Washington Public Records Act
From Sunshine Review
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The Washington Public Records Act (PRA) is a series of laws designed to guarantee that the public has access to public records of government bodies at all levels in Washington.
The introduction to the statute explains the reason for the PRA: "The people of this state do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies that serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so that they may maintain control over the instruments that they have created."[1]
The Washington Open Public Meetings Act legislates the methods by which public meetings are conducted.
[edit] Transparency report card
A 2008 study, BGA - Alper Integrity Index, conducted by the Better Government Association and sponsored by Alper Services, ranked Washington #4 in the nation with an overall percentage of 62.10%. [2]
A 2007 study, Graded state responsiveness to FOI requests, conducted by BGA and the NFOIC, gave Washington 56 points out of a possible 100, a letter grade of "F", and a ranking of 16 out of the 50 states.[3]
A 2002 study, Freedom of Information in the USA, conducted by IRE and BGA, ranked Washington's law as the 8th best in the country, giving it a letter grade of "C+".[4]
[edit] Features of the law
[edit] What agencies are covered?
The act applies to all state and local agencies.
It is questionable whether the act applies to all records of the state legislature. The Washington State Supreme Court issued an unclear decision in Cowles Publishing Co. v. Murphy in 1981.[5]
In May 2009, the Washington State Sunshine Committee held a hearing on whether to abolish the state legislature's exemption.[6]
[edit] Relevant legal cases
- Yousoufian v. Office of Ron Sims
- Rental Housing Association of Puget Sound v. City of Des Moines 2009
- Wood v. Battle Ground School District. In this 2001 appellate decision, the court found that e-mails between school board members to decide on the termination of employment of an employee violated the intent of the OPMA.[7],[8]
- Soter v. Cowles Publishing, 2007
- Hangartner v. City of Seattle, 2004
- ACLU v. City of Seattle 2004
- Progressive Animal Welfare Society v. University of Washington, 1994
- Brouillet v. Cowles Publishing, 1990
- Hearst Corp. v. Hoppe, 1978. This decision says that the PRA is "a strongly worded mandate for broad disclosure of public records".
- Cathcart v. Andersen, 1975
[edit] Notable requests
[edit] 2009
The Evergreen Freedom Foundation's request for a copy of documents pertaining to Gov. Gregoire's list of 87 ideas for how to solve the Washington state budget's woe was declined by the governor's office on the grounds of "executive privilege." The Evergreen Freedom Foundation denies that an "executive privilege" exemption exists in Washington's sunshine law and has requested reconsideration.[9],[10]
[edit] 1997
- Main article: Yousoufian v. Office of Ron Sims
In 1997, prior to a vote in King County on a ballot initiative on whether the county should help fund what became Qwest Field/Seahawk Stadium, Armen Yousoufian requested documents from the county regarding feasibility studies it had performed and which it said supported building the Field. King County could have produced the records within five business days, but took four years. In 2009, the Washington State Supreme Court said that a fine against the county of $124,000 levied by a lower court isn't enough to punish the county for its foot-dragging, and ordered the lower court to beef up the fine.[11]
In its ruling, the court referred to King County's "grossly negligent noncompliance with the Public Records Act. Under the facts of this case we hold the trial court abused its discretion by imposing a penalty at the low end of the PRA penalty range."[12]
[edit] Proposed changes
A raft of new legislation to change the law has been introduced in the state's 2009 legislative session. [13]
Senate:
- SB 5119 - Eliminate the Washington Sunshine Committee. [14]
- SB 5130 - Prisoner access to public records.[15] Sen. Mike Carrell (R-Lakewood) is the sponsor and says he has concerns that the current law (which allows prisoners to file FOIA requests) may be too liberal. [16]
- SB 5249 - Changing public records request provisions.[17]
- SB 5250 - Increases the maximum per page copying charge under the public records act.[18]
- SB 5251 - Defines per page cost for the purpose of copying costs under the public records act.[19]
The Seattle Times editorialized against the three bills proposed by Sen. Darlene Fairley (D-Shoreline): SB5249, SB5250 and SB5251, calling their common theme of increasing the costs of obtaining open records "a move sure to discourage people with the right to keep tabs on their government". [20]
House:
- HB 1017 - Creating a committee to study the feasibility of creating a board with public records act and open public meetings act responsibilities. [21]
- HB 1105 - Regarding public disclosure of records relevant to a controversy to which an agency is a party. [22]
- HB 1106 - Removing the ability of agencies to enjoin the examination of a specific public record. [23]
- HB 1107 - Regarding local government self-insurance programs and public records. [24]
- HB 1181 - Regarding prisoner access to public records.[25]
- HB 1288 - Exempts the annual parental declaration of intent to home school from the public disclosure act.[26]
- HB 1316 - Provides a court procedure to enjoin the production of public records the court deems were made for the purpose of harassment.[27]
- HB 1317 - Governs the disclosure of public records containing information used to locate or identify employees of criminal justice agencies.[28]
- HB 1471 - Removing the public records exemption for certain records addressing public sector collective bargaining. [29] [30]
[edit] Open meetings
"The legislature finds and declares that all public commissions, boards, councils, committees, subcommittees, departments, divisions, offices, and all other public agencies of this state and subdivisions thereof exist to aid in the conduct of the people's business. It is the intent of this chapter that their actions be taken openly and that their deliberations be conducted openly.
The people of this state do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies which serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so that they may retain control over the instruments they have created."[31]
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Revised Code of Washington public records act
- Revised Code of Washington open meetings act
- Open Government Guide to Washington
- Washington on WikiFOIA
- Washington Attorney General open records ombudsman
[edit] References
- ↑ Revised Code of Washington 42.56.030
- ↑ Integrity Index available for download here
- ↑ Graded state responsiveness to FOI requests, 2007
- ↑ Freedom of Information in the USA, 2002
- ↑ Open Government Guide to Washington's law
- ↑ Seattle Times, "Will Legislature open its own records?", May 11, 2009
- ↑ Text of Wood v. Battleground
- ↑ Greg's View: "Serial meetings are illegal", November 21, 2008
- ↑ Governor's budget office should release its secret stash of budget ideas, January 15, 2009
- ↑ Letter from Evergreen Freedom Foundation to Governor's office requesting copies of budget-saving ideas
- ↑ Seattle Post-Intelligencer, "Bigger fine for King Co's withholding of records", January 15, 2009
- ↑ News Tribune, "Supreme Court says judge fined King County too little for giving citizen runaround on records request for Seahawk stadium", January 15, 2009
- ↑ Sunshine returns to D.C., clouds gather in Olympia, News Tribune, January 25, 2009
- ↑ Eliminating the public exemptions accountability committee
- ↑ Prisoner access to public records
- ↑ Bill seeks to halt records 'fishing', Seattle Post Intelligence, February 11, 2009
- ↑ Public records request provisions
- ↑ Increases maximum per page copying charge
- ↑ Defines per page cost for the purpose of copying costs under the public records act
- ↑ Use technology to provide public records cheaply, Seattle Times, February 9, 2009
- ↑ Creating a committee to study the feasibility of creating a board with public records act and open public meetings act responsibilities
- ↑ Regarding public disclosure of records relevant to a controversy to which an agency is a party.
- ↑ Removing the ability of agencies to enjoin the examination of a specific public record.
- ↑ Regarding local government self-insurance programs and public records.
- ↑ Regarding prisoner access to public records.
- ↑ Text of HB 1288
- ↑ Text of HB 1316
- ↑ Text of HB 1317
- ↑ HB 1471 History
- ↑ Text of HB 1471
- ↑ Revised Code of Washington 42.30.010
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