CERTIFICATION OF ENROLLMENT

SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 1897

Chapter 391, Laws of 2007

60th Legislature
2007 Regular Session



ATTORNEY INVOICES



EFFECTIVE DATE: 07/22/07

Passed by the House March 13, 2007
  Yeas 94   Nays 2

FRANK CHOPP
________________________________________    
Speaker of the House of Representatives


Passed by the Senate April 12, 2007
  Yeas 44   Nays 4


BRAD OWEN
________________________________________    
President of the Senate
 
CERTIFICATE

I, Richard Nafziger, Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives of the State of Washington, do hereby certify that the attached is SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 1897 as passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate on the dates hereon set forth.


RICHARD NAFZIGER
________________________________________    
Chief Clerk
Approved May 8, 2007, 4:48 p.m.








CHRISTINE GREGOIRE
________________________________________    
Governor of the State of Washington
 
FILED
May 10, 2007







Secretary of State
State of Washington


_____________________________________________ 

SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 1897
_____________________________________________

Passed Legislature - 2007 Regular Session
State of Washington60th Legislature2007 Regular Session

By House Committee on State Government & Tribal Affairs (originally sponsored by Representatives Williams and Hunt)

READ FIRST TIME 2/28/07.   



     AN ACT Relating to disclosure of attorney invoices; and creating a new section.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   It is the intent of the legislature to clarify that no reasonable construction of chapter 42.56 RCW has ever allowed attorney invoices to be withheld in their entirety by any public entity in a request for documents under that chapter. It is further the intent of the legislature that specific descriptions of work performed be redacted only if they would reveal an attorney's mental impressions, actual legal advice, theories, or opinions, or are otherwise exempt under this act or other laws, with the burden upon the public entity to justify each redaction and narrowly construe any exception to full disclosure. The legislature intends to clarify that the public's interest in open, accountable government includes an accounting of any expenditure of public resources, including through liability insurance, upon private legal counsel or private consultants.


         Passed by the House March 13, 2007.
         Passed by the Senate April 12, 2007.
         Approved by the Governor May 8, 2007.
         Filed in Office of Secretary of State May 10, 2007.