(1) The office shall respond promptly to requests for disclosure. Within five business days of receiving a public record request, the office will respond by:

(a) Providing the record;

(b) Acknowledging that the office has received the request and providing a reasonable estimate of the time the office will require to respond to the request; or

(c) Denying the public record request. Agency responses refusing in whole or in part the inspection of a public record shall include a statement of the specific exemption authorizing the withholding of the record (or any part) and a brief explanation of how the exemption applies to the record(s) withheld.

(2) Additional time for the office to respond to a request may be based upon the need to:

(a) Clarify the intent of the request;

(b) Locate and assemble the information requested;

(c) Notify third persons or agencies affected by the request; or

(d) Determine whether any of the information requested is exempt and that a denial should be made as to all or part of the request.

(3) In acknowledging receipt of a public record request that is unclear, the office may ask the requester to clarify what information the requester is seeking. If the requester fails to clarify the request, the office need not respond to it.

(4)(a) If the office does not respond in writing within five working days of receipt of the request for disclosure, the person seeking disclosure shall be entitled to:

(i) Consider the request denied; and

(ii) Petition the public records officer under WAC 44-06-120.

(b) If the office responds within five working days acknowledging receipt of the request and providing an estimate of the time required to respond to the request, and the requester feels the amount of time stated is not reasonable, the person seeking disclosure shall be entitled to petition the public records officer for a review of the estimate of time. The procedures set out in WAC 44-06-120 shall apply to this review.