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Katie Castellani | SHNS
The number of open meeting law complaints and violations reported to the attorney general’s office in 2025 rose above 2024 levels and many more complaints were sent to public bodies directly.
In 2025, Campbell’s office received 395 open meeting law complaints, up from the 364 complaints filed in 2024, according to a report the attorney general’s office Division of Open Government released Monday. Of the 395 complaints the division received, 306 were resolved through determinations or declinations. Although complaints came from across the state's geography, none appeared to involve either Franklin or Medway.
The report notes the division was notified of 703 complaints filed with public bodies that were not formally filed with the attorney general’s office. This is likely because the complainant was okay with the public body’s response to their complaint or they understood that the issues raised did not fall under the open meetings law, according to the report. State law requires public bodies to notify the attorney general's office when they receive open meeting law complaints. A complaint is not considered filed with the division until the complainant requests that the attorney general’s office review their complaint further.
The division found violations in about 56% of the complaints filed in 2025, up from 54% reported in 2024. And the violation rate sits at 46% when considering each violation separately because many complaints alleged separate violations of the law, according to the report.
The most frequent violations were: insufficient specific meeting notice; inaccurate or insufficiently detailed meeting minutes; deliberations outside of a posted meeting; convening executive sessions for improper purposes; and meetings that were not accessible to the public.
The division collected a total of $1,350 in fines from the six public bodies it found had intentionally violated the law in 2025, according to the report.
