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Subjects › Legal › Public Records Disclosure
Updated 11/2011

Public Records Disclosure

Contents

Introduction

In 1972 the voters in state of Washington adopted Initiative 276, which requires that most records maintained by state, county, city governments, and all special purpose districts be made available to members of the public. The public disclosure statutes have been frequently revised over the past three decades. As of July 2006, these disclosure statutes are to found in Chapter 42.56 RCW, and the statutes are now referred to as the Public Records Act. Although the public records disclosure statutes do not apply to judicial records (case files), the legislature has specifically extended their coverage to state legislative records. In addition, the public records disclosure statutes apply equally to "every county, city, town, municipal corporation, quasi-municipal corporation, or special purpose district" or "any office, department, division, bureau, board, commission, or agency thereof, or other local public agency."

The definition of what is a public record is quite broad - RCW 42.17.020 (41). The definition of writing is also broad - RCW 42.17.020 (48). Papers, photos, maps, videos, and electronic records are all covered by the Public Records Act.

All local government records are available for review by the public, unless they are specifically exempted or prohibited from disclosure by the state statutes. A listing of the primary exemptions are found at RCW 42.56.230 through RCW 42.56.480. Numerous other exemptions and disclosure prohibitions are sprinkled throughout the state statutes. Appendix C of our publication lists the public disclosure statutes that are located in RCW chapters other than Chapter 42.56 RCW.

Because the public records disclosure statutes are sometimes difficult to interpret and are often a source of litigation, MRSC has prepared a publication which reviews all of the relevant statutes, exemptions and prohibitions to disclosure, and procedures to be followed when handling a request for disclosure. See "Public Records Act for Washington Cities and Counties." (Adobe Acrobat Document).

Open Government Advisor

The Open Government Advisor is a series of short articles dealing with Public Records Act (PRA) issues, often recent court decisions that provide guidance on how cities should handle public records disclosure requests.

Model Rules and Statute Reorganization

The Attorney General's office has issued the Model Rules for public records disclosure compliance. They are now part of the Washington Administrative Code, officially going into effect the first week of March, 2006. The Model Rules are advisory only, but they provide practical guidance on many issues that are not clear in the statutes. The Attorney General's Open Government Internet Deskbook, Chapter One, provides excellent guidance in determining what is a public record.

In November of 2009 we revised our publication regarding public records disclosure. It is now titled: Public Records Act for Washington Cities, Counties and Special Purpose Districts" (Adobe Acrobat Document) . The publication contains several appendices, including recodification tables, research notes useful for attorneys, and reprints of the Model Rules for disclosure and the WAC regulations concerning preservation of electronic records. You can download the publication and print it out if you find a paper copy useful. MRSC will update this publication electronically on a frequent basis.

Reference Sources

Documents

Local Government Documents

Articles and Miscellaneous