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Washington

What is the law

Binding, on-point law (about)

None

Advisory sources (about)

None

Public records law (about)

A limited common law right of access to public records has existed in Washington since at least 1931. See Stewart v. Maybury, 164 Wash. 500, 3 P.2d 138 (1931). The current Washington Public Records Act, enacted in 1972, may be found at Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 42.56.0001 et seq. The Washington Public Records Act begins with an exceptionally strong commitment to openness in government: "The people of this state do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies that serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so that they may maintain control over the instruments that they have created." [1] Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 42.56.030.

Does the public records law restrict the use of disclosed records?

Under the Public Records Law, requestors "shall not be required to provide information as to the purpose for the request," Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 42.56.080, and a requestor does not need a particular purpose to receive public records. Yacobellis v. City of Bellingham, 55 Wash. App. 706, 710, 780 P.2d 272, 275 (1989), review denied, 114 Wash. 2d 1002 (1990). Requests may be denied based on the purpose of the request, however, if the request is made by an inmate with the intention of harassing a public agency or furthering a crime, Wash. Rev. Code Ann. 42.56.565, or to prevent the commercial use of lists of individuals, Wash. Rev. Code Ann. 42.56.070(9); 1983 Op. Atty. Gen. No. 9.

Related law (about)

The Washington Public Records Act exempts "valuable" data "when disclosure would produce private gain and public loss." Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 42.56.270. This balancing is applied on a case-by-case basis if a records request becomes contentious, and is determined by a judge. See, e.g., Progressive Animal Welfare Soc'y v. Univ. of Wash., 125 Wash. 2d 243, 255, 884 P.2d 592, 599 (1994); Robbins, Geller, Rudman & Dowd, LLP v. State, 179 Wash. App. 711, 328 P.3d 905, 914-16 (2014).

Specifics and examples (about)

Additional things to consider (about)

The Washington code occasionally refers to records as "property of the state": Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 40.14.020 ("All public records shall be and remain the property of the state of Washington"); Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 43.06.090 ("papers, records, and property of the state").

Where else to go

• Washington State Office of the Attorney General, Open Government, available at http://www.atg.wa.gov/OpenGovernment.aspx.
• Washington State Archives, available at http://www.sos.wa.gov/archives/.
• Washington State Library, available at http://www.sos.wa.gov/library/.
• Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, Open Government Guide: Access to Public Records and Meetings in Washington, available at http://www.rcfp.org/rcfp/orders/docs/ogg/WA.pdf.

Bibliography

Cases

• Progressive Animal Welfare Soc'y v. Univ. of Wash., 125 Wash. 2d 243, 255, 884 P.2d 592, 599 (1994), available at http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=1962376650487743169.

• Robbins, Geller, Rudman & Dowd, LLP v. State, 179 Wash. App. 711 (2014), available at http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=7742712564279861633.

• Stewart v. Maybury, 164 Wash. 500, 3 P.2d 138 (1931).

• Yacobellis v. City of Bellingham, 55 Wash. App. 706, 710, 780 P.2d 272 (1989), review denied, 114 Wash. 2d 1002 (1990), available at http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=1907735135478413955.

Statutes

• Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 42.56.270, available at http://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=42.56.270.

• Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 42.56.001, available at http://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=42.56.001.

• Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 42.56.030, available at http://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=42.56.030.

• Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 42.56.080, available at http://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=42.56.080.

• Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 42.56.565, available at http://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=42.56.565.

• Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 42.56.070, available at http://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=42.56.070.

• Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 43.163.210, available at http://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=43.163.210.

• Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 39.110.040, available at http://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=39.110.040.

• Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 15.24.070, available at http://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=15.24.070.

• Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 74.39A.200, available at http://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=74.39A.200.

• Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 40.14.020, available at http://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=40.14.020.

• Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 43.06.090, available at http://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=43.06.090.

Attorney General Opinions

• 1983 Op. Atty. Gen. No. 9, available at http://www.atg.wa.gov/AGOOpinions/opinion.aspx?section=archive&id=6806.

Other

• Sharon K. Sandeen, Preserving the Public Trust in State-Owned Intellectual Property: A Recommendation for Legislative Action, 32 McGeorge L. Rev. 385 (2001).

• Washington Department of Ecology, Copyright, available at http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.

• Secretary of State, Web Sites Privacy Policy, available at http://www.sos.wa.gov/office/privacy.aspx.

Footnotes

• [1] While not speaking directly to the copyright status of public records, this strong language bolsters arguments such as that of Sharon K. Sandeen, Preserving the Public Trust in State-Owned Intellectual Property: A Recommendation for Legislative Action, 32 McGeorge L. Rev. 385, 417 (2001), that public documents in the state are held in trust for the public and should therefore be regarded as in the public domain.