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Aletheca

Rhode Island

Access to Public Records Act

R.I. Gen. Laws § 38-2-1 et seq. (APRA)

Public records law for Rhode Island. Covers state agencies, counties, municipalities, school districts, and special districts.

The clock

10 business days

10 business days; 20-business-day extension for good cause.

Statutory: 10 business days; 20-business-day extension for good cause.. Actual medians vary widely by agency and request complexity; simple requests often 7-30 days, complex 60-300+.

Reading the statute itself

The text of this one is not reproduced here. The United States Code carries no copyright, so federal FOIA is printed on this site in full; the fifty state codes are published by fifty legislatures under their own claims of compilation copyright, so they are linked instead. Everything on this page — the deadline, the appeal path, the fee-waiver standard — is Aletheca’s summary of that text, and the official source is one click away.

If they refuse

Appeal deadline
Not specified
Appeal route
Complaint to AG or superior court; AG advisory opinions.
Litigation
Not specified

Fees and expedition

Quirks worth knowing

10-day; relatively straightforward.