WPRO and the Associated Press
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – Activists who seek public records have filed 14 complaints with the Rhode Island attorney general’s office citing 53 violations of the state’s Access to Public Records Act.
The Providence Journal reports that the complaints filed by ACCESS/RI follow an audit released in September that examined whether Rhode Island government agencies complied with the revised open-records laws enacted in 2012 by the General Assembly.
The audit determined that compliance with the new rules was spotty and enforcement was rare. It criticized what it calls a prevailing culture of indifference, “if not outright hostility.”
ACCESS/RI announced Friday that 14 state and municipal agencies have violated the laws, including failing to post written procedures for complying with public-records laws to fulfilling records requests more than 40 days late.
The attorney general’s office says it will investigate.
