Washington State

House of Representatives

Office of Program Research

BILL

ANALYSIS

State Government Committee

ESSB 6356

This analysis was prepared by non-partisan legislative staff for the use of legislative members in their deliberations. This analysis is not a part of the legislation nor does it constitute a statement of legislative intent.

Brief Description: Concerning disclosure of identifiable information and security information of certain employees of private cloud service providers.

Sponsors: Senate Committee on Government Operations & Security (originally sponsored by Senators Roach, Ranker, Takko, McCoy, Hobbs, Litzow, Fain, Hasegawa and Chase).

Brief Summary of Engrossed Substitute Bill

  • Exempts from public disclosure the personally identifiable information of employees, and security information of a private cloud provider that has entered into a criminal justice information services agreement.

Hearing Date: 2/23/16

Staff: Sean Flynn (786-7124).

Background:

The Public Records Act (PRA) requires state and local agencies to make their written records available to the public for inspection and copying upon request, unless the information fits into one of the various specific exemptions in the PRA, or otherwise provided in law. The stated policy of the PRA favors disclosure and requires narrow application of the listed exemptions.

The PRA exempts certain sensitive information relating to financial, proprietary, and commercial interests provided by a business or other private interest. The exemption includes a business's unique proprietary data and trade secrets related to methods of conducting business or product and services data. Another category of exemptions pertain to security information, including records related to criminal terrorist acts, vulnerability assessments of correctional facilities, school safety plans, infrastructure and security of computer and telecommunication networks, and emergency preparedness plans.

Summary of Bill:

A public records disclosure exemption is created for personally identifiable information of employees, and security information of a private cloud provider that has entered into a criminal justice information services agreement as part of the United States Department of Criminal Justice information security policy.

Appropriation: None.

Fiscal Note: Not requested.

Effective Date: The bill takes effect 90 days after adjournment of the session in which the bill is passed.