BILL REQ. #:  S-3624.3 

Read first time 01/18/12.   Referred to Committee on Government Operations, Tribal Relations & Elections.

     AN ACT Relating to the inspection and copying of any public record; amending RCW 42.56.565; and adding a new section to chapter 42.56 RCW.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 42.56.565 and 2011 c 300 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) A court shall not award penalties under RCW 42.56.550(4) to a person who was serving a criminal sentence in a state, local, or privately operated correctional facility on the date the request for public records was made, unless the court finds that the agency acted in bad faith in denying the person the opportunity to inspect or copy a public record.
     (2) The inspection or copying of any ((nonexempt)) public record ((by persons serving criminal sentences in state, local, or privately operated correctional facilities)) may be enjoined pursuant to this section.
     (a) The injunction may be requested by: (i) An agency or its representative; (ii) a person named in the record or his or her representative; or (iii) a person to whom the requests specifically pertains or his or her representative.
     (b) The request for injunction must be filed in: (i) The superior court in which the movant resides; or (ii) the superior court in the county in which the record is maintained.
     (c) In order to issue an injunction, the court must find that:
     (i) The public record request was made to harass or intimidate the agency or its employees;
     (ii) Fulfilling the request would likely threaten the security of correctional facilities;
     (iii) Fulfilling the request would likely threaten the safety or security of staff, inmates, family members of staff, family members of other inmates, or any other person; ((or))
     (iv) Fulfilling the request may assist criminal activity; or
     (v) The agency can demonstrate that it faces significant burden in fulfilling the public record request.
     (3) In deciding whether to enjoin a public record request under subsection (2) of this section, the court may consider all relevant factors including, but not limited to:
     (a) Other public record requests by the requestor;
     (b) The type of public record or records sought;
     (c) Statements offered by the requestor concerning the purpose for the public record request;
     (d) Whether disclosure of the requested public records would likely harm any person or vital government interest;
     (e) Whether the public record request seeks a significant and burdensome number of documents;
     (f) The impact of disclosure on ((correctional facility)) security and order at an agency, the safety or security of ((correctional facility)) agency staff, inmates, or others; and
     (g) The deterrence of criminal activity.
     (4) The motion proceeding described in this section shall be a summary proceeding based on affidavits or declarations, unless the court orders otherwise. Upon a showing by a preponderance of the evidence, the court may enjoin all or any part of a request or requests. Based on the evidence, the court may also enjoin, for a period of time the court deems reasonable, future requests by:
     (a) The same requestor; or
     (b) An entity owned or controlled in whole or in part by the same requestor.
     (5) Before filing a request for an injunction pursuant to subsection (2)(c)(v) of this section, an agency shall notify the public record requestor that it intends to seek an injunction. The requestor shall be allowed fifteen days to revise its public record request. If the requestor submits a revised public record request, the agency may still seek judicial review without allowing the requestor to further revise the request.
     (6) The agency shall continue to fulfill the request in a manner consistent with the public records act until the court issues a decision on the injunction request, unless the court orders otherwise.
     (7) An agency shall not be liable for penalties under RCW 42.56.550(4) for any period during which an order under this section is in effect, including during an appeal of an order under this section, regardless of the outcome of the appeal.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 42.56 RCW to read as follows:
     (1)(a) An agency may adopt a policy limiting the number of hours that agency must devote to responding to public records requests to prevent excessive interference with its other essential functions if it makes the following documents publicly available:
     (i) Agency budgets for the current and past three fiscal years;
     (ii) Agendas and minutes for all public meetings for the past three fiscal years;
     (iii) Salary schedule for all current positions and the names of all employees;
     (iv) Resolutions and ordinances; and
     (v) Contracts that exceed thirty-five thousand dollars that are currently in place or that terminated in the past three fiscal years.
     (b) For a local agency this policy must be in the form of adopted legislation and for state agencies it must be in the form of an adopted rule.
     (2) Tasks subject to the limit in this subsection include the time it takes to search for responsive records and review and redact responsive records. It does not include time spent in litigation or time spent by an attorney providing legal advice regarding records. The policy may include rules on setting priorities on what requests will be fulfilled in what order based on the size of the request and the number of other requests from that requester made in the preceding twelve months.
     (3) When an agency adopts rules pursuant to subsection (1)(b) of this section, any time that agency anticipates that it will take more than sixty calendar days to fulfill a request, the agency must inform the requester of the factors that go into this time estimate, including a list of all other pending requests. The agency's time estimate is subject to court challenge pursuant to RCW 42.56.550(2).
     (4) For any legislation or rule adopted pursuant to subsection (1)(b) of this section, the value of the time allotted may not equal less than one percent of the agency's annual operations and maintenance budget and must be based on the average salary of the person primarily assigned to process requests. In no case may an agency adopt a rule that allows it to spend fewer than five hours per month responding to requests.
     (5) For agencies with a general fund budget that exceeds one million dollars, documents are publicly available if they are accessible through a central web site. For agencies with budgets under one million dollars, documents are publicly available if they are produced for inspection within five business days of being requested.