Access to Public Records Act Reform (H 7181, S 2256)

Rhode Island’s Access to Public Records Act hasn’t been amended in over a decade, and we strongly supported a comprehensive piece of legislation to update and strengthen this critical statute which upholds the public’s “right to know.” In supporting the bill in its entirety, we noted the importance of the proposed changes in the legislation which cover a number of important issues, including: tightening up the exemptions for so-called “investigatory” records and police incident reports; requiring an agency’s procedures for handling APRA requests to be more easily available; calling for greater explanation when records are withheld; and reducing the costs that public bodies can charge requesters. This bill died in committee.