Washington Administrative Code › Title 44 - Attorney General's Office › Chapter 44-06 - Public records › Section 44-06-080 - Public Records Act requests to the office

Current through Register Vol. 24-14, July 15, 2024
(1)
Website records.
Persons seeking public records of the office
			 under the act are strongly encouraged to, before submitting a records request,
			 first review the office's website at
www.atg
.
			 wa.gov. Indexed records may include formal attorney general's opinions and some
			 orders. Those records are indexed on the website, which is updated as the
			 opinions and orders are issued.
Another website, data.wa.gov, has data about consumer
				protection complaints to the office. These websites have many records about
				office business that are free for viewing and downloading at any time, and are
				accessible without making a Public Records Act request to the
				office.
(2)
Public
			 Records Act requests.
Public Records Act requests to the office must be
			 sent or submitted only to the public records officer in the Olympia main
			 office, in one of the following ways:
Online form at
http://www.atg.wa.gov/request-ago-public-records
Email: publicrecords@atg.wa.gov
U.S. Mail or Delivery:
Public Records Unit
Office of the Attorney General
1125 Washington Street S.E.
P.O. Box 40100
Olympia, WA 98504-0100
Requestors are strongly encouraged to make requests in writing.
				Requestors are encouraged to use the online Public Records Act request form,
				which, once completed, is automatically submitted to the Olympia main office
				and to the attention of the public records officer. The office accepts
				in-person requests at the Olympia main office during normal office hours, 8:00
				a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding holidays and days the
				office is closed. If the office receives an oral request, the office will
				reduce the request to writing and verify in writing with the requestor that it
				correctly memorialized the request.
Other office locations outside the Olympia main office, other
				office email addresses, other office fax or phone numbers, and other office
				staff are not authorized to accept Public Records Act requests to the office.
				Communications seeking office records, but which are sent or provided to
				unauthorized locations, addresses or staff, will not be accepted as or
				processed as Public Records Act requests. The office 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 main
				office.
This Public Records Act request procedure provides the fullest
				assistance to requestors by:
(a)Establishing a uniform point of contact
			 for all Public Records Act requests to the office 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 the office to promptly
			 distinguish Public Records Act requests from the high volume of other daily
			 communications to the office on multiple topics, so as to enable appropriate
			 responses and thereby avoid excessive interference with other essential agency
			 functions as provided in RCW    42.56.100; and
(c) Ensuring that records requests submitted
			 under the act are centrally reviewed during business hours by the public
			 records officer or designee, so the office 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 act and
			 these rules.