4.8 RCW 42.17.340 provides that the burden of proof is on the agency to establish that a public record is exempt from disclosure and that time estimates for providing the record are reasonable. 4.10 RCW 42.17.330 provides that if a record is requested that an agency or its representative or a person who is named in the record or to whom the record specifically pertains does not want to be released, that party may request the Superior Court to exempt the record from disclosure. An agency also has the option, unless it is specifically required by law, to notify persons named in the record or to whom a record pertains that a request has been made. 4.11 RCW 42.17.310 and various statutes make certain classes of documents exempt from public disclosure. Many of these exemptions do not prohibit disclosure, but allow county agencies to withhold documents if they choose to do so, or require the disclosure of records with exempt material deleted.
Some statutes do prohibit disclosure.
4.12 RCW 42.17.260 prohibits government agencies from providing lists of individuals for commercial purposes. Commercial purposes is interpreted to mean direct solicitation by a profit-expecting business activity. For purposes of RCW 42.17, court case files are not considered public records. As required by RCW 40.14, all records created by government agencies must be documented on a records retention schedule. The provisions of RCW 42.17 dealing with the right to privacy in certain public records do not create any right of privacy beyond those rights that are specified as exemptions from the public's right to inspect, examine, or copy public records.