WSR 18-10-033 PERMANENT RULES
WENATCHEE VALLEY COLLEGE
[Filed April 25, 2018, 10:53 a.m., effective May 26, 2018]
Effective Date of Rule: Thirty-one days after filing.
Purpose: Wenatchee Valley College has proposed amendments to its rules concerning access to public records as codified in chapter 132W-277 WAC. The purpose of the proposal is to update the college's rules to reflect recent statutory amendments to the Washington Public Records Act, chapter 42.56 RCW. In regards to WAC 132W-277-080, the amendment would repeal the college's requirement that requests for public records adhere to a specific format. In regards to WAC 132W-277-090, the college has determined that calculating the actual cost of copying public records is unduly burdensome and proposes adopting the schedule of allowable charges allowed for by RCW 42.56.120.
Citation of Rules Affected by this Order: Amending WAC 132W-277-080 and 132W-277-090.
Statutory Authority for Adoption: RCW 28B.50.140.
Adopted under notice filed as WSR 18-03-134 on April 18 [January 22], 2018.
Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Comply with Federal Statute: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Federal Rules or Standards: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Recently Enacted State Statutes: New 0, Amended 2, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted at the Request of a Nongovernmental Entity: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted on the Agency's own Initiative: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Clarify, Streamline, or Reform Agency Procedures: New 0, Amended 2, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted using Negotiated Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Pilot Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Other Alternative Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Date Adopted: April 18, 2018.
Jim Richardson
President
AMENDATORY SECTION (Amending WSR 14-08-013, filed 3/20/14, effective 4/20/14)
WAC 132W-277-080 Requests for public records.
(1) Requests for public records shall be made in person at, or mailed to the administrative office of the district at Wenatchee Valley College, 1300 5th St, Wenatchee, WA 98801 or emailed to the address located at www.wvc.edu. In accordance with the requirements of RCW 42.56.100 that agencies prevent unreasonable invasions of privacy, protect public records from damage or disorganization, and prevent excessive interference with essential functions of the agency, ((public records are obtainable by members of the public only when those members of the public comply with the following procedures:
(1) A request shall be made in writing upon a form prescribed by the district which shall be available at the district administrative office. The form shall be presented to the public records officer or, if the public records officer is not available, to any member of the district's staff at the district administrative office during customary office hours. The request shall include the following information)) the district shall honor only public records requests made in person during normal office hours or by mail or email to the addresses listed above, for identifiable public records not subject to an exemption under chapter 42.56 RCW. A public records request must be for identifiable public records. A request for all or substantially all records prepared, owned, used, or retained by an agency is not a valid request for identifiable records under chapter 42.56 RCW, provided that a request for all records regarding a particular topic or containing a particular keyword or name shall not be considered a request for all of an agency's records. The district shall not distinguish among persons requesting records, and such persons shall not be required to provide information as to the purpose for the request except to establish whether inspection and copying would violate RCW 42.56.070(8) or 42.56.240(14), or other statute which exempts or prohibits disclosure of specific information or records to certain persons. The district's facilities shall be made available to any person for the copying of public records except when and to the extent that this would unreasonably disrupt the operations of the district.
(2) No official format is required for making a records request. To help expedite the process of requesting records the district recommends that requests be made in writing upon a form prescribed by the district, which shall be available at the district administrative office or at www.wvc.edu. The district recommends that the form be presented to the public records officer or, if the public records officer is not available, to any member of the district's staff at the district administrative office during customary office hours, or mail to the district office or by email to the email address located at www.wvc.edu. The request should include the following information:
(a) The name of the person requesting the record;
(b) The time of day and calendar date on which the request was made;
(c) ((The nature of the request;
(d) If the information requested is referenced within the current index maintained by the public records officer, a reference to the requested record as it is described in such current index; and
(e) If the requested information is not identifiable by reference to the current index, an appropriate description of the record requested.
(2))) A description of the record(s) requested.
(3) In all cases in which a member of the public is making a request, it shall be the obligation of the public records officer, or person to whom the request is made, to assist the member of the public in succinctly identifying the public record requested.
(4) The district may deny a bot request that is one of multiple requests from the requestor to the district within a twenty-four-hour period, if the district establishes that responding to the multiple requests would cause excessive interference with other essential functions of the district. For purposes of this subsection, "bot request" means a request for public records that the district reasonably believes was automatically generated by a computer program or script.
AMENDATORY SECTION (Amending WSR 01-12-015, filed 5/25/01, effective 6/25/01)
WAC 132W-277-090 Copying.
No fee shall be charged for the inspection of public records. ((The district may impose a reasonable charge for providing copies of public records and for the use by any person of agency equipment to copy public records and such charges shall not exceed the amount necessary to reimburse the district for its actual costs incident to such copying.)) Calculating the actual costs of charges for providing public records is unduly burdensome because it will consume scarce district resources to conduct a study of actual costs, and it is difficult to accurately calculate all costs directly incident to copying records, including equipment and paper costs, data storage costs, electronic production costs, and staff time for copying and sending requested records. Instead of calculating the actual costs of charges for records, the district president or designee shall establish, maintain, and make available for public inspection and copying a statement of costs that the district charges for providing photocopies or electronically produced copies of public records, and such charges for records shall not exceed the maximum default charges allowed in RCW 42.56.120 (2)(b). The district may also use any other method authorized by the Public Records Act for imposing charges for public records including, but not limited to, charging a flat fee, charging a customized service charge, or charging based on a contract, memorandum of understanding, or other agreement with the requestor. The district may waive charges assessed for records when the public records officer determines collecting a fee is not cost effective. No person shall be released a record so copied until and unless the person requesting the copied public record has tendered payment for such copying to the appropriate district official. ((All charges must be paid by money order, cashier's check, or cash in advance.))
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