Saturday, June 30, 2007
"A Thurston County judge said Friday that state public-disclosure laws do not require Washington government agencies to release information in electronic form if the material is offered on paper."
Friday, June 29, 2007
The gas companies are appealing a Thurston County judge’s ruling to release the information, arguing that it would make their 22,000 miles of underground pipeline systems vulnerable to terrorist attacks or vandalism. The newspapers that are asking for the information say it’s a matter of public interest, especially following the 1999 pipeline explosion in Bellingham that killed an 18-year-old man and two boys."
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Yet another example of information coming to light via the Public Records Act.
A new law involves the disclosure of agency legal invoices like the Tacoma School District's. House Bill 1897 , which passed in the 2007 legislative session, clarifies that the law always required the disclosure of most portions of an agency's legal invoice. The new goes into effect on July 22, 2007.
Here's the problem the Port faces. Government records such as the tape are presumed to be open to the public. Gray areas in definitions are interpreted by a court in favor of disclosure; that is, the tie-breaker goes to the records requestor. "Minutes" of a closed executive session can be withheld. But "minutes" mean the written summary of the meeting--a tape of the whole meeting seems different than mere "minutes." Furthermore, the Legislature is very good at meticulously detailing exactly what it means, so when it said "minutes"--but not "tapes"--can be withheld it must have meant something. And the tie-breaker in this debate goes to the records requestor.
As for the Port's apparent attempt to shield the tapes from public disclosure solely because they are kept in the Port attorney's office, good luck. The P-I story above quotes Allied Law Group's Greg Overstreet on this. He describes the "potted plant" doctrine, which provides that an attorney merely sitting in a meeting like a potted plant cannot turn conversations into nondisclosable privileged communications. There is much more to the attorney-client privilege than the mere presence of an attorney.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
What a great idea: taping closed executive sessions of public meetings can prove violations and (far more importantly) deter many, many more. Attorney General Rob McKenna (R) and State Auditor Brian Sonntag (D) will be jointly requesting a taping bill in the 2008 legislative session. Auditor Sonntag proposed this same bill in the 2001 legislative session but local government argued--get this--that requiring taping was an "unfunded mandated" which would presumably bankrupt local governments. A small digital recorder costs about $59. The saddest part about this argument is ... it worked, at least in 2001. But we think things will be different in 2008.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Good for BIAW. Often maligned as too "conservative," BIAW does some of the best investigative work around--and usually via the Public Records Act. (Uncovering wrongdoing by the status quo government establishment is hardly "conservative," but that's a discussion for a different day.) Many in government want to weaken the Public Records Act. Ever wonder why?
Washington law prohibits a "search" fee for public records. Many have thought a class-action suit in Washington over illegal "search" fees and excessive copying charges would make sense. After all, an agency is not even remotely deterred by having to refund a few dollars to an individual requestor, but if you group several thousand requestors together for refunds ...
How did you and thousands of other citizens learn about this horrible tragedy? "State records show" means the Public Records Act. "Hundreds of pages of investigative files" also means the Public Records Act. Running this story, which was made possible by access to public records, will hopefully change things for other kids and help us keep our government accountable.
The "review of disciplinary records" mentioned in the story would be via the Public Records Act. The review of "court files" would be via open-government court rules which are similar to the Public Records Act. Then the story magnificently illustrates the importance of the Public Records Act by noting that problem officers are discovered by defense lawyers who find out about them "from a public-records request." Wow. You couldn't come up with a better example of how the Public Records Act allows us to remedy wrongs and keep government accountable. Quite a few in government want to eliminate or severely weaken the effectiveness of the Public Records Act. Ever wonder why?
To be crystal clear: Minutes of an open meeting in Washington are public records subject to disclosure. The law provides: "The minutes of all regular and special meetings except executive sessions of [all] boards, commissions, agencies or authorities shall be promptly recorded and such records shall be open to public inspection."
Tip of the hat to Leslie Graves for this story. She operates a great blog called State Sunshine and Open Records. She provides a weekly roundup of open-government news stories from around the United States in a feature called Random Friday Links, from which I found the NJ story.
Friday, June 22, 2007
"RALEIGH, N.C. — A Dare County judge has ordered the town of Kitty Hawk to pay a newspaper $75,000 to cover legal costs it incurred as it fought for access to government records. The Outer Banks Sentinel sued Kitty Hawk in 2004, after town officials refused to release billing records of the town’s contract attorney in 2003 and 2004. ... Superior Court Judge Richard Parker, in a decision filed June 19, blamed the town’s attorneys for using 'totally unwarranted' tactics in defending the case, adding expenses to the newspaper’s legal costs."
By the way, the Legislature passed a bill in 2007 specifically declaring that agency legal invoices are subject to disclosure (with minor redactions). The law goes into effect on July 22, 2007. What do you want to bet that local governments in Washington continue to deny requests for their legal bills? Denying a public records request when the Legislature specifically passed a law declaring the record to be disclosable is perhaps the best possible example of "totally unwarranted" defense tactics. Prediction: In a few months, OG-Blog will be writing about a huge award of legal fees and penalties because a local government attempted to withhold legal invoices.
While the story doesn't say so, I suspect that the newspaper did what newspapers often do: heard a tip and then verified it with public records. Newspapers don't just print rumors, despite what their detractors think. Public records are routinely used to verify the facts--and that's a good thing. No verification via public records and no story. That's a bad thing, especially if you have students in a public school and had no idea one of your child's teachers was accused of sexual misconduct.
By the way, the Seattle-area teachers unions actually argued in the state Supreme Court a few months ago that obtaining public records showing the identities of teachers accused of sexual misconduct with students was "not in the public interest." Think about it.
"The state is now looking for an expert on open records. The budget that goes into effect in July includes $100,000 to hire an open records ombudsman, someone to help regular people get documents that are available under the state's Public Records Act."
Good for Tennessee. Pierce County is looking at doing the same thing and Washington's Attorney General, Rob McKenna, did the same in early 2005 by hiring Allied Law Group's Greg Overstreet. Now that Overstreet has moved over to private practice, McKenna has replaced him with Tim Ford. A public records ombudsman is one of the few examples in government where a public employee's job is specifically to help individual people with claims against the government. It's rare. But needed.
Imitation is the highest form of flattery so Washington citizens should feel flattered. Our legislature created a Sunshine Committee this year and it will start meeting in July. Good for Florida, which is, after all, the "Sunshine State" (that's what their license plates say so it must be true).
Tip of the hat to Mindy Chambers at the Washington State Auditor's Office who alerted OG-Blog to this.
The Department of Corrections should look at the Attorney General's recently-adopted (non-binding) model rules on providing electronic records (scroll down to "2007 Model Rules (Electronic Records)"). They say that electronic records should be provided in an electronic format in most cases.
Monday, June 18, 2007
Washington does pretty well. For the record: the disclosure of a public employee’s salary is absolutely required by the Public Records Act. Don’t let anyone tell you differently.
Liability for releasing a public record in good faith? Not possible. RCW 42.56.100 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 [the Public Records Act]." So fear of liability isn't the reason to withhold this record ...
Friday, June 15, 2007
Washington's Open Public Meetings Act does not require an agenda, let alone an agenda with enough information to inform the public of what the meeting is about. So in Washington the public can attend a meeting ... but cannot require the agency to tell them what the meeting is about.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Washington State Bar News Review of Public Records Deskbook: "a landmark, hitting the ball out of the park."
"[The] Public Records Act Deskbook is a hands-on users' guide to getting information from state government, whether one is a lawyer or not. As such, it stands as one of the WSBA's more remarkable and successful efforts to manifest its mission to serve the people of Washington."
OG-blog thinks Pierce County could really use some open-government improvement. Kudos to county councilmember Shawn Bunney for thinking of this and moving forward on it. Once again illustrating that open government is not a partisan issue, Attorney General Rob McKenna (R) and State Auditor Brian Sonntag (D) testified in favor of the proposal.
Friday, June 8, 2007
"City Council members Monday night unanimously called for an investigation of Mayor Jerry Landcastle’s conduct. ... The investigation comes after The Bellingham Herald reported Wednesday that the mayor told staff in March emails to fast-track the permitting process for Fairhaven Candy — despite the business not having adequate paperwork in to the city planning department — because the business would be good for the city and the owner was a local resident."
Monday, June 4, 2007
"There's only one likely explanation for why the higher-ups at the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency spent $409,413 on lawyers to fight a Patriot-News request for records of travel expenses incurred by its employees and board members: They didn't want to embarrass themselves with revelations of high, even ridiculous expenditures on themselves, money that otherwise could have -- and should have -- gone to help students overcome the high cost of going to college."