State Archives and Public Records (S 800, S 807)

We expressed support for legislation that would have allowed the Secretary of State to seek judicial relief if a state or municipal agency is unlawfully destroying or otherwise failing to properly maintain public records, a power that she presently lacks. The importance of this bill became clear after our organization discovered that the R.I. State Police was unable to provide copies of dozens of news releases the agency had issued in recent years; it did not keep hard copies of many of the releases, nor did anybody preserve them after they were removed after a year from the agency’s website. The bills unfortunately died in committee.