SENATE BILL REPORT

HB 1542

As Reported By Senate Committee On:

Economic Development & Telecommunications, March 26, 2001

Title:  An act relating to exempting financial or proprietary information provided to the department of community, trade, and economic development from public disclosure.

Brief Description:  Exempting certain financial or proprietary information provided to the department of community, trade, and economic development from public disclosure.

Sponsors:  By Representatives Van Luven, Gombosky, Fromhold and Dunn; by request of Department of Community, Trade, and Economic Development.

Brief History:

Committee Activity:  Economic Development & Telecommunications:  3/20/01, 3/26/01 [DP].

SENATE COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT & TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Majority Report:  Do pass.

Signed by Senators T. Sheldon, Chair; B. Sheldon, Vice Chair; Finkbeiner, Haugen, McCaslin, Rossi and Stevens.

Staff:  William Bridges (786‑7424)

Background:  Under the Public Disclosure Act (PDA), all records of state agencies and local governments are open to inspection and copying unless exempt by statute.  One exemption applies to economic data collected by the Department of Community, Trade, and Economic Development (CTED), which is used by the department in business recruitment efforts.

Summary of Bill:  An additional exemption to the PDA is created for financial and proprietary information collected by CTED for researching economic trends and conducting industry surveys.  This exemption does not apply to work product developed by CTED that is based on the financial and proprietary information.

Appropriation:  None.

Fiscal Note:  Not requested.

Effective Date:  Ninety days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.

Testimony For:  The Office of Trade and Economic Development=s (OTED) core function is to analyze economic trends and conduct industry surveys to promote economic development in the state.  In order to do this, OTED needs to examine such sensitive information as a company's sales and employment forecasts.  Companies will be reluctant to supply this information to OTED if the agency must disclose the information to competitors.

Testimony Against:  None.

Testified:  Ron Newbry, Wash. Econ. Dev. Assn. (pro); Sung Yang, OTED (pro).