Washington Administrative Code › Title 44 - Attorney General's Office › Chapter 44-14 - Public Records Act-Model rules › Comments to WAC 44-14-030 › Section 44-14-03006 - Form of requests

Current through Register Vol. 24-14, July 15, 2024
There is no statutorily required format for a valid public
				  records request.
				  RCW
				    42.56.080(2). Agencies may
				  recommend that requestors submit requests using an agency-provided form or web
				  page. However, a person seeking records must make a "specific request" for
				  "identifiable records" which provides "fair notice" and "sufficient clarity" that
				  it is a records request.1 An agency may prescribe the
				  means of requests in its rules.
				  RCW
				    42.56.040;
				  RCW
				    42.56.070(1);
				  RCW
				    42.56.100;
				  RCW
				    34.05.220(1)(b) (state
				  agencies). An agency can adopt reasonable procedures requiring requests to be
				  submitted only to designated persons2 (such as the
				  public records officer), or a specific agency address (such as a dedicated agency
				  email address for receiving requests, or a mailing/street address of the office
				  where the public records officer is located, or a web portal).
Agency public internet web site records - No request
				  required.
A requestor is not required to make a public records request
				  before inspecting, downloading or copying records posted on an agency's public
				  web site. To save resources for both agencies and requestors, agencies are
				  strongly encouraged to post commonly requested records on their web sites.
				  Requestors are strongly encouraged to review an agency's web site before
				  submitting a public records request.
In-person requests.
An agency must honor requests
				  received in person during normal business hours.
				  RCW
				    42.56.080(2). An agency should
				  have its public records request form available at the office reception area so it
				  can be provided to a "walk-in" requestor. The form should be directed to the
				  agency's public records officer.
Mail, email and fax requests.
A request can be
				  sent to the appropriate person or address by U.S. mail.
				  RCW
				    42.56.100. A request can also be made by email,
				  fax (if an agency still uses fax), or orally (but should then be confirmed in
				  writing; see further comment herein).
Public records requests using the agency's form or web
				  page.
An agency should have a public records request form. An agency is
				  encouraged to make its public records request form available at its office, and
				  on its web site. Some agencies also have online public records request forms or
				  portals on a page on their web sites, set up to specifically receive public
				  records requests. Agencies may recommend that requestors submit requests using an
				  agency-provided form or web page.
				  RCW
				    42.56.080(2). In this comment,
				  requestors are strongly encouraged to use the agency's public records request
				  form or online form or portal to make records requests, and then provide it to
				  the designated agency person or address. Following this step begins the important
				  communication process under the act between the requestor and the
				  agency.3 This step also helps both the requestor and
				  the agency, because it better enables the agency to more promptly identify the
				  inquiry as a public records request, timely confirm its receipt with the
				  requestor, promptly seek clarification from the requestor if needed, and
				  otherwise begin processing the agency's response to the request under the
				  act.
An agency request form or online form or portal should ask the
				  requestor whether he or she seeks to inspect the records, receive a copy of them,
				  or to inspect the records first and then consider selecting records to copy. An
				  agency request form or online portal should recite that inspection of records is
				  free and provide information about copying fees.
An agency request form or online form or portal should require
				  the requestor to provide contact information so the agency can communicate with
				  the requestor to, for example, clarify the request, inform the requestor that the
				  records are available, or provide an explanation of an exemption. Contact
				  information such as a name, phone number, and address or email should be
				  provided. Requestors should provide an email address because it is an efficient
				  means of communication and creates a written record of the communications between
				  them and the agency. An agency should not require a requestor to provide a
				  driver's license number, date of birth, or photo identification. This information
				  is not necessary for the agency to contact the requestor and requiring it might
				  intimidate some requestors.
Bot requests.
An agency may deny a "bot" request
				  that is one of multiple requests from a requestor to the agency within a
				  twenty-four-hour period, if the agency establishes that responding to the
				  multiple requests would cause excessive interference with other essential agency
				  functions.
				  RCW
				    42.56.080(3). A "bot" request
				  means a records request that an agency reasonably believes was automatically
				  generated by a computer program or script.
Oral requests.
A number of agencies routinely
				  accept oral public records requests (for example, asking to look at a building
				  permit). Some agencies find oral requests to be the best way to provide certain
				  kinds of records. However, for some requests such as larger or complex ones, oral
				  requests may be allowed but are problematic.4 An oral
				  request does not memorialize the exact records sought and therefore prevents a
				  requestor or agency from later proving what was included in the request.
				  Furthermore, as described in this comment and in WAC
				  44-14-04002(1),
				  a requestor must provide the agency with fair notice that the request is for the
				  disclosure of public records; oral requests, especially to agency staff other
				  than the public records officer or designee, may not provide the agency with the
				  required notice or satisfy the agency's Public Records Act procedures. Therefore,
				  requestors are strongly encouraged to make written requests, directed to the
				  designated agency person or address.
If an agency receives an oral request, the agency staff person
				  authorized to receive the request such as the public records officer, should
				  immediately reduce it to writing and then verify in writing with the requestor
				  that it correctly memorialized the request. If the staff person is not the proper
				  recipient, he or she should inform the person of how to contact the public
				  records officer to receive information on submitting records requests. The public
				  records officer serves "as a point of contact for members of the public in
				  requesting disclosure of public records and oversees the agency's compliance with
				  the public records disclosure requirements."RCW
				    42.56.580.
Prioritization of records requested.
An agency may
				  ask a requestor to prioritize the records he or she is requesting so that the
				  agency is able to provide the most important records first. An agency is not
				  required to ask for prioritization, and a requestor is not required to provide
				  it.
Purpose of request.
An agency cannot require the
				  requestor to disclose the purpose of the request, apart from exceptions
				  permitted by law.
				  RCW
				    42.56.080. For example, if the request is for a
				  list of individuals, an agency may ask the requestor if he or she intends to use
				  the records for a commercial purpose and require the requestor to provide
				  information about the purpose of the use of the list. 
				  5 An agency should specify on its
				  request form that the agency is not authorized to provide public records
				  consisting of a list of individuals for a commercial use. RCW
				  42.56.-070(8).
And, an agency may seek information sufficient to allow it to
				  determine if another statute prohibits disclosure. For example, some statutes
				  allow an agency to disclose a record only to identified persons. In such cases,
				  an agency is authorized to ask the requestor if he or she fits the statutory
				  criteria for disclosure of the record.
Indemnification.
An agency is not authorized to
				  require a requestor to indemnify the agency.6
Notes:
1RCW
						    42.56.080(1) and (2);
Hangartner v. City of Seattle
, 151 Wn.2d 439, 447, 90 P.3d 26
						  (2004) ("there is no official format for a valid PDA [PRA] request.");
Wood v. Lowe
, 102 Wn. App. 872, 10 P.3d 494 (2000) (an agency's
						  duty under the act is triggered when it receives a "specific request" for records
						  and when the requestor states "the request with sufficient clarity to give the
						  agency fair notice that it had received a request for public records").
2
Parmelee v.
						  Clarke
, 148 Wn. App. 748, 201 P.3d 1022 (2008) (upholding agency's
						  procedures requiring public records requests to be made to a designated person).
3See
Hobbs v.
						  State
, 183 Wn. App. 925, 335 P.3d 1004 (2014) (Court of Appeals
						  encouraged requestors to communicate with agencies about issues related to their
						  PRA requests) and WAC
						  44-14-04003(3) ("Communication is usually the key to a smooth public records process for both
						  requestors and agencies.").
4Oral requests make it
						  "unnecessarily difficult" for the requestor to prove what was requested.
Beal v. City of Seattle
, 150 Wn. App. 865, 874-75, 209 P.3d 872
						  (2009); see also
O'Neill v. City of Shoreline
, 170 Wn.2d 138,
						  151, 240 P.3d 1149 (2010) (holding that an oral request for "that email" did not
						  provide the city with sufficient notice that metadata was also being requested).
5
SEIU Healthcare 775W v.
						  State et al.
, 193 Wn. App. 377, 377 P.3d 214 (2016).
6Op. Att'y Gen. 12 (1988). See
						  also
						  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 provisions of this chapter."
Reviser's note:
The brackets and enclosed
					 material in the text of the above section occurred in the copy filed by the
					 agency and appear in the Register pursuant to the requirements of
					 RCW
					   34.08.040.
Statutory Authority: 2005 c 483 § 4, RCW   42.17.348.
					 06-04-079, §
											44-14-03006, filed 1/31/06, effective
					 3/3/06.