ENGROSSED SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 1956

ByHouse State Government & Tribal Relations (originally sponsored by Representatives Hackney, Valdez, Davis, Simmons, Goodman, Peterson, Dolan, and Macri)

AN ACT Relating to exempting from public disclosure sensitive records pertaining to current and formerly incarcerated individuals' dignity and safety; adding a new section to chapter 42.56 RCW; creating a new section; and declaring an emergency.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1. A new section is added to chapter 42.56 RCW to read as follows:

(1) The following information or records created or maintained by the department of corrections is exempt from public inspection and copying under this chapter:

(a) Body scanner images from any system designed to detect and visualize contraband hidden in body cavities or beneath clothing, including backscatter X-ray, millimeter wave, and transmission X-ray systems;

(b) Records or information created or maintained pursuant to the federal prison rape elimination act, 34 U.S.C. Sec. 30301 et seq., and its regulations, about an incarcerated individual other than records or information contained in referrals to law enforcement or violation or infraction records; and

(c) Health information in records other than an incarcerated individual's medical, mental health, or dental files.

(2) The exemption of information or records described under subsections (1)(b) and (1)(c) of this section does not apply to requests by the incarcerated individual who is the subject of the information, a requestor with the written permission of the incarcerated individual who is the subject of the information, or a personal representative of an incarcerated individual who is the subject of the information. In response to such requests, the department of corrections may withhold information revealing the identity of other incarcerated individuals.

(3) An agency refusing, in whole or in part, inspection of a public record containing information listed in subsection (1)(c) of this section may identify the number of such pages withheld and cite to subsection (1)(c) of this section without further explanation when providing a brief explanation of how the exemption applies to the record withheld.

(4) For purposes of this section:

(a) "Health information" means any information that identifies or can readily be associated with the identity of an incarcerated individual and directly relates to the following: Medical or mental health diagnoses or conditions; PULHES codes; treatment or programming provided, overseen, or coordinated by a health care provider, including requests for or complaints about such treatment or programming; transgender, intersex, nonbinary, or gender nonconforming status; sexual orientation; genital anatomy; or gender-affirming care or accommodations other than an incarcerated individual's preferred name, pronouns, and gender marker.

(b) The following information is not "health information" under this section: Health care information subject to RCW 42.56.360(2) and chapter 70.02 RCW; the fact that an incarcerated individual participated in, failed to participate in, was terminated from, or satisfactorily completed court-ordered treatment or programming eligible for earned release time as determined by the department of corrections pursuant to RCW 9.94A.729; images or descriptions of an injury contained in a violation or infraction record; or information related to the death, irreversible coma, or persistent vegetative state of an incarcerated individual.

(c) "Incarcerated individual" has the same meaning as "inmate" under RCW 72.09.015 and includes currently or formerly incarcerated individuals.

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