SENATE BILL REPORT

SB 6006

As Reported by Senate Committee On:

Governmental Operations, January 30, 2014

Title: An act relating to treatment of population enumeration data, including exempting from public inspection and copying.

Brief Description: Concerning the treatment of population enumeration data, including exempting it from public inspection and copying.

Sponsors: Senators Roach and Hasegawa; by request of Office of Financial Management.

Brief History:

Committee Activity: Governmental Operations: 1/20/14, 1/30/14 [DP].

Majority Report: Do pass.

Signed by Senators Roach, Chair; Benton, Vice Chair; Hasegawa, Ranking Member; Conway, Dansel, McCoy and Rivers.

Staff: Samuel Brown (786-7470)

Background: Annexations by cities, towns, and code cities require the annexing jurisdiction to determine the resident population of the territory to be annexed. Such determinations are made through the process of actual enumeration, which involves obtaining the name and address of every person, including children, in the area subject to the annexation. Actual enumeration must be conducted in accordance with the practices and policies, and subject to the approval of the Office of Financial Management (OFM), which uses the information supplied through the annexation process in annually calculating the population of all cities and towns in the state.

State-shared revenues from the gasoline tax, Liquor Control Board profits, and the liquor excise tax are distributed to cities on the basis of population as determined by OFM. For a city to have its population adjusted for an annexation for purposes of state-shared revenue distributions, OFM must certify the annexation, after which it notifies the appropriate state agencies of the population change.

For purposes of distributing funds based on the population of a county, the population must be determined by the most recent census, population estimate by OFM, or special county census as certified by OFM.

Summary of Bill: Actual enumeration data collected for annexation of unincorporated areas, by code cities, and for purposes of population determinations by OFM is confidential and not subject to public disclosure under the Public Records Act. OFM must destroy enumeration data collected for annexation of unincorporated areas, by code cities, and for purposes of population determinations after the data is used to produce the population estimates.

Appropriation: None.

Fiscal Note: Available.

Committee/Commission/Task Force Created: No.

Effective Date: Ninety days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.

Staff Summary of Public Testimony: PRO: Actual enumeration information is highly intrusive but essential to establish the population of the area that will be annexed. That personal information should not only be kept from the government so it cannot be used as contact information, but from the public as well. The information does not serve any purpose for the public other than to establish numbers. OFM is a disinterested third party in the annexation proceedings. Historically, individuals were informed that this information was confidential and it came to OFM's attention that this was incorrect. This is a clean-up bill to correct that discrepancy.

Persons Testifying: PRO: John Lane, OFM; Rowland Thompson, Allied Daily Newspapers of WA.