HOUSE BILL REPORT

SSB 6880

BYSenate Committee on Governmental Operations (originally sponsored by Senators Rinehart, McCaslin and Niemi)

Limiting the disclosure of business and residential locations.

House Committe on State Government

Majority Report:  Do pass as amended.  (6)

      Signed by Representatives Todd, Chair; Anderson, Vice Chair; R. Fisher, R. King, Morris and O'Brien.

Minority Report:  Do not pass.  (3)

      Signed by Representatives McLean, Ranking Republican Member; Hankins and Silver.

House Staff:Tim Burke (786-7103) and Kenneth Hirst (786-7105)

Rereferred House Committee on Appropriations

Majority Report:  Do pass as amended by Committee on State Government and as further amended by Committee on Appropriations.  (25)

      Signed by Representatives Locke, Chair; Grant, Vice Chair; H. Sommers, Vice Chair; Silver, Ranking Republican Member; Youngsman, Assistant Ranking Republican Member; Belcher, Bowman, Brekke, Brough, Dorn, Doty, Ebersole, Ferguson, Hine, Inslee, May, McLean, Nealey, Rust, Sayan, Spanel, Sprenkle, Valle, Wang and Wineberry.

House Staff:      Kenneth Hirst (786-7105)

AS PASSED HOUSE MARCH 2, 1990

BACKGROUND:

The state's public disclosure law requires public agencies to make their records available for public inspection and copying.  Certain exemptions from this requirement are provided by the public disclosure law and other statutes.  Among the records exempted from such public disclosure are the residential addresses and residential telephone numbers of employees or volunteers of a public agency held in the records of the agency.

SUMMARY:

The work and home addresses, other than the city of residence, of a person must remain undisclosed or omitted from all documents made available for public review if the person so requests in writing, under oath, because the disclosure would endanger any person's life, physical safety, or property.  The Secretary of State must administer this requirement and establish necessary rules.  The secretary must serve as the agent of a person requesting confidentiality for the purposes of service of process.

This requirement does not restrict the sharing or collection of information by state and local government agencies required for the daily administration of their duties, nor does it affect any provisions of other laws which require an agency to disclose this information.

An agency that has not been furnished with such a request for keeping information confidential is not liable for damages resulting from its disclosure of the information.

Fiscal Note:      Requested February 22, 1990.

House Committee ‑ Testified For:    (State Government)  Senator Nina Rinehart; Don Whiting, Office of the Secretary of State; Cindy Zender, Joint Council of Teamsters; Judy Turpin, Washington Women United; and Mary Pontarolo, New Beginnings.

(Appropriations)  Debra Senn, Washington Coalition Against Domestic Violence; Becky Bogard, Washington Process Servers Association (in part); and Don Whiting, Office of the Secretary of State.

House Committee - Testified Against:      (State Government)  Becky Bogard and Gary Ramey, Washington Process Servers Association; and Chip Holcomb, Public Disclosure Commission.

(Appropriations)  No one.

House Committee - Testimony For:    (State Government)  (1) The bill would protect those in fear of others who are seeking their whereabouts.  Forms requesting confidentiality would be circulated at women's shelters.  (2) Citizens lead private lives; they have a right to keep them private.  (3) Women living in fear must choose between their privacy and their ability to vote and to drive and perhaps to work.

(Appropriations)  (1)  The bill is needed to protect women from those who are seeking their location for violent purposes.  (2)  The Secretary of State should serve as an agent for the purpose of serving process on those who have requested confidentiality under this bill.

House Committee - Testimony Against:      (State Government)  (1) The bill covers all records in all places.  Certain of these, such as tax records, should be kept available.  (2) Unless process servers have access to this information, people who have requested confidentiality may avoid being placed within a court's jurisdiction which is hearing a proper and legal complaint.  (3) The bill as passed by the Senate may provide a false sense of security to those requesting confidentiality while exposing the state or a public agency to liability for not honoring a confidentiality request that had been filed with another agency or entity.  (4) The disclosure laws should be administered by the Public Disclosure Commission, not the Secretary of State.

(Appropriations)  None.