PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The Rhode Island General Assembly is challenging the "F" mark it recently received from the Sunlight Foundation for its website's transparency.
House Speaker Gordon Fox and Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed said through their spokesmen that their offices are reaching out to the Washington, D.C.-based good government group to "rectify" the report card.
"We challenge the accuracy in some of the areas of the rankings and we are reaching out to the Sunlight Foundation to rectify it," the spokesmen said in a statement. "We are continually striving to upgrade our website."
Improving access to legislative information -- particularly revamping the legislature's website -- has been a top priority in recent years for Assembly leaders.
The spokesmen noted that the Assembly has already planned to address many of the deficiencies that led to the "F" mark.
That includes offering live web-streaming of all floors sessions and many committee meetings, posting committee votes online in real time and introducing a "bill-tracking feature" to help the public "better follow the legislative trail of all bills."