2 national groups encourage Chafee to sign public records bill

WPRI.COM

Ted Nesi

Updated: Jun 15, 2012 5:09 PM

Two prominent national organizations have added their voices to the chorus encouraging Governor Chafee to sign the beefed-up access to public records bill lawmakers passed earlier this week.

The National Freedom of Information Coalition in Columbia, Mo., and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press in Arlington, Va., both said Friday they’ve written the governor in support of the legislation.

“The important reforms in this bill will help to ensure that the principle of open, transparent government is more than a platitude in the state of Rhode Island,” Kenneth Bunting, the coalition’s executive director and head of the Missouri School of Journalism’s Freedom of Information Center, told Chafee.

Chafee’s spokeswoman has said he is weighing whether to sign the bill after expressing reservations about some of its provisions. Neither the House nor the Senate had transmitted the bills to the governor’s desk as of mid-afternoon Friday.

• Related: Common Cause, NEFAC urge Chafee to sign public records bill (June 13)

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