BILL REQ. #:  S-0460.1 

Read first time 01/14/09.   Referred to Committee on Government Operations & Elections.

     AN ACT Relating to the public records exemptions accountability committee; creating a new section; and repealing RCW 42.56.140.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The public records exemptions accountability committee, created in 2007, is charged with providing the legislature annual reports containing recommendations as to whether an existing exemption should be: Continued; modified; scheduled for a sunset review at a future date; or terminated. Currently, more than three hundred exemptions exist in Washington state. While the legislature fully supports the intent of this committee and no one questions the importance of promoting a more open and transparent governmental process, it is also a fundamental component of government to actively monitor governmental entities and assure efficient use of state resources and taxpayer dollars.
     In 2007, the public records exemptions accountability committee reviewed only four exemptions and made no recommendations. Instead, the annual report submitted by the committee was a mere eight pages and yet specifically noted that "the Committee has requested more staff time than was originally anticipated" and requested funding from the 2008 legislature to support the committee's work.
     In 2008, the committee reviewed forty-three exemptions, four of which were the same exemptions reviewed in 2007. The committee spent at least five months reviewing the same thirteen statutes addressing agricultural exemptions but made only one recommendation on one of the thirteen statutes. It took the committee six months to review the exemptions for records relevant to a controversy and attorney-client privileged records. Ultimately, after holding ten meetings, the committee made only twelve recommendations, four of which addressed a single statute and its subsections, and the annual report contained three separate minority reports. Furthermore, the recommendations contained within the report can be viewed as, at the very least, deficient. The single recommendation regarding the agricultural exemption fails to actually address the exemption itself but rather makes a recommendation as to the need for a brief description when other statutes are referenced. Other recommendations are vague and that, combined with multiple minority reports, provides little to no guidance to the legislature.
     The attorney general has stated that the office has spent over seven hundred hours of attorney staff time working for the committee, which translates into a cost of approximately eighty-four thousand dollars. In 2008, the legislature appropriated eleven thousand dollars to the office of the attorney general to support the committee's work in response to its supplemental budget request. Additionally, hundreds of hours of legislative staff time has been used monitoring and tracking the work of the committee in order to assist the four legislative members that serve on the committee.
     Based on this information, the legislature finds the committee's review of exemptions has proven to be unproductive and, given the economic climate we are currently experiencing, it is an unnecessary and wasteful expenditure of time and resources. Additionally, the legislature finds that the committee has not acted efficiently or effectively in carrying out its mandated charge and has provided, at most, limited guidance to the legislature. Therefore the legislature concludes that the continuation of the public records exemptions accountability committee does not serve the public interest.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   RCW 42.56.140 (Public records exemptions accountability committee) and 2007 c 198 s 2 are each repealed.