Public records, and their burden

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Wenatchee World Editorial Board

Saturday, February 2, 2013

The point of the state’s critical Public Records Act is that government does not decide what the people should know or not know about it. The law’s oft-quoted preamble states the principle — the public has not surrendered control of the agencies that serve them. They do not give public servants the right to decide what is good for them to know, or not know. The records of government are public, and must be available on request unless specifically exempt.

In the 40 years since its passage some public agencies have been working to turn that law inside out. Someday they could succeed. In this legislative session they could take a step closer to the goal.

House Bill 1128 was inspired by the often-heard complaint that fulfilling requests for public records is sometimes too great a burden to bear. Some requestors of records do it, agencies say, merely for harassment or vendetta, or impose a great expense for merely malicious reasons. The bill as currently written would alleviate this nuisance by letting the offended agency be granted an injunction if a court agrees the records request was made to harass or intimidate, retaliate or punish, threatens security or poses an “undue burden.”

Make a records request government dislikes and you could find yourself in court arguing that you are not a burden. This question you will not decide. That will be done by the judge and the agency that sued you to keep its records secret. This is supposed to be rare practice saved for extremists, but the record shows governments’ desire for secrecy will only grow, step by step.

The bill would allow agencies to set the number of hours they spend fulfilling public records requests to as few as five a month. If an agency spends time equal to 1 percent of its budget on public records work, their efforts thereafter are “presumed reasonable.” So, as critics note, agencies could take a stab at fulfilling the law, and then take some time off.

The bill was set for consideration in the House Local Government Committee Friday, but did not come to a vote. Lawmakers are said to be considering significant changes in language, including removal of the “undue burden” clause, or offering special privileges to the news media.

The conclusion should be, this bill is unnecessary. Injunctions against harassing and unsafe records requests are possible under existing statute, with a higher threshold. If there is sympathy for governments that have difficulty making their records public, and dislike the people making the requests, there should be remedies that fall far short of turning the Public Records Act inside out. If that happens, the days when the public decides what it should know will be numbered.

This is the opinion of The Wenatchee World and its Editorial Board: Publisher Rufus Woods, Editor Cal FitzSimmons and Editorial Page Editor Tracy Warner.

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douglas 4 months, 2 weeks ago

But there should be at least some relief, although I have no idea what it is. For 3 years running it has been a topic of discussion at Association of Washington Cities meetings, with Gold Bar's problems (over $100k in costs out of a $550k budget) in fulfilling public records requests being the focal point.
There has to be some balance between the public's ability of make public records requests and the costs that are incurred by the jurisdiction where the request is made. I realise the WW has a vested interest in being able to request public documents, so do you guys have an idea on how to solve this problem?

wonderstar 4 months, 2 weeks ago

Government is supposed to work for the people. Any request should be fulfilled by the public servants who work for US!

Chuck 4 months, 2 weeks ago

In story after story, agency after agency has been attempting to gut the Public Records Act ever since it became law.

The fact that so many of them are balking serves as a good illustration of why such laws are necessary and should not be neutered or de-fanged in any way, shape, or form.

Eisenhower, Kennedy, and other legendary leaders long considered secrecy an anathama to our Contitutional Republic. The people have every right to know what government is up to on every level, and at every turn.

That so many public black eyes have been meted out as a result of FOIA requests over the years is a good indication of the overall health of our system in general. This can only work if access to such information remains available to any citizen, regardless of caste.

Any bill to the contrary is certainly one you'll want to write your reps about.

goldbarvoter 4 months, 1 week ago

Douglas, I am a former city council member in Gold Bar. I think it is time that the AWC and the City of Gold Bar be looked at with a more critical eye to see what their role is in the creation of the supposed public records crisis in Gold Bar. I have watched as this has unfolded over the past 4 years but my first experience with the City of Gold Bar was 8 years ago. Citizens in Gold Bar are treated very poorly when they dare to ask questions. I sure hope the AWC will do an accurate post mortum when this is all done that does not lay the blame on citizens that care about their community. If the AWC chooses to not do an accurate post mortum, they are setting up the next community for failure when the next City Hall chooses to be arrogant.

Chuck Lie Former City Council Member Currently mere citizen. Gold Bar Washington USA I do not yield my sovereignty, if the city wants me to obey their laws, they need to obey ours