Rhode Island transparency headlines
From Sunshine Review
Transparency news from Rhode Island.
 | ||||
| Report It • | The Good • | The Bad • | The Ugly | |
R.I. House to vote on bill protecting deadly force offenders
The bill, expected to face a vote today, would specifically protect those officers involved in deadly force incidents that resulted in killing.[1] It would amend the Open Records Law, which currently mandates the release of police incident reports, exempting the officers involved in deadly force episodes from this requirement.
Rep. Kenneth A. Vaudreuil, a Democrat from Central Falls, introduced the bill at the request of Central Falls police. Both current and retired police officers are cosponsors on the bill.[2]
School’s legal bills under wraps
"The school district is refusing to release its legal bills despite the fact they are paid with taxpayer money and normally considered public records.
The town routinely makes its legal bills public, but the school attorney denied a request from Bill McCombe to turn over the school legal bills, saying to do so would violate attorney/client privilege."
Coalition seeks to open birth records in R.I.
"A group of activists is pushing Rhode Island to join a handful of other states that allow adopted children to get access to their birth certificates.
The Rhode Island Adoption Coalition for Equality will hold its first public meeting Saturday at 1 p.m. at Lachapelle Funeral Home, 643 Main Street, Pawtucket.
Members are trying to build support for legislation before the General Assembly that would let adults who were adopted as children get copies of their original birth certificates."
Carcieri must turn over documents
"A judge has ordered Rhode Island Gov. Don Carcieri to turn over documents describing the state’s chain-of-command when the governor is away.
Superior Court Judge Patricia Hurst ruled Tuesday that Carcieri must provide her with documents sought by the American Civil Liberties Union in an open records lawsuit. Carcieri’s attorney has said some of those documents are exempt from disclosure.
After reviewing the documents, Hurst will decide what can be made public."
No determination of public vs. private when commission destroys applications
"Applications to be a judge in Rhode Island are piling up. Wedged into a corner of a third-floor state office are the brown folders containing at least five years’ worth of them, resembling a homework-stuffed high school locker.
The files hold resumés, financial and other disclosures, and letters of support from influential people. And more are coming. Seven vacancies, from Family Court to Supreme Court chief justice, face the commission that recommends finalists to Governor Carcieri."
Westerly declines to release investigation records
"Westerly town officials have rejected a newspaper’s request for records related to an internal police investigation of a detective who recently resigned.
The Sun newspaper of Westerly sought all records, reports and statements made during the Westerly Police Department’s investigation of Detective Darren Fiore.
But town solicitor Steven Hartford denied a request, saying the records were not covered by the state’s Access to Public Records Act."
Changes proposed in state pensions
"Taking away the promise of 3-percent annual pension hikes for retired state workers and public school teachers could save taxpayers as much as $78.6 million next year, according to a just-completed financial analysis of one of Governor Carcieri’s pension-cutting proposals.
Making all but the most senior employees wait until age 65 before they can start drawing a pension could shave another $156.9 million off the annual pension bill paid by state and local taxpayers."
RI town sued over alleged open records violation
"A civil liberties group is accusing the North Smithfield police department of violating the state's open records law by refusing to turn over an arrest report that it says should have been public.
The state affiliate of the Rhode Island American Civil Liberties Union sued the department Thursday in Providence Superior Court."
State withholds details of retiree awards
"The Carcieri administration is refusing to disclose the number of unused vacation and sick days it awarded recent state retirees who, in some cases, walked out the door with severance checks averaging $10,500, but running as high as the $129,158 paid to former Rhode Island College president John Nazarian.
In total, taxpayers paid $16.5 million in severance payments to the 1,521 state workers and college employees who retired in the five months before the price of health coverage for new state retirees went up on Oct. 1."
State ordered to give records to union
"A Rhode Island Superior Court judge yesterday ordered the Carcieri administration to turn over contracts and other records pertaining to its privatization efforts to the union that represents state workers.
Judge Netti C. Vogel said a state law passed last year, over Governor Carcieri’s veto, gives Council 94, American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees, “a clear legal right … to access the specific public records that they sought from [administration officials].”"
