SB 5784, concerning public records disclosure of the legislative branch, died in committee last week after the bill faced strong opposition from the news media and open government advocates. If passed, the legislative branch would have been subject to the Public Records Act, but certain records, including draft materials and caucus communications, would have been exempt from disclosure.
On Thursday, February 21, House legislators introduced two bills HB 2105 and HB 2115, related to legislative records. The intent of both bills is to make state legislators and their offices subject to the terms of the Public Records Act just like local elected officials. It is currently unclear if the bills will make it past the February 22 committee cutoff.
Other public records bills introduced this session will continue forward in the legislative process. The public records bills moving forward include:
- HB 1667, an AWC-supported bill that improves the Joint Legislative Audit & Review Committee (JLARC) public record reporting requirements established by the 2017 Legislature under ESHB 1594. Additionally, the bill ends the sunset on the Attorney General Local Records Assistance Program and the State Archives Local Grant Program, both aimed at helping local governments improve their public records practices.
- HB 1537, developed based on the 2019 recommendations by the Public Records Exemptions Accountability (Sunshine) Committee, narrows the exemption on applications for public employment by excluding applications for vacancies in elected office from the exemption.
- HB 1538, also developed based on the 2019 recommendations by the Sunshine Committee, clarifies certain exemptions including exemptions related to employee contact and vendor proprietary information.
- HB 2019, if passed, would make it unlawful for agencies and individuals to post the telephone number or home address of any criminal justice agent or their family members.
- HB 2020 exempts the names of complainants, accusers, and witnesses from disclosure in investigative records compiled by state and local agencies.
- HB 1692 would exempt certain records concerning agency employees who have made a claim of harassment or stalking if the requestor is the person alleged in the claim to have harassed or stalked the employee. It also subjects a person to civil liability who requests and obtains a record and uses it, or provides it to someone who uses it, to harass, stalk, threaten, or intimidate an agency employee.