WCOG Announces 2010 Legislative Priorities

At its December meeting, the Board of Directors of Washington Coalition for Open Government established the Coalition’s priorities for legislative action during the 2010 legislative session, which starts on Monday, January 11. These priorities include:

• Restore the original intent of the attorney-client communications exemption;
• Expand access to legislative and court records;
• Exempt recordings of executive sessions;
• Create a non-judicial process for review of PRA and OPMA disputes;
• Require open government training for government employees and elected officials;
• Improve preservation and access to electronic records;
• Require agencies to scan paper records into electronic form if requested;
• Prevent arbitrators or judges from ordering destruction of public records contrary to law; and,
• Reject elimination of the Sunshine Committee.

The full text of the recommendations is available on the Coalition web site at:

http://www.washingtoncog.org/pdfs/Legislative-Priorities-2010.pdf

These priorities are just a portion of the Coalition’s full legislative agenda, which may be viewed in its entirety at:

http://www.washingtoncog.org/pdfs/Legislative-Agenda.pdf

These priorities have been delivered by email to all 147 members of the state legislature, Governor Gregoire, the Attorney General, the Secretary of State, and the State Auditor. Sponsors are being sought for those bills that have not already been introduced. The Coalition will work with committee chairs to schedule hearings on the bills, provide testimony, and work to improve legislation and build support throughout the legislative process.

Coalition members will be informed of the progress of bills implementing these legislative priorities, and of all other legislation impacting on open government, in periodic legislative update emails throughout the session.

Help WCOG Make an Impact

The Washington Coalition for Open Government is on the front line of major legal battles to protect and expand open government. That effort will likely take us to the U.S. Supreme Court next month. At the December 11 meeting, your board of directors voted to establish the IMPACT Fund to support our fight for open government in the legal arena. 

Since WCOG’s founding in 2002, the organization has depended on the pro bono work of members of the Legal Committee to carry the burden of preparing amicus curiae briefs in cases where the right of the public to know what its government is doing is threatened.  In 2009 alone, one firm prepared five briefs on our behalf with no monetary help from the coalition.  We now face a situation that demands immediate action on the part of our entire membership.

On January 15, the United States Supreme Court will consider whether it will hear the appeal of the proponents of Referendum 71 to keep secret the names of people who signed the ballot petition to put the Everything But Marriage Act before the voters of Washington in November 2009.

This case is of vital interest to supporters of open government who believe that signing an initiative or referendum petition such as this is an attempt to legislate and therefore a matter of vital public interest.  WCOG is already a party to defend the decision of the Ninth Circuit court that upheld this important right.  Preparation of materials to present our case will be expensive, if the Supreme Court accepts the case (as is widely expected).  We have set a goal of $10,000 to help off-set the cost to our attorneys, who will still be bearing the major financial burden and provide the start of our high impact open government legal defense fund. Filing and brief printing costs in the U.S. Supreme Court – to ensure that open government advocates remain a full party in the defense of the public interest – will require us to raise $5,000 in the next 30 days. 

Please help WCOG continue the struggle for open government by giving generously to the IMPACT Fund by PayPal at www.washingtoncog.org or mail to 6351 Seaview Ave NW, Seattle, WA 98107-2664.

Make copies of documents on the cheap
by David Cuillier

What good is access to government records if it costs as much as a bank buyout to get copies? Too often public agencies charge more than they should for copies of records, sometimes as much as $1 or more per page. That’s just wrong, and in most states it’s illegal.

By my count, about 35 states allow officials to charge only for the actual cost of photocopies or a reasonable fee (see the Reporters Committee Open Government Guide online comparison function at rcfp.org/ogg). In many states, the charge can account only for paper, toner and machine costs, not staff time.

It seems reasonable for an agency to charge no more than 10 cents per page. After all, if Kinko’s (now FedEx Office) charges 10 cents per page, and that business is out for a profit, it should cost less for a nonprofit government agency to make a copy.

So don’t stand for government gouging. Here are 10 tips for reducing or eliminating those outrageous copy fees:

1) Don’t ask for copies. Look at the records for free.

2) Narrow your request by picking and choosing only the documents that are necessary to copy.

3) Photograph the documents at the agency office with a digital camera.

4) Tote a portable scanner (about $100 at most electronic stores), or your own photocopier.

5) Ask for the records in a digital format. Have the files transferred onto a flash drive or blank CD-ROM, or have the files e-mailed.

6) Print out your state law (rcfp.org/ogg) and make the agency justify the actual costs of copying through a line-item list. If they balk, request to see the contract with their copy services company for how much they pay per copy.

7) If the agency won’t provide that justification, help them out with your own list, courtesy of a visit to Office Depot and Xerox Web sites and quick use of a calculator:

• Paper: Box of 10 reams (500 sheets each ream), at $35.99 = 0.7 cents per page.
• Machine: Xerox WorkCentre 5225 costs $4,299 and produces 75,000 copies a month. Assuming two-year life, that’s 0.2 cents per page.
• Maintenance contract: As an example, my university department’s contract for copy machine maintenance and toner: 0.9 cents per page.
• Electricity: Negligible.
• Total cost per copy: 1.8 cents.

8) Survey the local agencies in your area and do a story about the inconsistency in fees and outrageous ways government fleeces the public. Interview average people who pay the fees and ask elected officials why they think it’s necessary to overcharge citizens to access records they’ve already paid for through their taxes.

9) Contact your state public records ombudsman, attorney general’s office or press association to see if anyone can talk some sense into the agency.

10) Sue or lobby for legislation specifying lower, reasonable fees.

https://www.spj.org/quill_issue.asp?ref=1600

David Cuillier is the Society of Professional Journalist’s Freedom of Information Committee chair, an Arizona journalism professor and former Washington state journalist and native. This article originally appeared in SPJ’s online magazine, Quill.

Benefits of becoming a WCOG member

Washington State was once the national leader in open government with our model Public Disclosure Act and Open Public Meetings Act guaranteeing public access to government records, meetings and the origins of campaign contributions. Those rights - your rights - have eroded. The Public Disclosure Act (now known as the Public Records Act) has had over 300 exemptions piled onto it, allowing agencies and officials to hide decisions and records that used to require public disclosure - now any agency can simply copy any document to an attorney and claim a disclosure exemption. The Washington Coalition for Open Government (WCOG) is working to restore Washington State to its leadership role in open government and ensure, through legislative and legal efforts, that Washington government remains accountable to the citizens it serves.
 
By joining WCOG, you not only obtain access to our members only email service, but you will also be helping to fund our legislative efforts, forums that train citizen activists and educate elected officials about their open government responsibilities, and interventions in critical court cases. 

Please join today by going to www.washingtoncog.org and clicking on "Join WCOG." We are truly a broad public interest organization. Our officers come from many political parties, from news media to elected officials to taxpayer and environmental groups. Democracy and accountability in government needs openness, and openness needs your support - please join WCOG today.

Elly Snow, Executive Director
Washington Coalition for Open Government
info@washingtoncog.org
206.782.0393