading with no text found; 59 printed but not in the part’s contents; 56 whole files that are MassHealth provider manuals; 52 a third check did not find the text whole and in order; 44 with a space the PDF’s text layer sets where the printed letters leave no room; 23 whole files printing no section heads the readers can take, such as appendices; 18 a misprinted heading number; 17 a part printed twice over itself; 5 a number one reader found twice in its file; 4 whole files byte for byte another saved file; 2 the authority line read into the text; 2 whole files that do not print a title and part the readers can take; 1 two different files for one part; 1 what looks like a four-digit head in the text; 1 one whole file, 310 CMR 40 (the Massachusetts Contingency Plan), whose four-digit sections these readers do not divide. All but thirteen of the shown sections were read by machine: two readers agree on each, and a third check found each from a text PDF whole and in order in its file, which says the text is in the file, not that every section divides rightly. A sample was read by hand, not every section: 36 of the 12,098 in the other titles against their page images, and drawn sections of 103 and 120 CMR; the 21 shown sections of 103 CMR 483, a scanned part whose text is the PDF’s own OCR layer, were each read in full. Seven sections of 103 CMR (403.12, 425.13, 430.32, 483.10, 904.04, 915.06 and 924.07) did not pass that check and were read instead by an AI model from images of the PDF’s pages, audited by a second AI pass, and each read whole against the images by a further AI read; no person read them, and they keep the page’s line ends. Six more (103 CMR 431.09, 465.11, 482.06, 482.07 and 761.13 and 120 CMR 200.12) were read the same way. On some of their pages the checking model listed differences only in quote marks, spacing or type style, which GLO no longer holds a page for, so those can differ from the page, and the pages this rule cleared took no separate test. The long heading of 103 CMR 482.07 runs on at the start of its text. The authority line and the part title are machine-read and may be wrong or run on: see the PDF. Over the other titles the part title is blank on 566 sections, the authority on 852 and the agency line on 65, because GLO did not read them from the file; 1,301 sections have no page link recorded and name their file instead. A table may read as running text with its columns lost (a rough test finds 88 such sections in the other titles): see the PDF. Five sections of 103 CMR (430.22, 481.12, 485.13, 505.07, 505.09) keep a hyphen and a space where the page breaks a word at a line’s end; the other titles hold such sections instead. Nothing here says a section is current or in force; check the official CMR before relying on one.
  • Releases 1 to 7: 13,031 sections with their text: 841 in 103 CMR (Department of Correction) and 92 in 120 CMR (Parole Board), saved October 26, 2026, and 12,098 in 147 other titles, saved October 31, 2026. Seven sections of 103 CMR (403.12, 425.13, 430.32, 483.10, 904.04, 915.06 and 924.07) did not pass that check and were read instead by an AI model from images of the PDF’s pages, audited by a second AI pass, and each read whole against the images by a further AI read; no person read them, and they keep the page’s line ends. Six more (103 CMR 431.09, 465.11, 482.06, 482.07 and 761.13 and 120 CMR 200.12) were read the same way. On some of their pages the checking model listed differences only in quote marks, spacing or type style, which GLO no longer holds a page for, so those can differ from the page, and the pages this rule cleared took no separate test. The long heading of 103 CMR 482.07 runs on at the start of its text.
  • Release 2 (October 26, 2026) added the 35 sections of 103 CMR 157 and 410 and corrected the REGULATORY AUTHORITY line of seven parts. In Release 1, six parts’ authority lines (103 CMR 157, 411, 455 and 465; 120 CMR 200 and 304) also carried a page note the PDF prints after them, such as “(PAGES 97 THROUGH 104 ARE RESERVED FOR FUTURE USE.)”; it is no longer shown as authority.
  • Release 3 (October 26, 2026) added 21 sections of 103 CMR 483 (Visiting). That part’s PDF is a scan: its text here is the PDF’s own OCR text layer, not text the publisher typeset, and every one of its sections was read in full against the page images before it was shown; each of its answers says so. Release 3 also corrected five sections shown since Release 1 (103 CMR 460.08, 463.07 and 900.03; 120 CMR 301.04 and 700.04): a line that began with a citation such as “c. 127” had been taken for a lettered item and started a new paragraph; the words were right, the break was not the page’s.
  • Release 4 (November 1, 2026) added 12,098 sections of the other titles the library posts, from 1,617 PDFs saved October 31, 2026, over 147 titles. The sections of 103 CMR and 120 CMR are as they were. These new sections were read by machine and only a sample was read by hand, so they carry less checking than 103 and 120 CMR did.
  • Release 5 (November 1, 2026) added seven sections of 103 CMR that had been held: 403.12, 425.13, 430.32, 483.10, 904.04, 915.06 and 924.07. An AI model read them from images of the PDF’s pages, and a further AI read compared each whole section with the images. No person read them, and they did not pass the two-reader check the other sections carry; each of their answers says so. Every other section is as it was.
  • 103 CMR is the Department of Correction’s: among its parts are inmate discipline, classification, visiting, mail, property, grievances, segregation units, furloughs and health services; 120 CMR is the Parole Board’s: parole eligibility, hearings, revocation, rescission, victims’ notice and executive clemency.
  • 3,786 section numbers and 237 whole files are held and not shown, each with its reason. A held section comes back as held, with its reasons and no text. Held is not absent.
  • This is GLO’s reading of the library’s posted PDFs, not an official text; the library notes that the official version is the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s printed CMR. Each part’s Massachusetts Register line is as its PDF prints it, and nothing was checked against the Massachusetts Register.
  • Each answer is a whole section: its heading as printed, its part’s title and REGULATORY AUTHORITY line, and its paragraphs (each labelled item or indented paragraph its own paragraph, with its label).
  • Look a section up as 103 CMR 430.11 or 120 CMR 303.06. A title may hold a decimal: 114.3 CMR 40.01. A subsection such as 103 CMR 430.11(2)(a) returns the whole section. 103 CMR 430.00 lists the sections of that part.

How we checked it

  • In Release 6, GLO restored 77 marks in 26 sections that its readers had read as letters or as an empty character (degree, micro, cent, greater-or-equal and one dash). A mark in a section this rule did not reach may still show as a letter. 248 CMR 7.02 shows 60EF because the file’s own text gives it, probably 60°F; GLO did not change it.
  • mass.gov answers scripts with a refusal, so the PDFs were saved through a person’s browser and every file’s SHA-256 checked against the list it came with; no request was made by a script.
  • Two separate readers, written with no shared reading code and using two different PDF libraries, read every section. A section is shown only where both give the same text with spaces set aside; a third check, sharing no code with either, found every shown section whole and in order in its file’s plain text.
  • Because that comparison cannot see a space, a section is also held where the PDF’s text layer sets a space where the printed letters leave no room, or where the words run together; and a section is held when it touches an image, has small type, a symbol-font character, a hidden hyphen, a line outside the body’s margin, a heading the readers cannot place, or is missing from the part’s contents list or its body.
  • Before Release 1, 20 sections drawn at random and 2 chosen from the parts that carried misplaced spaces were read against their page images by two separate readers, every word, space, label and paragraph break; all 22 matched for both. Before Release 2, 20 more drawn at random, 3 chosen from the parts whose authority line it corrects, and every part’s REGULATORY AUTHORITY line were read the same way; all 23 sections and all 75 authority lines matched for both. Earlier hand reads and looks found faults (among them, after Release 1 was served, the page note in six parts’ authority lines), and each became a fix or a hold first. Before Release 3, every section of 103 CMR 483 was read in full the same way: 20 of 21 matched for both, and the one fault both found, a paragraph split at a line beginning “c. 127”, was traced to the reader, fixed everywhere and read again; then 20 more drawn sections and the six it corrected matched for both.
  • For the other titles, Release 4: the same two kinds of reader and a third check, all in the same way, with new holds for a word broken by a hyphen and a space, a repeated page line or bare page number that may be in the text, and a heading with no text. 36 sections were read against their page images, all matching; the hand reads of the new fields found faults that became new rules. The authority line took three filters, each after a fault the last missed, and 6 random authorities of 1,176 were read against pages, so more run-ons may remain.
  • One AI system wrote the readers, ran every check and made every reading and ruling; the drawn sections were read by other instances of the same system, with no human reader.

What it can't tell you

  • Whether a section is in force, valid or current, or is good law.
  • Any regulation filed after the library posted its PDFs.
  • What the held sections and files say, or what any regulation not saved says, such as 321 CMR and 527 CMR.
  • Whether every section of the other titles divides rightly: a third check found each section’s text in its file and in order, which does not show where one section should end.
  • Whether the library’s PDFs match the official printed CMR.

Known gaps

  • 321 CMR (posted as HTML only) and 527 CMR (its list is empty) were not saved. A title, part or section that is not here is not absent from the Code.
  • 214 saved files are held whole with no title or part read, so no lookup reaches them: 151 bulletins, forms, spreadsheets, guidance or rate tables, not regulations; 56 MassHealth provider manuals, which these readers do not read; 4 byte for byte another saved file; 2 files that do not print their title and part in a form the readers can take; 1 310 CMR 40, the Massachusetts Contingency Plan, whose four-digit sections these readers do not divide. 23 more files print no section heads the readers can take, such as appendices, and show as held in their part’s list.
  • 3,786 section numbers and 237 whole files are held, not shown, by first reason: 608 a line outside the body’s margin; 601 small type such as note marks; 377 on a page that carries an image; 371 a line repeated across the file’s pages may be in the text; 332 a bare page number may be in the text; 306 a word broken by a hyphen and a space, which GLO does not rejoin; 265 words run together in the PDF; 149 a hidden hyphen; 151 whole files that are bulletins, forms, spreadsheets, guidance or rate tables, not regulations; 116 the two readers disagree; 114 listed in the part’s contents but not found in its body; 107 a line between the margin and the body; 92 a heading wrapped onto a second line; 75 a symbol-font character; 74 a heading with no text found; 59 printed but not in the part’s contents; 56 whole files that are MassHealth provider manuals; 52 a third check did not find the text whole and in order; 44 with a space the PDF’s text layer sets where the printed letters leave no room; 23 whole files printing no section heads the readers can take, such as appendices; 18 a misprinted heading number; 17 a part printed twice over itself; 5 a number one reader found twice in its file; 4 whole files byte for byte another saved file; 2 the authority line read into the text; 2 whole files that do not print a title and part the readers can take; 1 two different files for one part; 1 what looks like a four-digit head in the text; 1 one whole file, 310 CMR 40 (the Massachusetts Contingency Plan), whose four-digit sections these readers do not divide.
  • Bold, italics and indents are not kept. A table may read as running text with its columns lost; see the PDF.
  • The authority line and part title are machine-read and may be wrong or run on; see the PDF. A part title is read from the file’s text and can run words together, as the file’s text layer does. A blank one says it was not read from this file.
  • 1,301 sections of the other titles have no page link recorded: the answer names the file instead.
  • Five sections of 103 CMR (430.22, 481.12, 485.13, 505.07, 505.09) keep a hyphen and a space where the page breaks a word at a line’s end; in the other titles such a section is held instead. In 430.22 the page itself prints notwith- tanding, without the s.
  • The sections were read by machine and checked by hand on 22 drawn sections before Release 1, 23 before Release 2 with every part’s authority line, and 26 before Release 3. The 21 sections of 103 CMR 483 are the PDF’s OCR text, read in full by two AI readers, not by a person. Of the 12,098 sections in the other titles, 36 were read by hand; the rest rest on the machine checks.
  • Keyword search reads only the shown sections. Held sections and files have no text here and never match.

Notes you may see on an entry

  • A held section: “GLO holds this section and does not show it, because the release check did not clear it. Its reasons are listed by name.”
  • A subsection asked for: “The whole section is shown, with a note; the subsection is inside it under its own number or letter.”
  • A title not read: “No section or file of this title was read here, and this says nothing about whether its regulation exists. 321 CMR and 527 CMR were not saved.”
  • A part many titles share: “Many titles share a part number, so a bare number such as 900.04 needs its title: 103 CMR 900.04 or 120 CMR 900.04.”
  • A blank authority or part title: “Not read from this file; see the PDF. GLO does not fill it in.”

Nothing here is legal advice or a judgment that a rule is in force. Full counts for software: the defect_floor field on every Massachusetts result (source=ma).

Massachusetts regulations in GLO: what is here and how it was checked