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Boston Globe
10 hours ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Lawson may serve as president of both the state Senate and teachers union, R.I. Ethics Commission says
Commission member Hugo L. Ricci Jr., a retired judge, issued the lone 'no' vote, asking if the staff had taken into consideration 'the vast power' that the Senate president holds. Advertisement 'Mere recusal may not be sufficient,' Ricci said. 'She is in a class of one. She is not a general member of the Senate. She is the president of the Senate, and with that comes vast powers.' Get Rhode Map A weekday briefing from veteran Rhode Island reporters, focused on the things that matter most in the Ocean State. Enter Email Sign Up Ricci noted that former Senate President Dominick J. Ruggerio, He said Ruggerio represents the only precedent for this specific situation, and he sought to ask Lawson, who attended the meeting, whether she agreed with what Ruggerio did. But other commission members cut off that line of questioning, saying Tuesday's meeting was not an investigatory hearing. Ricci also asked what others states do regarding situations of this type. But the commission chairman, Lauren E. Jones, said the Ethics Commission can only apply Rhode Island statutes and regulations. 'What other states do in this context is really irrelevant to our situation,' he said. Advertisement After the meeting, reporters asked what Lawson thought of Ruggerio's decision to leave his union post, 'I can't speak to the legality of a precedent, whether that applies or not,' Lawson said, adding that she's not sure why Ruggerio did not hold both positions simultaneously. Lawson said she has recused herself from certain votes during her tenure in the Senate, including two recent votes on labor-related bills. And, she said, 'I'll continue to be thoughtful and mindful in the process and use the standards outlined by the commission.' In a written statement, Lawson said, 'I am pleased that the Ethics Commission has affirmed that the standard I had been using as a senator, as whip, and as majority leader remains applicable in my role as president of the Senate. She said the Ethics Commission decision 'helps to distinguish between a vague notion of a perceived, general conflict and an actual, specific conflict requiring recusal under the Code of Ethics.' Also, Lawson said, 'It ensures that one does not have to be retired or independently wealthy to serve in this role. This decision supports the operation of our legislative body as the framers intended: a part-time, citizen legislature comprised of a diverse membership from all walks of life, who can draw from their varied experiences to best serve the public.' Lawson, who is 58, earns After the meeting, Common Cause Rhode Island executive director John M. Marion said the advisory opinion analysis is 'a little naive' about what the office of Senate president involves. Advertisement While it mentions the Senate president sets the 'consent calendar,' it doesn't mention her influence over the calendar of bills voted on the Senate floor, he said. And while it mentions she no longer sits on particular committee, it doesn't mention that the Senate president has ex officio power to sit on any committee, he said. Marion said he is glad that Lawson sought guidance from the Ethics Commission, but he said it's unusual for an opinion to address a potential conflict without reference to specific legislation. And he said he expects Lawson will be back before the Ethics Commission to address whether she may vote on particular bills. Marion noted that two of the four Senate presidents in state history stepped away from their day jobs to lead the chamber, and the two Senate president who kept their other jobs — William V. Irons and Joseph A. Montalbano — " were pursued by the Ethics Commission." In 2019, the state Ethics Commission And in 2024, the Ethics Commission But the circumstances are different now that Lawson is president of both the Senate and NEARI, Marion has said. Advertisement 'Lawson is no longer a classroom teacher or vice president of NEARI,' he said. 'She's president of NEARI, responsible for a very large organization with lots of business before the state Senate. Her duty to lead NEARI at the same time as exercising the vast powers of Senate president create a unique challenge.' Marion said other legislators might be able to sidestep conflicts of interest by recusing themselves from certain votes and stepping out of the room during any debate. 'But as Senate president, you can't really step out of the room when the final decision needs to be made,' he said, noting the Senate president plays a pivotal role in deciding which bills make it to floor votes and in negotiating with the House and the governor. Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at
Boston Globe
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Advocates push for updated R.I. public records law, seeking access to state's crash data
Advertisement 'When government hides information like crash data from the public, it is not just advocates and journalists that suffer,' Giles said. 'It is every Rhode Islander who walks, bikes, drives, takes public transit, or relies on emergency services. It is every family seeking answers after a tragedy.' Get Rhode Map A weekday briefing from veteran Rhode Island reporters, focused on the things that matter most in the Ocean State. Enter Email Sign Up Giles joined the legislative sponsors and advocates at a news conference in the State Library on Wednesday. 'Rhode Island should not remain a national outlier in secrecy,' he said. 'We deserve better.' The legislation is scheduled to come before the This is the third straight year that Advertisement DiPalma, a Middletown Democrat, said he saw the need for greater government transparency when he chaired the Senate oversight committee and found it difficult to get certain information. Also, he said the law needs to reflect new technology such as police body-worn cameras. 'We've waited too long,' DiPalma said. 'The time to to do it is now.' The proposed changes include: Body camera footage from use-of-force incidents would be made public within 30 days. Final reports of police internal affairs investigations would be accessible to the public, with personally identifiable information redacted. 911 call recordings would be more easily available to those directly affected. All documents discussed at a public meeting must be available to the public at the time they are being discussed. Requesters could seek a public interest exemption to, or reduction of, search and retrieval fees for public records. The blanket exemption for any correspondence of or to elected officials in their official capacities would be removed, but it would keep confidential records that are not related to official business. Fines would double for 'knowing and willful' violations to $4,000 from $2,000, and fines for 'recklessly' violating the law would double to $2,000 from $1,000. No fee would be charged for the first two hours of time spent searching for and retrieving documents (up from one hour), and no charge would be allowed for the denial of a records request. While this bill aims to reduce such costs, advocates noted that DiPalma said he added one new provision to this year's bill to address concerns, raised by the That section states that, 'If a person makes a request to view or copy a public record that is part of a series of contemporaneous requests filed with the intent to disrupt government operations, the chief administrative officer of the public body may petition the Superior Court for an order to relieve the custodian of the records from fulfilling the request.' Senator Louis P. DiPalma, a Middletown Democrat, speaks about his bill to update the state Access to Public Records Act. Edward Fitzpatrick John M. Marion, executive director of Common Cause Rhode Island, said that after the 2020 election, there was 'a coordinated effort to really gum up the works at election offices around the country by making vexatious requests, particularly about Dominion voting systems. They weren't made in good faith.' Advertisement So the new provision aims to head off such requests, Marion said. 'It's not to deal with the requests that all of us make in the public interest,' he said. The legislation has been 'We often complete oversight hearings, and we feel that information has been withheld,' Serpa said. 'The withholding of information is counterproductive to the purposes of oversight meetings in the first place.' In December, DiPalma said residents might not mention the Access to Public Records Act when a politician knocks on their door. 'But I think when you say to somebody, 'Do you want your government to be open, fair, and transparent?' Of course, absolutely. No one will say no.' Charlie Galligan, a private investigator who spoke at the news conference, said, 'No disrespect to the speaker, but that sounds kind of dismissive.' Members of the public might not have a detailed grasp of the Access to Public Records Act, he said. 'But when they consume news, they're all the beneficiary of the APRA law. When the media is prevented from access, that does negatively impact the citizenry.' Scott Pickering, president of Advertisement For example, he said the Barrington School Department lost a court case and then pursued a series of lengthy appeals. Citizens began to question how much the legal battle was costing the school department, but the district refused to release that information, saying the documents were held by an outside law firm that wasn't subject to the open records law. So this legislation would close that 'loophole,' making records public even if they are held by a third party, he said. During the news conference, DiPalma quoted the late US Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis: 'Publicity is justly commended as a remedy for social and industrial diseases. Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants; electric light the most efficient policeman.' Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
McKee isn't budging on changes to public records law. Neither are reform advocates.
Sen. Lou DiPalma, a Middletown Democrat and sponsor of legislation reforming Rhode Island's Access to Public Records Act, speaks at a State House press conference on Wednesday, May 21, 2025. (Photo by Nancy Lavin/Rhode Island Current) Attempts to compromise haven't appeared to reduce the state administration's objections to reforming Rhode Island's public records law. This year, advocates didn't bother consulting with Gov. Dan McKee's office for feedback prior to unveiling proposed changes to the Access to Public Records Act. Instead, they made the case directly to lawmakers, and the public, at a State House press conference Wednesday, one day before an initial Senate panel hearing on the legislation. 'Last year, we made a number of changes after dozens of meetings with the administration, and we still got opposition,' said John Marion, executive director of Common Cause Rhode Island. 'We didn't want to compromise against ourselves this year.' Indeed, the companion bills introduced by Sen. Lou DiPalma, a Middletown Democrat, and Rep. Pat Serpa, a West Warwick Democrat, are nearly identical to the sweeping set of reforms pitched during the 2024 session. The bills failed to advance out of committee in either chamber last year, buried in a mountain of objections by state agencies. Scott Pickering, publisher of East Bay Media Group and president of ACCESS/RI, called the administration's past concerns 'exaggerated' and 'intended to create fear.' 'I don't buy it,' Pickering said of arguments that the proposed reforms burdened state agencies and jeopardized sensitive information. 'Look at the groups supporting it. These are not radical groups hoping to undermine the government. These are groups devoted to the best interests of our democracy with noble intentions rooted in the public interest.' Supporters also include the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island, the New England First Amendment Coalition, the League of Women Voters of Rhode Island and the Rhode Island Press Association, of which Rhode Island Current is a member. McKee's office did not respond to inquiries for comment Wednesday. Despite Pickering's adamant refusal to kowtow to 'scare tactics,' one new addition this year aims to assuage objections by municipalities. Among the 48 proposed amendments to the 1978 law — last updated in 2012 — is a section addressing 'vexatious requests.' The caveat weeds out requests intended to 'disrupt government operations,' authorizing the chief administrator of any public body subject to open records laws to seek a Rhode Island Superior Court order exempting them from fulfilling a records request. Across the country, and in Rhode Island, public bodies are seeing records requests for no other reason than to take them away from their regular duties. Marion referred to a coordinated effort on the heels of the 2020 election to bombard local elections officials with requests about voting equipment, with the intent to 'gum up the works of election offices around the country.' DiPalma stressed the 'fine line' between nuisance requests and those with good intentions, but noted that the proposed bill still requires public bodies to proceed with filling 'vexatious' requests if and until a court orders otherwise. Under the proposed legislation, anyone who obtains records through a request later determined to be vexatious will have to reimburse the public body for the time and cost to complete the task. Much of the remaining reforms, however, aim to make it easier, and more affordable, for the public to request and obtain various forms of public information, including body camera footage, traffic accident data and investigations into police misconduct. 'We're really here to make sure members of the public have access to public information without having to pay burdensome costs, and when the government withholds it, they do it for a good reason,' said Michael McDermott, a board member for ACCESS/RI. For example, the reform bill clarifies that university police departments given power to make arrests are subject to the same public disclosure of arrest records as other public law enforcement groups. Brown University's police department has argued it is exempt from the state public records law, said Steven Brown, executive director for the RI ACLU. Another paragraph specifies that traffic accident data is subject to public records laws, reflecting the Rhode Island Department of Transportation's use of existing loopholes to refuse to provide crash data requested by community advocates with the Providence Streets Coalition. Other changes reflect modern technology which was nonexistent, or at least less heavily relied upon, when the law was last updated more than a decade ago. Police body camera footage is among the new types of records that would be added to the law under the legislation, as well as text messages and emails sent in official government capacity — previously exempt but now subject to sharing unless they are unrelated to official government business. Another nod to the shift to the digital age: requiring public bodies to upload any documents related to their meetings online beforehand, like a contract for a new hire or a proposed policy change. The proposal also reduces the cost charged for locating and sharing public records — increasing the number of free hours of work from one to two hours while cutting the cost-per-page for copies of information from 15 to five cents. And it specifies that fees for records requests 'shall' be waived if the person requesting them can demonstrate the information is of public interest. The existing law offers the option that fees 'may' be waived for public interest reasons. Several tweaks aim to head off privacy concerns voiced by state agencies during the 2024 session hearings, narrowing the scope of medical records subject to public disclosure, for example, and allowing identifying information in police misconduct reports to be redacted to protect privacy. Charlie Galligan, a criminal defense private investigator, was optimistic that the amendments would pass muster with McKee's office. 'I can only imagine [the amendments have] addressed concerns and removed concerns by Governor McKee and other entities that have objected to previous versions of this legislation,' Galligan said. DiPalma was less certain of the administration's viewpoint, but pointed to the change in Senate leadership as a potential advantage; newly elected Senate President Valarie Lawson and Senate Majority Leader Frank Ciccone are both co-sponsors on the Senate bill. The bill is scheduled to have a first hearing before the Senate Committee on Judiciary Thursday night. 'As a former history teacher, I am very mindful of the importance of robust public records laws to the strength of our democracy, and to maintaining public trust,' Lawson said in an emailed statement Wednesday. 'I am grateful to Senator DiPalma for his passion and his tireless work on this issue. When concerns were raised with previous versions of this proposal, Chairman DiPalma worked to bring parties together and address those concerns. Subsequent to the Senate hearing tomorrow evening, I will review the testimony regarding this year's version of the bill with an open mind.' House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi, however, noted past opposition from the administration, without taking a position on the bill either way. 'I look forward to reviewing Senator DiPalma's amended language after his bill is heard in the Senate,' Shekarchi said in an emailed statement Wednesday. A hearing on the House companion bill has also not been scheduled as of Wednesday. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Boston Globe
14-03-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
R.I. bill seeks to hike fees for public records requests
'What's happening is people go to town hall or the police department and request records,' he said Friday. 'A lot of time is spent digging out records and retrieving them before releasing them, and the person doesn't pick them up. But the biggest reason is these people might come back in two weeks and say 'get me public records,' and they haven't paid the town for the first one.' Get Rhode Map A weekday briefing from veteran Rhode Island reporters, focused on the things that matter most in the Ocean State. Enter Email Sign Up Azzinaro's proposal is at odds with a multi-year campaign to Advertisement 'These are the public's records,' said Steven Brown, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island. 'Individuals should no more have to pay to see public records than they should have to pay for admission to attend a town council meeting.' Azzinaro's bill is receiving attention just before 'This bill puts some clouds over the sunshine this week,' Brown said. 'There has been a clear need for open records reform in this state for many years, and a bill like this goes in precisely the wrong direction. There are too many barriers right now for the public to gain access to records, and this increased cost is another one that should not see the light of day.' Advertisement John M. Marion, executive director of Common Cause Rhode Island, said, 'If this bill passes, it will cost more for Rhode Islanders to find out what their government is doing with their tax dollars. We should be making it less expensive, not more expensive, for the public to access records.' He said it's unclear whether people could be turned away if they have outstanding records fees in other parts of the state or what would happen if a requester did not have the ability to pay. 'This is a bill that should be held for further study,' Marion said. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Louis P. DiPalma, a Middletown Democrat, has been pushing to One of those proposed changes would lower the costs of public records searches by eliminating fees for the first two hours of a search or retrieval, and then charging $15 per hour. When asked about Azzinaro's bill, DiPalma said, 'We need to make the access to information easier, not harder. I believe increasing the cost drives us in the opposite direction.' DiPalma said people should pay for records they request, but he said the issue of unpaid fees never came up in all the conversations he's had about his legislation with the Rhode Island League of Cities and Towns. He said he expects to introduce his bill by the end of March, and he expects to again lead the effort along with House Oversight Committee Chairwoman Patricia A. Serpa, a West Warwick Democrat. Advertisement That But the legislation has been DiPalma has noted that the opposition is coming from government agencies, not members of the public. 'What are they afraid of?' he said in March 2024. 'This is information to help the public be better informed about our government.' Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ethics panel moves forward with rule change to subject lobbyists to gift limits
The Rhode Island Ethics Commission voted to pursue a rule change to specifically make lobbyists among those prohibited from giving gifts over $25 to public employees and officials at its meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current) The Rhode Island Ethics Commission voted Tuesday to pursue changing state rules to include lobbyists among those who are banned from giving gifts over $25 to public employees and officials. The 5-2 vote on part of a petition filed in December by Common Cause Rhode Island will begin the process of strengthening the 'gift rule' in the state's ethics code. The state already bans gifts over $25 to state employees from people who could stand to benefit from a relationship with them, but lobbyists are not included in that category by definition. The government watchdog group pushed for the ethics panel to clarify its authority over gifts made by lobbyists after an October 2024 report by the Office of Attorney General that found Gov. Dan McKee accepted tens of thousands of dollars of free consulting services while steering a multi-million dollar state contract to the ILO Group, which had ties to Chiefs for Change, the nonprofit providing the gift. 'We just don't think nonprofits should be able to give gifts to public officials when they're also simultaneously lobbying them,' said Common Cause Rhode Island Executive Director John Marion in an interview. Voting in favor were Chair Lauren E. Jones, Emma L. Peterson. Scott P. Rabideau Hugo L. Ricci, Jr. and Matthew Strauss. Opposed were Vice Chair Holly J. Susi and Frank J. Cenerini. Absent were Michael Browner Jr. and Jill Harrison. Common Cause Rhode Island had also asked the commission for two additional rule changes. The panel voted 7-0 to reject the organization's request seeking to require the disclosure of gifts of $25 or more if it is likely that the gift would not have been given but for the fact that the recipient holds a public office or position. Commissioners took no action on a request for a broad review of the section of the ethics code that applies to procurement, which has not been amended since 1993. The commission had postponed voting on Common Cause Rhode Island's petition in January in order to have more time to review the requests and the attorney general report issued at the conclusion of a three-year investigation. The probe found insufficient evidence to prosecute McKee for influencing the awarding of a federally-funded contract to help schools meet COVID-19 safety protocols in the wake of the pandemic, alongside summer and afterschool programs to address learning loss. Marion acknowledged that three distinct parts for one petition made for a complex request. 'It would have been nice if they moved forward on all three, but I'm glad that the very obvious loophole in the code of ethics that we identified is the one that they're moving forward,' Marion said. 'Disclosure, while important, is not trying to ban behavior that we think is wrong. What we're trying to do is stop behavior that we think is wrong.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
