Washington Administrative Code › Title 44 - Attorney General's Office › Chapter 44-14 - Public Records Act-Model rules › Comments to WAC 44-14-010 › Section 44-14-01003 - Construction and application of act

Current through Register Vol. 24-14, July 15, 2024
The act declares: "The people of this state do not yield their
				  sovereignty to the agencies that serve them. The people, in delegating authority,
				  do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people
				  to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining
				  informed so that they may maintain control over the instruments that they have
				  created." RCW 42.56.-030. The initiative creating the act further provides: "...
				  mindful of the right of individuals to privacy and of the desirability of the
				  efficient administration of government, full access to information concerning the
				  conduct of government on every level must be assured as a fundamental and
				  necessary precondition to the sound governance of a free society."RCW
				    42.17A.001(11). The act
				  further provides: "Courts shall take into account the policy of (the act) 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."RCW
				    42.56.550(3).
Because the purpose of the act is to allow people to be
				  informed about governmental decisions (and therefore help keep government
				  accountable) while at the same time being "mindful of the right of individuals to
				  privacy," it should not be used to obtain records containing purely personal
				  information that has absolutely no bearing on the conduct of
				  government.1
The act emphasizes that it must be liberally construed to
				  effect its purpose, which is the disclosure of nonexempt public records.
				  RCW   42.56.030. The act
				  places the burden on the agency of proving a record is not subject to disclosure,
				  or that its estimate of time to provide a response or its estimated copy charges
				  are "reasonable."RCW   42.56.550(1)
				  and (2). The act also encourages disclosure by
				  awarding a prevailing requestor reasonable attorneys' fees, costs, and a possible
				  daily penalty .
				  RCW
				    42.56.550.2
An additional incentive for disclosure is
				  RCW
				    42.56.060, which provides: "No public agency,
				  public official, public employee, or custodian shall be liable, nor shall a cause
				  of action exist, for any loss or damage based upon the release of a public record
				  if the public agency, public official, public employee, or custodian acted in
				  good faith in attempting to comply" with the act.
Note:
1See
King County v.
						  Sheehan
, 114 Wn. App. 325, 338, 57 P.3d 307 (2002) (referring to the
						  legislative intent provisions of the act as "the thrice-repeated legislative
						  mandate that exemptions under the Public Records Act are to be narrowly
						  construed.")
The courts have repeatedly held that the
						  purpose of the act is a strongly worded mandate to provide access to public
						  agency records concerning the workings of government, in order for the people to
						  hold the government accountable.
Prog. Animal Welfare Soc'y v. Univ. of
						  Wash.
, 125 Wn.2d 243, 251, 884 P.2d 592 (1994);
Amren v. City of
						  Kalama
, 131 Wn.2d 25, 31, 929 P.2d 389 (1997). The legislature addressed
						  concerns about uses of the act by prison inmates and persons residing in a civil
						  commitment facility for sexually violent predators for purposes other than
						  government accountability.
						  RCW
						    42.56.565 (criteria for obtaining injunctions
						  with respect to inmate requests, including requests made for the purposes of
						  harassment); see also
						  RCW
						    71.09.120(3) (persons residing
						  in a civil commitment facility for sexually violent predators). The courts have
						  also spoken with disfavor concerning use of the act for purposes other than
						  government accountability. See, e.g.,
Kozol v. Dept. of Corr.
,
						  191 Wn. App. 1034, 366 P.3d 933 (2015) (inmate "concocted a scheme in prison to
						  make money off the Public Records Act");
Mitchell v. Wash. State Inst. Of
						  Pub. Policy
, 153 Wn. App. 803, 830 P.3d 280 (2009) ("Using the PRA as a
						  vehicle of personal profit through false, inaccurate, or inflated costs is
						  contrary to the PRA's stated purpose to keep the governed informed about their
						  government and costs based on false, inaccurate, or inflated c l a i m s d o n o
						  t s e r v e t h a t p u r p ose and are not reasonable.")
2See also, 182 Wn.2d 87, 343 P.3d
						  335 (2014) (attorneys' fees awarded for denied right to receive a response).
Statutory Authority: 2005 c 483 § 4, RCW   42.17.348.
					 06-04-079, §
											44-14-01003, filed 1/31/06, effective
					 3/3/06.