State legislators are subject to public-records law, Washington state Supreme Court rules

Seattle Times ^ | 12 19 2019 | Jim Brunner and Joseph O’Sullivan

[yesthatjallen]

In a landmark win for news media and other open-records advocates, the Washington state Supreme Court ruled Thursday that legislators are subject to the state Public Records Act.

In the 7-2 ruling, Justice Susan Owens wrote that “under the plain meaning” of the records act, “individual legislators’ offices are ‘agencies’ subject to the PRA’s general public records disclosure mandate. Legislative history confirms rather than contradicts our conclusion. Accordingly, we hold that the News Media Plaintiffs are entitled to judgment as a matter of law on this issue.”

But Owens ruled that the Legislature’s administrative offices are not “agencies” and are more narrowly subject to the open-records law, which could constrain the release of certain documents.

The ruling, which upheld a lower-court decision, came in a long-running dispute in which 10 news organizations — including The Seattle Times and The Associated Press — filed a lawsuit that challenged the Legislature’s claim that lawmakers are exempt from the state’s 1972 voter-approved Public Records Act.

Under the law, local and state government entities routinely release documents such as emails and calendars of public officials, as well as investigative reports related to allegations of harassment. But lawmakers and legislative officials have denied requests for such records, citing changes they made to that law that they claim closed their records to the public. Legislators have argued their work in Olympia is unique and requires confidentiality.

Thursday’s Supreme Court decision was hailed as a “huge” victory by Michele Earl-Hubbard, the attorney for the media coalition.

SNIP