H-3635.1 _______________________________________________
HOUSE BILL 2458
_______________________________________________
State of Washington 56th Legislature 2000 Regular Session
By Representatives Ballasiotes, Koster, B. Chandler, Cairnes, O'Brien, Bush, Schoesler, Talcott, Pflug, Esser, Benson, Lovick and Mulliken
Read first time 01/17/2000. Referred to Committee on State Government.
AN ACT Relating to public records requests from incarcerated individuals; and amending RCW 42.17.270.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1. RCW 42.17.270 and 1987 c 403 s 4 are each amended to read as follows:
(1)
Except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, public records shall
be available for inspection and copying, and agencies shall, upon request for
identifiable public records, make them promptly available to any person.
Agencies shall not distinguish among persons requesting records, and such
persons shall not be required to provide information as to the purpose for the
request except to establish whether inspection and copying would violate RCW
42.17.260(((5))) (9) or other statute which exempts or prohibits
disclosure of specific information or records to certain persons. Agency
facilities shall be made available to any person for the copying of public
records except when and to the extent that this would unreasonably disrupt the
operations of the agency. Agencies shall honor requests received by mail for
identifiable public records unless exempted by provisions of this chapter.
(2) An agency shall not make public records available to an individual incarcerated in a federal, state, or local correctional facility, including such a facility located outside the state of Washington or operated by a private contractor. Nothing in this subsection prevents an incarcerated individual from exercising his or her constitutionally protected rights, including the right to obtain exculpatory evidence in a criminal prosecution.
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