The Public Records Act and the Sunshine Committee.
The Public Records Act (PRA) generally requires state and local governmental entities to make many government records available to the public upon request. There are, however, over 500 statutory exemptions for certain records or information contained in records.
The Public Records Exemption Accountability Committee, known as the Sunshine Committee, periodically reviews these exemptions and provides recommendations as to whether specific exemptions should be continued, modified, or terminated. The Sunshine Committee meets in public and considers input from interested parties. By November 15 of each year, the Sunshine Committee provides a report to the Governor, the Attorney General, and the Legislature with its annual recommendations.
In its 2018 and 2019 annual reports, the Sunshine Committee made several recommendations related to exemptions for records with information about child victims and witnesses, as well as records related to juvenile offenders.
Child Victim, Witness, and Offender Records.
Certain investigative, law enforcement, and crime victim information is exempt from disclosure under the PRA and other statutes. As relevant here:
For offenses committed by juveniles, the release of law enforcement and prosecuting attorneys' records is governed by the court rules for discovery, as well as other rules applicable to adult investigations and prosecutions. The identity of an alleged or proven juvenile offender must be released to the victim of the crime or the victim's immediate family upon their request. Law enforcement and prosecuting attorneys may also release information to schools about the investigation, diversion, and prosecution of such offenses. Incident reports may be released only after a decision to arrest is made, unless the release would jeopardize the case or endanger witnesses, in which case the information in the reports may be released to the maximum extent possible while still protecting other students, staff, and school property.
Personal Information of Children and Adults.
Certain personal information for children is exempt from public disclosure under the PRA in RCW 42.56.230. This includes:
The PRA also includes exemptions in RCW 42.56.230 for other personal information, such as:
Child Victim, Witness, and Offender Records.
The exemptions from disclosure for living child victims and witnesses are expanded to include the child's telephone number, email address, social media identifier, and image, as well as the surname of the child's parent if it is the same as the child's and the parent is not the alleged perpetrator. The exemptions from disclosure for child victims of sexual assault are modified to match these provisions, except that they continue to include an exemption for the relationship between the victim and the alleged perpetrator if the alleged perpetrator is a relative or step-relative of the child.
For offenses committed by juveniles, language specifying that the release of law enforcement and prosecuting attorneys' records is governed by the court rules for discovery, as well as other rules applicable to adult investigations and prosecutions, is deleted. Such records must be released to a juvenile offender or their attorney, parent, or legal guardian upon request. Incident reports must be released to the victim of the crime or the victim's immediate family upon their request. Law enforcement and prosecuting attorneys may release unredacted incident reports of such offenses to schools, unless redaction is necessary to avoid jeopardizing the case or endangering witnesses, other students, staff, or school property.
An exemption is created for records of the DCYF in an ongoing child protective services (CPS) investigation in conjunction with an early learning licensing complaint inspection. These records are exempt from disclosure during the course of the CPS investigation. At the conclusion of the CPS investigation, the records are disclosable.
Personal Information of Children and Adults.
The personal information exempt from disclosure in RCW 42.56.230 may be disclosed with the consent of the subject of the information or, in the case of a child, the child's parent or guardian.