Two summers in the past, The Seattle Instances and 16 different media organizations petitioned the state lawyer common’s workplace to make clear public companies’ accountability to share data with individuals who request them.
Regardless of collaboration with AG Nick Brown’s workplace and his promising guidelines proposal introduced final October, the method slowed down and the workplace’s communication with media petitioners slowed to a trickle till a revised proposal was revealed on the finish of Could.
Voters enacted the state Public Data Act by initiative in 1972. On the time, the brand new regulation permitted solely a handful of exemptions from disclosure. Amongst them had been exemptions associated to an company’s personnel points or litigation. Through the years, the Legislature enacted tons of extra. In 2007, the Legislature established the Sunshine Committee to assessment exemptions and associated points. However the committee has turn out to be toothless because of the feckless indifference of legislators who ignore most proposals to make companies extra clear.
The state of public data is dire on this state. For an evaluation, take a look at the Washington Coalition of Open Government‘s 2025 “Your Proper to Know” report.
That’s among the many causes media organizations requested the lawyer common to extra clearly spell out what’s within the authentic regulation and the way it needs to be interpreted by companies — whether or not state companies, metropolis councils, faculty boards or hospital districts.
At a 3 p.m. listening to Tuesday in Olympia, the general public can weigh in on the AG’s revised proposal in individual or remotely. You may also submit written feedback. To take part, go to: st.news/input.
As for the revised guidelines, open authorities advocates have considerations about among the adjustments. Particularly, the newest proposal backtracked on a better bar for notifying third events talked about in a public disclosure that they will search an injunction to bar launch.
Such notifications needs to be very uncommon. Public paperwork belong to the folks.
As soon as extra with feeling, the wording from Washington’s voter-enacted Public Data Act:
The folks, in delegating authority, don’t give their public servants the proper to resolve what is nice for the folks to know and what’s not good for them to know. The folks insist on remaining knowledgeable in order that they might preserve management over the devices that they’ve created.
