BILL REQ. #:  Z-0456.4 

Read first time 01/26/2007.   Referred to Committee on Judiciary.

     AN ACT Relating to publications of the statute law committee; and amending RCW 40.04.031, 1.08.110, 34.05.210, 34.05.312, 34.05.380, and 42.56.580.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1   RCW 40.04.031 and 2006 c 46 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:
     The statute law committee, after each legislative session, shall distribute, sell, or exchange session laws as required under this section.
     (1) One set shall be given to the following: The United States supreme court library; each state adult correctional institution; each state mental institution; the state historical society; the state bar association; the Olympia press corps library; the University of Washington library; the library of each of the regional universities; The Evergreen State College library; the Washington State University library; each county law library; and the municipal reference branch of the Seattle public library.
     (2) One set shall be given to the following upon their request: Each member of the legislature; each state agency and its divisions; each state commission, committee, board, and council; each community college; each assistant attorney general; each member of the United States senate and house of representatives from this state; each state official whose office is created by the Constitution; each prosecuting attorney; and each public library in cities of the first class.
     (3) Two sets shall be given to the following: The administrator for the courts; the library of congress; the law libraries of any accredited law schools established in this state; and the governor.
     (4) Two sets shall be given to the following upon their request: Each United States district court in the state; and each office and branch office of the United States district attorneys in this state.
     (5) Three sets shall be given to the library of the circuit court of appeals of the ninth circuit, upon its request.
     (6) The following may request, and receive at no charge, as many sets as are needed for their official business: The senate and house of representatives; each county auditor, who shall receive and distribute sets for use by his or her county's officials; the office of the code reviser; the secretary of the senate; the chief clerk of the house of representatives; the supreme court; each court of appeals in the state; the superior courts; the state library; and the state law library.
     (7) Surplus copies of the session laws shall be sold and delivered by the statute law committee, in which case the price of the bound volumes shall be sufficient to cover costs. All money received from the sale of the session law sets shall be paid into the ((state treasury for the general fund)) statute law committee publications account.
     (8) The statute law committee may exchange session law sets for similar laws or legal materials of other states, territories, and governments, and make such other distribution of the sets as in its judgment seems proper.

Sec. 2   RCW 1.08.110 and 1977 ex.s. c 240 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:
     The statute law committee, in addition to the other responsibilities enumerated in this chapter, shall ((cause to be)) publish((ed)) the Washington State Register as created in RCW 34.08.020. The statute law committee ((and/or)) or the code reviser may adopt ((such)) rules as are necessary for the effective operation of ((such)) this service. The statute law committee, in its discretion, may publish the Washington State Register exclusively by electronic means on the code reviser web site if it determines that public access to the Washington State Register is not substantially diminished. If the statute law committee publishes the Washington State Register exclusively by electronic means on the code reviser web site, the electronic copy posted on the code reviser web site shall be considered the official copy of the Washington State Register.

Sec. 3   RCW 34.05.210 and 1988 c 288 s 201 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) The code reviser shall cause the Washington Administrative Code to be compiled, indexed by subject, and published. All current, permanently effective rules of each agency shall be published in the Washington Administrative Code. Compilations shall be supplemented or revised as often as necessary and at least annually in a form compatible with the main compilation.
     (2) Subject to the provisions of this chapter, the code reviser shall prescribe a uniform numbering system, form, and style for all proposed and adopted rules.
     (3) The code reviser shall publish a register setting forth the text of all rules filed during the appropriate register publication period.
     (4) The code reviser may omit from the register or the compilation, rules that would be unduly cumbersome, expensive, or otherwise inexpedient to publish, if such rules are made available in printed or processed form on application to the adopting agency, and if the register or compilation contains a notice stating the general subject matter of the rules so omitted and stating how copies thereof may be obtained.
     (5) The code reviser may edit and revise rules for publication, codification, and compilation, without changing the meaning of any such rule.
     (6) When a rule, in whole or in part, is declared invalid and unconstitutional by a court of final appeal, the adopting agency shall give notice to that effect in the register. With the consent of the attorney general, the code reviser may remove obsolete rules or parts of rules from the Washington Administrative Code when:
     (a) The rules are declared unconstitutional by a court of final appeal; or
     (b) The adopting agency ceases to exist and the rules are not transferred by statute to a successor agency.
     (7) ((Registers and)) Compilations shall be made available, in written form to (a) state elected officials whose offices are created by Article II or III of the state Constitution or by RCW 48.02.010, upon request, (b) ((to)) the secretary of the senate and the chief clerk of the house for committee use, as required, but not to exceed the number of standing committees in each body, (c) ((to)) county boards of law library trustees and to the Olympia ((representatives of the Associated Press and the United Press International without request, free of charge)) press corps library, and (d) ((to)) other persons at a price fixed by the code reviser.
     (8) The board of law library trustees of each county shall keep and maintain a complete and current set of registers and compilations when required for use and inspection as provided in ((RCW 27.24.060)) chapter 27.24 RCW. If the register is published exclusively by electronic means on the code reviser web site, providing on-site access to the electronic version of the register shall satisfy the requirements of this subsection for access to the register.
     (9) Registers shall be made available in written form to the same parties and under the same terms as those listed in subsection (7) of this section, unless the register is published exclusively by electronic means on the code reviser web site.
     (10) Judicial notice shall be taken of rules filed and published as provided in RCW 34.05.380 and this section.

Sec. 4   RCW 34.05.312 and 2003 c 246 s 4 are each amended to read as follows:
     Each agency shall designate a rules coordinator, who shall have knowledge of the subjects of rules being proposed or prepared within the agency for proposal, maintain the records of any such action, and respond to public inquiries about possible, proposed, or adopted rules and the identity of agency personnel working, reviewing, or commenting on them. The office and mailing address of the rules coordinator shall be published in the state register at the time of designation and ((in the first issue of each calendar year)) maintained thereafter on the code reviser web site for the duration of the designation. The rules coordinator may be an employee of another agency.

Sec. 5   RCW 34.05.380 and 1989 c 175 s 11 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) Each agency shall file in the office of the code reviser a certified copy of all rules it adopts, except for rules contained in tariffs filed with or published by the Washington utilities and transportation commission. The code reviser shall place upon each rule a notation of the time and date of filing and shall keep a permanent ((register)) written record of filed rules open to public inspection. In filing a rule, each agency shall use the standard form prescribed for this purpose by the code reviser.
     (2) Emergency rules adopted under RCW 34.05.350 become effective upon filing unless a later date is specified in the order of adoption. All other rules become effective upon the expiration of thirty days after the date of filing, unless a later date is required by statute or specified in the order of adoption.
     (3) A rule may become effective immediately upon its filing with the code reviser or on any subsequent date earlier than that established by subsection (2) of this section, if the agency establishes that effective date in the adopting order and finds that:
     (a) Such action is required by the state or federal Constitution, a statute, or court order;
     (b) The rule only delays the effective date of another rule that is not yet effective; or
     (c) The earlier effective date is necessary because of imminent peril to the public health, safety, or welfare.
     The finding and a brief statement of the reasons therefor required by this subsection shall be made a part of the order adopting the rule.
     (4) With respect to a rule made effective pursuant to subsection (3) of this section, each agency shall make reasonable efforts to make the effective date known to persons who may be affected by it.

Sec. 6   RCW 42.56.580 and 2005 c 483 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) Each state and local agency shall appoint and publicly identify a public records officer whose responsibility is to serve as a point of contact for members of the public in requesting disclosure of public records and to oversee the agency's compliance with the public records disclosure requirements of this chapter. A state or local agency's public records officer may appoint an employee or official of another agency as its public records officer.
     (2) For state agencies, the name and contact information of the agency's public records officer to whom members of the public may direct requests for disclosure of public records and who will oversee the agency's compliance with the public records disclosure requirements of this chapter shall be published in the state register at the time of designation and ((annually every year)) maintained thereafter on the code reviser web site for the duration of the designation.
     (3) For local agencies, the name and contact information of the agency's public records officer to whom members of the public may direct requests for disclosure of public records and who will oversee the agency's compliance within the public records disclosure requirements of this chapter shall be made in a way reasonably calculated to provide notice to the public, including posting at the local agency's place of business, posting on its internet site, or including in its publications.