The Division of Archives and Records Management. The Office of the Secretary of State includes the Division of Archives and Records Management (State Archives), which is responsible for managing the retention, cataloging, and preservation of the public records inventory. The State Archives also operates regional offices that support state and local agencies with records management.
Institute on Human Development and Disability. The University of Washington Institute on Human Development and Disability provides an integrated interdisciplinary program in the field of developmental disabilities to advance basic and translational research and to enhance the capacity of communities to provide state-of-the-art comprehensive services.
Lakeland Village. Originally established in 1914 Lakeland Village is a state operated facility that provides training, education, and healthcare for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Working with the University of Washington Institute on Human Development and Disability, the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS), and the Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation (DAHP), the State Archives must create a preservation plan to organize, catalogue, and store historical documents and artifacts identified at Lakeland Village.
Historical documents and artifacts may include but are not limited to medical records, letters, images, films, and artifacts of past residents with intellectual or development disabilities at Lakeland Village.
The preservation plan must:
The plan must be reported to the appropriate committees of the Legislature by September 1, 2025.
The preservation plan must also include future plans for public access for historical and education purposes.
The State Archives and DSHS must work together in storing and retaining the records. No records may be destroyed until the preservation plan is completed and the work is funded during fiscal year 2026.
Indirect costs to the University of Washington for this project are limited to 15 percent.
The act expires June 30, 2026.
PRO: This bill was led by the developmental disabilities community. It is a community-driven approach that aims to safeguard historical documents and artifacts associated with the developmental disabilities community. It is important for us to maintain, digitize, and preserve these records. By maintaining them, we find a way to connect to the past and to understand their experiences. The artifacts likely include materials outside the definition of public records, including medical information about individual patients, and public access to the records will be guided by the Public Records Act and HIPAA. For Archives to keep the patient files permanently, almost an entire building would need to be created for storage. It would be good to coordinate this work with local groups.
The committee recommended a different version of the bill than what was heard. PRO: These documents contain real stories about real people?s lives who were hidden, but whose lives matter. It is critical that they be digitized but those costs should not be shifted to those with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The records can remain where they are while the research is being conducted.
OTHER: We are currently working on a proposed substitute that would allow us to be pro on this bill. First and foremost we want to make sure that none of the records are destroyed and that they are retained in a cost effective way over time.