House bill limits public records requests

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 h...