Bill exempting domestic violence survivors from the PRA passes House

A bill that would exempt certain identifying information from the Public Records Act for state agency and K-12 employees who are survivors of domestic violence, sexual abuse, harassment, and stalking passed the House last week on an 80-15 vote.

HB 1533, sponsored by Rep. Sharlett Mena (D–Tacoma), exempts a certain personal identifying information for state agency and K-12 school employees from Public Records Act (PRA) disclosure if the employee can demonstrate that they (or their dependent) are a survivor or domestic violence, sexual abuse, stalking, or harassment. To have their information exempted from PRA disclosure, an employee would need to submit to their employing agency a signed, sworn statement (under penalty of perjury) attesting to their status as a survivor or that they have a reasonable basis to believe they are at risk of domestic violence, sexual abuse, stalking, or harassment. Such sworn statements would expire after two years but could be renewed.

The bill also allows those employees to present proof that they or their dependent are participating in a victim address confidentiality program under RCW 40.24 in lieu of a sworn statement. The employing agency’s documentation of sworn statements or evidence of program participation would also be confidential and non-disclosable under the PRA.

AWC signed on to a letter urging the legislature to take action on HB 1533. While the bill doesn’t impact city government employees, it is a commonsense measure that ensures bad actors can’t abuse the Public Records Act to access their victims’ personal information and continue to harass survivors just because they happen to be public employees. Current law would require the public employee to go to court to seek an injunction against disclosure on a case-by-case basis, which is a time consuming and expensive process.