Background: The Statute Law Committee (SLC) is responsible for compiling and printing a number of publications, including the session laws, the Revised Code of Washington (RCW), the Washington Administrative Code (WAC), and the Washington State Register (Register). The SLC may publish the Register on the legislative or Code Reviser website, but must provide a paper copy of any issue of the Register upon request. Free copies of the session laws and the RCW are distributed by the SLC to designated persons and entities. The SLC has an obligation to promote widespread access to its materials in both digital and print formats.

The session laws consist of all the bills that were enacted into law during the legislative session and initiatives adopted by the people in the preceding year. The RCW is the compilation of all permanent laws now in force. The WAC is a codification of regulations of executive branch agencies, arranged by subject or agency. The Register is a publication, published twice a month, that includes a variety of information relating to the activities of state government, such as notices of proposed rules, emergency and permanently adopted rules, and public meetings of state agencies.

Summary of Bill: Each member of the Legislature may receive one set and supplements of the RCW on digital media, as opposed to paper copies, without charge during their term of office. Current digital copies of the session laws, the RCW, the WAC, and the Register are maintained and made available on the legislative or Code Reviser website without charge for permanent public access.

The official copy of the WAC may be published in digital format. The Code Reviser can charge a reasonable fee for providing a paper copy of any section, sections, or the entire copy of the WAC that is requested. The Code Reviser provides a limited number of free paper copies of the WAC to libraries or institutions for access and archival purposes.

The Register can be purchased in print or digital form at a fixed price. Access to the Register, as required by state law, is satisfied when the Register or compilation is published on the legislative or Code Reviser website. The Register is not required to be made available, in printed form, to state elected officials, the Secretary of the Senate, the Chief Clerk of the House, county boards of law library trustees, and to the Olympia press corps library.

The SLC may publish the official copy of the session laws on the legislative or Code Reviser website in digital format. The SLC may provide free digital or printed copies of the session laws to federal, state, and local agencies with special consideration given to institutions and libraries where Internet access is limited or unavailable. The SLC sells and delivers surplus paper sets of the session laws, and the price of the paper sets is sufficient to cover costs. A paper copy of any individual session law or the compiled session laws of any session is provided by the SLC for a reasonable fee. The SLC may publish the session laws on the legislative or Code Reviser website 75 days after final adjournment of the Legislature for that year, and may publish as many copies in paper format as deemed necessary by the SLC.

Staff Summary of Public Testimony: PRO: During the development of this bill, there was concern expressed about the possibility that print copies would be abandoned. However, we were able to find new ways to bind and deliver paper sets. To the extent that people want paper copies, the Office of the Code Reviser will be able to provide them. The publication fund has been losing money. The Office of the Code Reviser only sells about 300 sets, but we continue to give away over 1000.