Sign up for the Open Government eNewsletter
We warmly welcome your thoughts on og-blog and especially welcome your emails with suggested postings and links to interesting stories and court cases. If you have something to say about open government in Washington State, sending it to og-blog is probably the best way to get it out. Don’t hesitate to contact us at greg@overstreet-law.com.

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Bill Proposed to Create "Office of Open Records"

A good idea.

But the devil is in the details.

If this bill attempted to take away citizens' right to enforce the Public Records Act or Open Public Meetings Act in court, it would be an abomination and will die a painful (legislative) death. The current draft does not take away access to courts. We will be watching. We have no reason to believe the Attorney General or State Auditor want to take away citizens' access to court, but local government lobbyists and others hostile to open government do.