| Passed by the House March 1, 2011 Yeas 96 ________________________________________ Speaker of the House of Representatives Passed by the Senate April 21, 2011 Yeas 47 ________________________________________ President of the Senate | I, Barbara Baker, Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives of the State of Washington, do hereby certify that the attached is SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 1899 as passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate on the dates hereon set forth. ________________________________________ Chief Clerk | |
| Approved ________________________________________ Governor of the State of Washington | Secretary of State State of Washington |
| State of Washington | 62nd Legislature | 2011 Regular Session |
READ FIRST TIME 02/17/11.
AN ACT Relating to penalties for public records violations; reenacting and amending RCW 42.56.550; and prescribing penalties.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1 RCW 42.56.550 and 2005 c 483 s 5 and 2005 c 274 s 288 are
each reenacted and amended to read as follows:
(1) Upon the motion of any person having been denied an opportunity
to inspect or copy a public record by an agency, the superior court in
the county in which a record is maintained may require the responsible
agency to show cause why it has refused to allow inspection or copying
of a specific public record or class of records. The burden of proof
shall be on the agency to establish that refusal to permit public
inspection and copying is in accordance with a statute that exempts or
prohibits disclosure in whole or in part of specific information or
records.
(2) Upon the motion of any person who believes that an agency has
not made a reasonable estimate of the time that the agency requires to
respond to a public record request, the superior court in the county in
which a record is maintained may require the responsible agency to show
that the estimate it provided is reasonable. The burden of proof shall
be on the agency to show that the estimate it provided is reasonable.
(3) Judicial review of all agency actions taken or challenged under
RCW 42.56.030 through 42.56.520 shall be de novo. Courts shall take
into account the policy of this chapter that free and open examination
of public records is in the public interest, even though such
examination may cause inconvenience or embarrassment to public
officials or others. Courts may examine any record in camera in any
proceeding brought under this section. The court may conduct a hearing
based solely on affidavits.
(4) Any person who prevails against an agency in any action in the
courts seeking the right to inspect or copy any public record or the
right to receive a response to a public record request within a
reasonable amount of time shall be awarded all costs, including
reasonable attorney fees, incurred in connection with such legal
action. In addition, it shall be within the discretion of the court to
award such person an amount ((not less than five dollars and)) not to
exceed one hundred dollars for each day that he or she was denied the
right to inspect or copy said public record.
(5) For actions under this section against counties, the venue
provisions of RCW 36.01.050 apply.
(6) Actions under this section must be filed within one year of the
agency's claim of exemption or the last production of a record on a
partial or installment basis.