Open Records

Rhode Island’s public records law is the Access to Public Records Act (APRA), R.I. Gen. Laws §§ 38-2-1 et seq. It gives citizens the right to view, inspect, and copy public records held by state and municipal agencies, and defines which records are exempt.

Who can request records

Anyone can request public records – no residency requirement, no statement of purpose required, and no ID or personally identifiable information required to make a request. It’s illegal to use information obtained from public records to solicit for commercial purposes or gain a commercial advantage over the party who furnished the information.

What’s covered

Public records are all documents, in any physical form, “made or received pursuant to law or ordinance or in connection with the transaction of official business by any agency.” APRA applies to records maintained by state and municipal agencies, but does NOT apply to court case files – if you’re looking for documents from a specific court case, contact the clerk’s office of that court directly instead of filing an APRA request.

How to request

Requests can be made orally or in writing – a written request is often preferred for tracking purposes and is required if the request needs clarification or falls outside normal business hours. Many agencies have a Public Records Officer who handles intake.

Response timeline

Agencies have 10 business days to respond to a request. This can be extended by up to an additional 20 business days (making 30 total) if the agency demonstrates “good cause” – that additional time is necessary to avoid an undue burden in fulfilling the request. If an agency fails to grant access within 10 business days without an explanation, this counts as a denial, which can then be appealed. If a public body fails to produce records within the initial 10 business days (absent a proper denial), all copying and search/retrieval fees must be waived.

Fees

– Copying: up to $0.15/page for standard business/legal-size paper. – Search/retrieval: up to $15/hour, with the first hour free. – No charge for record responses of 10 pages or less that take under 1 hour of staff time (some municipalities apply this specific combined threshold). – Electronic records: agencies may not charge more than the reasonable actual cost of providing them. – Multiple requests from the same person within a 30-day period may be treated as a single request for fee-calculation purposes. – Payment of the estimated cost is generally required in advance.

Exemptions

APRA defines specific exempt categories, including information that would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy and other statutorily enumerated categories.

If your request is denied

A denied requester can file a complaint with the Rhode Island Attorney General, who will investigate and – if the complaint is found meritorious – can pursue injunctive or declaratory relief in Superior Court on the requester’s behalf. A requester can also independently pursue a private right of action for injunctive or declaratory relief in Superior Court in the county where the record is maintained. Courts have discretion to waive fees or award attorney’s fees if the request was “in the public interest,” and can order fees waived if a public body missed the 10-day deadline without proper cause.

A note on terminology

Rhode Island’s law is officially the “Access to Public Records Act” (APRA) – the same basic type of law that other states call an “Open Records Act,” “FOIA Laws” (South Carolina), or “Public Records Laws” (Tennessee).