Rhode Island Code of Regulations
Title 480 - State Housing Appeals Board
Chapter 00 - N/A
Subchapter 00 - N/A
Part 1 - Access to Public Records (480-RICR-00-00-1)
Section 480-RICR-00-00-1.4 - PROCEDURES TO REQUEST AND RECEIVE PUBLIC RECORDS

A. A request to inspect, copy and/or receive SHAB's Public Records (the "Request") shall be directed to SHAB orally or in writing at its offices located at 44 Washington Street, Providence, RI, 02903, during SHAB's business hours of 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. SHAB shall not require a written request for readily available public information such as its meeting notices published under the Open Meetings Act, the minutes of its meetings or any rules or regulations that it has promulgated.

B. The Chair of SHAB shall designate a member of SHAB or its administrative staff who shall review the Request and, with the advice of SHAB's Legal Counsel, determine whether each requested document constitutes a Public Record subject to disclosure.

C. SHAB will undertake all reasonable efforts to respond to the Request within ten (10) business days of its receipt. If SHAB is unable to comply within this time frame, it shall inform the requesting party of the need to extend the response date by no more than thirty (30) business days and shall state the good cause necessitating the extended response period.

D. SHAB shall not be obligated to produce for inspection or copy records which are not in its possession. If a Public Record is in storage and is therefore not available for inspection, SHAB shall inform the requesting party of this fact and make arrangements to retrieve the records as expeditiously as they may be made available.

E. Any person or entity requesting copies of SHAB's Public Records may elect to obtain them in any and all media in which SHAB is capable of providing them. To the extent that SHAB maintains any Public Records in a computer storage system, it shall provide any data properly identified in a printout or other reasonable format, as requested.

F. SHAB is not required to reorganize, consolidate, or compile data which is not maintained in the form requested at the time of the request to inspect Public Records, except to the extent that such Public Records are in an electronic format and SHAB would not be unduly burdened producing such data.

G. The Chair's designee may restrict access to specified times and days, consistent with these Rules, if it is determined that this is reasonably necessary or appropriate to prevent unnecessary disruption of SHAB's work.