Legislation

After years of negotiation between open government groups, law enforcement, and the Attorney General’s office, the General Assembly this year passed much-needed legislation strengthening the state’s open records law, known as APRA.

The General Assembly, in an effort to ease the financial burden on school districts, has eliminated a requirement that districts post advance notice of school committee meetings in newspapers.

A law passed last year allowing the state to appoint receivers to take over fiscally-distressed municipalities was strengthened this year over objections from the ACLU and lawmakers from Central Falls.

ACLU efforts to strengthen the state's open records law, known as APRA, fell short this year.

For the third consecutive year, legislation was introduced that would strengthen the state‘s Access to Public Records Act in numerous ways.

ACLU attorneys who worked on a recent truancy court lawsuit were stunned to find how difficult it was to obtain copies of their clients’ Family Court records. This bill would address this problem by explicitly authorizing parents and their attorneys the right to review and copy these files.

Several bills have been heard this year that attempt to ease the purported financial burden on school departments in paying for school committee meeting notice ads in the newspaper.

Among other things, this bill shortens the timeframe for public bodies to respond to open records requests and requires training of public information officers on their APRA obligations.