OLYMPIA—Lawmakers are looking to modify the Public Records Act in an effort to help agencies that claim they’re burdened by overly broad and massive public records requests.
House Bill 2576 would give agencies the power to limit the time they spend each month responding to public records requests, and would allow them to charge for providing public records requested for commercial purposes.
Rep. Joan McBride, D-Kirkland, the bill’s sponsor, said the bill isn’t meant to undermine transparency in local government, but instead help limit what she calls the “1 percent” of requests that amount to harassment of taxpayer-supported public agencies.
The bill has received wide support from officials in local government agencies, who say they don’t have the necessary staff to deal with some of the broadest requests from private companies and citizens. They are upset that they can’t recover costs for providing large volumes of records.
“Cities, universally, are in support of the Public Records Act,” Kent deputy city attorney Pat Fitzpatrick said. “What we are not in support of is private corporations making profit off the backs of citizens.”
Diana Carlen, a representative of LexisNexis, a software company that provides customers with public records, said most of the company’s clients need the records for information on things such as local government, law enforcement and businesses. She said the bill would force the company to pass the increased costs on to their customers.
The proposal also creates a commission to oversee disputes between agencies and requesters, and creates an account where 20 percent of the amount awarded to a requester in court against an agency would go to supporting the commission.
Opponents of the bill, including media members, say the bill weakens the Public Records Act, which was created by a citizen initiative in 1972.
Arthur West, a citizen activist from Olympia, said the bill creates hysteria about the number of people who are using public records requests to harass agencies for profit, and that the bill would have unintended consequences.
Kathy George, from the government watchdog organization Washington Coalition for Open Government, said while the bill might stop the “1 percent” of abusers, the rest of the requesters are hurt by allowing an agency to limit the time it spends working on requests.
“You’re saying ‘sorry, but you all have to wait in line,’” George said. “This is really drawing a line between the government and the people it serves.”
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