Washington State

House of Representatives

Office of Program Research

BILL

ANALYSIS

State Government, Elections & Information Technology Committee

HB 1417

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 Summary of Bill

Allows the governing body of a public agency to hold an executive session under the Open Public Meetings Act to consider matters of information technology system security and vulnerability.

Background:

The Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA) requires public access to all meetings of the governing body of a state or local agency or subagency that involve the transaction of official business. Any law, rule, regulation, or directive must be adopted by a governing body at an open meeting.

A governing body may exclude the public to hold an executive session during a meeting for certain enumerated purposes. The presiding officer must announce the purpose of excluding the public from an executive session and the time when the executive session will conclude. One reason a governing body may convene an executive session is to consider matters of national security.

Certain related information regarding the security and vulnerability of public agency computer and telecommunication network infrastructure is exempt from public disclosure under the Public Records Act. Such information includes security passwords, service recovery plans, security tests and risk assessments, and other related information that could expose a risk to the security and technology infrastructure of agency.

Summary of Bill:

The OPMA permits the governing body of a public agency to convene an executive session during a public meeting to discuss the same information regarding the security and vulnerability of agency computer and telecommunication network infrastructure that is exempted from public disclosure under the Public Record Act.