The Senate State Government, Tribal Affairs & Election Committee chose to not act on HB 2637 ahead of the policy committee cutoff, which renders the bill dead this session. HB 2637 sought to expand protected personal information from Public Records Act (PRA) requests. This expansion of exempted information would have had significant impacts to local governments, especially small cities, as they worked to complete timely PRA requests while processing potentially cumbersome redactions.

Legislature seeks to protect additional personal information from PRA requests

February 6, 2026

A bill seeking to expand protected personal information from Public Records Act (PRA) requests continues to move through the Legislature. HB 2637 adds the following list of personal information that may be submitted to, obtained, or maintained by agencies to the exemption under RCW 42.56.230:

• Age;
• Birth date;
• Preferred language;
• Place of birth;
• Residential addresses not used as a business address, contained in voter registration subject to disclosure, or used in real property records;
• Location, geolocation, or GPS data with exception for agency employees on official duty within the scope of employment;
• Government-issued identifiers, such as social security number, passport number, driver’s license number, student number, vehicle license plate number, or application number; and
• Individual consumer utilities data.

The bill advanced to the House Appropriations Committee. If it passes out of the fiscal committee, it will need to pass off the House floor by February 17 to continue.