Exemptions for public employees pass, other PRA bills fail

Public employees will have new protections from public records requests for their public information starting in June.

Legislators began the 2020 session fully subject to the Public Records Act (PRA) for the first time. Many were unprepared and as result didn’t accept paper records from outside groups. The uncertainty meant that they weren’t very interested in making changes to the PRA. The exception was a bill to protect public employee personal information. HB 1888 passed with new protections for public employee birthdates and photographs as well as a requirement for employers to notify employees when certain personal information has been requested. AWC has heard from many cities about challenges with serial public records litigants and we hope to work with other open government stakeholders over the interim to find ways to limit the negative impacts of those serial litigants during the 2021 session.