No overhaul of the R.I. public records act this year – The Boston Globe

While it’s not the sexiest political issue, DiPalma said the law dictating what documents remain accessible or secret are crucial for Rhode Islanders. “The public needs to know what their government is doing and not doing, and the only way you do that is by getting access to public information,” he said. “It’s the only way to hold us accountable.”

The bill was backed by groups such as Common Cause Rhode Island, the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island, and the League of Women Voters of Rhode Island. But it ran into opposition from Governor Daniel J. McKee’s office, the State Police, and other parts of state government.

”It was an aggressive bill that tried to make a lot of important changes, particularly with respect to police records,” said John M. Marion, executive director of Common Cause Rhode Island. “And it met fierce opposition from all quarters of government – from the department of administration to the governor’s office to the police.”

Among other things, the bill would clarify that the public has access to “initial narrative reports” about the arrest of adults. It would make clear that the public has access to reports of investigations conducted by police internal affairs units, within certain limits. And it would require that body-worn camera recordings must be made public within 30 days for police “use of force” incidents.

The bill, introduced in the House by Representative Joseph J. Solomon Jr., also called for increasing the fines for “knowing and willful” violations of the law from $2,000 to $10,000. But after talking to those who raised objections, DiPalma and other advocates changed that to $4,000.

”We looked at all the opposition and tried to find a compromise where compromise was an option,” Marion said. “But ultimately we ran out of time to negotiate all of this with all of the parties.”

Marion noted that it took advocates a decade to get a balancing test included in the Access to Public Records Act in 2012.

And he noted that the balancing test was crucial in forcing the release last week of an e-mail alleging a series of sexist, racist, and otherwise inappropriate comments by state officials who took a March 10 trip to Philadelphia to visit Scout Ltd., a company seeking to redevelop the Cranston Street Armory.

McKee’s office tried to keep the e-mail secret, arguing that it was an investigatory record and that disclosure would be an unwarranted invasion of privacy. But Attorney General Peter F. Neronha’s office applied that balancing test, concluding that any privacy interest “is outweighed by a very substantial public interest.”

So, Marion said, it’s clear that amending the public records law is a multi-year effort. But it’s also clear, he said, that “Without a public records law, much of the journalism that the public consumes would not be possible — and government would be largely unaccountable.”

This story first appeared in Rhode Map, our free newsletter about Rhode Island that also contains information about local events, links to interesting stories, and more. If you’d like to receive it via e-mail Monday through Friday, you can sign up here.

Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at edward.fitzpatrick@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @FitzProv.