PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Half of the 36 open-meetings complaints filed over the last year resulted in a finding by the attorney general's office of a violation of the state's open-meetings law.
A report made public by Atty. Gen. Peter Kilmartin's office on Monday says his office issued warnings in 15 cases and initiated litigation in response to three other complaints, including one lodged against the Rhode Island Student Loan Authority just settled.
Kilmartin's office announced Monday that the student loan authority had agreed, as part of the settlement, to admit its violation and pay a $1,000 fine.
On the open records front, Democrat Kilmartin's office took a stance in response to 34 of 42 complaints it received, and in 19 of those cases, it found a violation of the state's Access to Public Records Law. Warnings were issued in all 19 of those cases.
The office has not yet taken a stand on a complaint filed by the Providence Journal on July 2, 2012, about the refusal of the University of Rhode Island and the two state colleges to disclose the recipients of the tuition waivers given as an employment benefit to their employees.