State legislators and other advocates plan to make a renewed push in 2026 to overhaul Rhode Island’s open records law, known as the Access to Public Records Act.
They’ve been unable to make headway for the last four years. APRA was last modernized in 2012.
But State Sen. Louis DiPalma said he believes drumming up more public support for change could improve the outlook.
DiPalma, who has sponsored the APRA bill, with state Rep. Patricia Serpa (D-West Warwick), said the latest effort includes about 47 changes, some of them having to do with police records and footage from body-worn cameras.
The Middletown Democrat points to how a critical inspection report on the Washington Bridge was shielded from public view – because it was a draft document – in arguing for the need for change.
“It was a draft document for well over a year, almost a year and a half,” DiPalma said, “so there [would be] language put in place that draft documents after a certain point in time will be released. Or if they’re superseded and the final comes out, then the final will be released with whatever redactions have to be made.”
DiPalma faulted opposition from Gov. Dan McKee for blocking progress on updating APRA. A McKee spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.
Public records are an important source of information for reporters and they can be requested by citizens.
In an effort to address concerns, the bill proposed for 2026 will include an effort to blunt the effect of so-called “vexatious requests” for public records.
DiPalma said cities, towns and school departments expressed concern about how many APRA requests they get.
“What we need to look at is if someone’s doing this as a vexatious request, basically to disrupt the operation of government – whether a school department, municipality, the state or whatever,” DiPalma said.
If this change were to be adopted, a recipient of a public records request could petition a judge to reduce or deny it, he said.
DiPalma called that a good balance since recipients will need to process a request if their challenge is found not to be in good faith.
State Rep. Jason Knight (D-Barrington) said Monday he will be the House sponsor of the APRA bill backed by DiPalma in the Senate.
This story has been updated to include information from State Rep. Jason Knight.
