Washington Administrative Code › Title 200 - Enterprise Services, Department of › GENERAL › Chapter 200-01 - Public records › Section 200-01-040 - Processing of public records requests-Request

Current through Register Vol. 24-14, July 15, 2024
(1) Publicly available web records.
Before submitting a PRR, persons seeking DES public records
				  are strongly encouraged to first review the DES website at
www.des.wa.gov
.
Another website, data.wa.gov, offers data collected from a
				  variety of government agencies. This website provides substantial numbers of
				  public records concerning agency business that are free for viewing and
				  downloading at any time and accessible without submitting a PRR to DES.
(2) Public Records Act requests.
				DES requires no special form. However, all Public Records Act requests to DES
				must be sent only to the public records officer in the Olympia office. DES will
				accept PRRs in any one of the following ways:
Email: publicrecords@des.wa.gov
U.S. mail or delivery:
Public Records Officer
Department of Enterprise Services
1500 Jefferson Street E.
P.O. Box 42445
Olympia, WA 98504-2445
Requestors are strongly encouraged to submit written
				  requests. At a minimum, a written request must include the following
				  information:
* Name of requestor;
* Contact information;
* Identification of the public records adequate for the
				  public records officer to locate the records; and
* The date and time of day of the request.
(3) If the requestor wishes to have copies of
				the records made instead of inspecting them, the request should so indicate.
				Costs will be assessed in compliance with WAC
				200-01-075.
DES accepts in-person requests at the Olympia administrative
				  office during customary business hours. If DES receives an oral request, the
				  public records officer will reduce the request to writing and verify in writing
				  with the requestor that it correctly memorialized the request.
Only the Olympia administrative office is authorized to
				  accept public records requests.
Offices other than the Olympia administrative office, other
				  DES email addresses, other DES fax or phone numbers, and other DES staff are
				  not authorized to accept Public Records Act requests to DES.
All communications with DES to access public records of the
				  department or to seek assistance in making such a request, or for the purpose
				  of obtaining information, making requests or making inquiries concerning the
				  agency's rules for compliance with the Public Records Act shall be addressed as
				  follows:
Public Records Officer
Department of Enterprise Services
1500 Jefferson Street E.
P.O. Box 42445
Olympia, WA 98504-2445
Communications seeking DES records sent or provided to
				  unauthorized locations, addresses or staff, will not be accepted or processed
				  as PRRs. DES will process such communications as general informal inquiries,
				  general correspondence, general requests for information, or discovery, as
				  appropriate. The requestor may resubmit his/her request to the public records
				  officer at the Olympia office.
This Public Records Act records request procedure provides
				  the fullest assistance to requestors by:
(a) Establishing a uniform point of contact
				for all Public Records Act requests to DES and related inquiries, consistent
				with the public records officer contact information published in the
Washington State Register
, and pursuant to
				RCW
				   42.56.580;
(b) Enabling DES to promptly distinguish PRRs
				from the high volume of other daily communications to DES on multiple topics.
				This enables timely responses and avoids excessive interference with essential
				agency functions as provided in
				RCW
				   42.56.100; and
(c) Ensuring that PRRs are centrally reviewed
				during customary business hours by the public records officer, so DES may more
				efficiently assign a tracking number to the request, log it in, review it,
				provide an initial or other response within five business days after receipt as
				provided in
				RCW
				   42.56.520, and otherwise timely process the
				request pursuant to the Public Records Act and these rules.