WCOG Legislative Summary

Washington Coalition for Open Government has released our annual report of legislation action related to open government issues. The report is available for download now from the WCOG web site at http://www.washingtoncog.org.

1590 bills, resolutions, and memorials were introduced during the 2010 legislative session. WCOG examined each one of them for potential impact on open government laws, and determined that 76 of the bills should be tracked throughout the legislative process. The report summarizes all 76 of the bills, WCOG’s analysis of their impact, our recommended actions, the legislative activity on the bills, and their final disposition at the end of the legislative session.

Of the 76 bills tracked, 30 were considered “priority” bills to which the Coalition paid particular attention, including extensive contact with legislators, providing testimony, encouraging newspaper editorials and contact by WCOG members, etc. These included bills that would do the following:

• Exempting disclosure of employee photographs and month and year of birth of criminal justice employees, except to news media, and another prohibiting all disclosure of all public employee photographs;
• Exempting from disclosure personal information of people who file complaints with agencies, regulatory enforcement actions affecting financial institutions, and video recordings from public transportation vehicles and facilities;
• Clarifying that initiative and referendum petitions are public records;
• Exempting petition signatures from disclosure;
• Implementing recommendations of the Sunshine Committee;
• Eliminating the Sunshine Committee;
• Creating a non-judicial review process for public records disputes;
• Making awards of attorney fees optional in PRA actions and requiring penalties to be paid to the state instead of to the requester;
• Requiring conferences with agencies prior to filing Public Records Act lawsuits;
• Limiting the number of hours of search time for records requests and allowing agencies to charge for excess search time;
• Allowing certain agencies to charge fees for accessing databases;
• Exempting high-performing schools from many government accountability laws;
• Eliminating direct notifications to news media of special meetings under the OPMA and replacing them with web site postings; and,
• Exempting organizations representing government agencies from the PRA and OPMA.

Of these priority bills, five passed, but only one of them – HB 1317 – passed with its onerous PRA impacts intact. HB 1317 exempts from disclosure the photographs and month and year of birth of employees of criminal justice agencies, but was significantly narrowed from the form in which it was originally introduced. However, HB 1317 allows access to these photographs and birthdates to members of the news media, as news media was defined in the reporter shield law that passed a couple of years ago. This special privilege to the news media is inconsistent with a basic principle of the Public Records Act that “agencies shall not distinguish among persons requesting records”, and sets an undesirable precedent of preferential access to certain classes of requesters that will undoubtedly be expanded in the future. Summaries of the remaining priority bills are in the report.

Of the remaining 46 tracked bills, 16 passed and 30 did not pass. The bills that passed included several that created new exemptions in the Public Records Act (either directly in RCW 42.56 or in other statutes), including:

• Information submitted by payers of municipal B&O tax;
• Reports submitted by hospitals to the Department of Health on emergency cardiac and stroke care quality improvement programs;
• Records of insurers taken into receivership by the Insurance Commissioner;
• Records of sales of ephedrine and similar drugs in a new statewide sales tracking database;
• Unsuccessful applications for rural investment project sales tax exemptions;
• Identifying information of persons who subscribe to be notified about registered sex offenders; and,
• Bargaining authorization cards for language access providers.

These new exemptions were not opposed by WCOG, although in many cases concerns were raised and the bills amended to narrow the exemptions or improve the clarity of language.

Unfortunately, other than SB 5295 mentioned above, no positive bills passed. It continues to be difficult to achieve positive change to expand access or undo previous negative changes by the legislature or the courts, due in large part to fierce opposition by organizations that represent government agencies such as the Association of Washington Cities, Washington State Association of Counties, Washington State School Directors Association, and Washington Public Ports Association.

With your help, WCOG has been very successful in stopping the vast majority of bills that would further erode open government. Thanks for your contributions and for contacting your legislators to express your concerns! WCOG is now working on our legislative priorities for 2011, which will be announced this fall.

Washington Coalition for Open Government to Honor Frank Blethen, Duane Swinton at Annual Madison/Andersen Awards

The Seattle Times and its publisher Frank Blethen, along with attorney Duane Swinton and his law firm, will be honored at a Sept. 17 breakfast for their contributions to transparency in government. The Washington Coalition for Open Government (WCOG) will hold its annual James Madison/James Andersen Awards ceremony, in conjunction with a continuing legal education (CLE) seminar on public meetings and records laws, at The Conference Center, 8th Ave and Pike St in Seattle.

Blethen, publisher and CEO of The Seattle Times for 25 years, will receive WCOG’s James Madison Award for his leadership in fighting for open government on many fronts—the paper’s aggressive use of public records in reporting, including coverage that won a Pulitzer Prize this year; the paper’s willingness to challenge government secrecy through litigation; and the paper’s pioneering application of computers for the analysis of government data that has produced special reports about the inner workings of agencies.

“By creating public-service special reports year after year, The Times demonstrates the public good that is made possible by providing access to state records,” notes WCOG Vice President Mike Fancher. “Often this record of powerful stories is the strongest argument against efforts to exempt records from disclosure.”

Duane Swinton, a partner in the Spokane-based law firm Witherspoon Kelley Davenport & Toole, will receive WCOG’s James Andersen Award. Swinton spearheaded WCOG’s efforts to litigate a case that protected access to signatures on state referendum and initiative forms. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8-1 that such signatures are generally available through public records requests.

“Duane and his colleagues took up this case from its inception and have seen it through all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court,” according to WCOG board member Patience Rogge. “They have logged hundreds of hours of pro bono work on the Coalition’s behalf, work that the organization could never afford with its limited budget.”

The awards breakfast, 7:30 to 9am, will be followed by a daylong continuing legal education seminar on open government in Washington State. Approval of 5.5 hours of CLE credit for this seminar is currently pending.

The seminar is designed for government officials who handle public records and open meeting questions on a daily basis as well as the attorneys in public and private practice who litigate them. Seminar sessions will address the basic aspects of open records and meetings laws, recent legislative developments, agency efforts to comply with open government laws, access to electronic records, and litigating records cases.

Registration for the CLE seminar will open at 8:45am, with sessions running from 9:15am - 4:45pm.

Reservations can be made online at www.washingtoncog.org or by phone at (206)782-0393. Discounted rates are available for government employees.

Founded in 2002, WCOG is a statewide nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that promotes the people’s right to know by supporting open government laws and practices at the local and state levels.

WCOG 2010 Candidate Questionnaire Results Available Online

The Washington Coalition for Open Government has posted the results of its 2010 Open Government Candidate Questionnaire.

The Questionnaire covers a variety of timely open government related issues and was distributed to all registered legislative and local candidates throughout the state.

The results of the survey are available online at:
http://www.washingtoncog.org/questionnaire.php.

The results are being updated daily.

WCOG Urges Governor Gregoire to Fill Sunshine Committee Vacancies

On August 27, WCOG sent Governor Gregoire a letter expressing concern over the delay in filling vacancies on the State’s Sunshine Committee.

The full letter is available online here.

For information on the Sunshine Committee visit http://www.atg.wa.gov/opengovernment/sunshine.aspx

WCOG Forum Sponsorships Now Available

As many of you know, WCOG sponsors a number of free public forums on open government laws and issues throughout the state. These public forums feature expert panelists that include attorneys, public officials, journalists, and citizen activists. They serve as a very important tool in educating the public and government officials about Washington State’s open government laws, regarding both public records and open meetings.

In an effort to continue offering these valuable and informational forums, WCOG has elected to offer forum sponsorships opportunities. There are two tiers of sponsorship – sponsor one forum or all six forums held throughout the year. In addition to supporting this invaluable public service, forum sponsorship garners a number of valuable benefits, including recognition on all forum promotions, online and in print.

For more information on forum sponsorships, please visit: http://www.washingtoncog.org/wcogforums.php.

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