This piece from Local Open Government Blog, a blog by a law firm representing government agencies, describes SB 6367. The law goes into effect on June 10, 2010 and allows agencies to respond to a public records request by providing a link to a requestor of the document if that document is on the agency's web site. A requestor without web access can still obtain a copy.
Here it is 2010 and the Legislature finally passed this. This idea was proposed in 2006 by Attorney General Rob McKenna. If we recall correctly, local government lobbyists opposed the idea then.
This new law saves agencies and requestors time and money, and encourages agencies to post public records online. Good public policy.
The passage of this bill should relieve some local government staff and lobbyists who claim that many public records requestors are just maliciously trying to waste agency resource by making agency staff find records and copy them. Nope. A link will do.
“Og-blog” stands for “open-government blog” and that’s what we do: tell people about open-government issues of interest to regular citizens, media, trade associations, and government agencies. We find interesting stories and court cases from Washington State and other places about the Public Records Act, Open Public Meetings Act, access-to-court rulings, and media law.
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.
Blog Archive
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April
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- TNT Editorial on R-71 Case
- Wenatchee World Column on R-71 Case
- Kitsap Sun on Open Meetings
- Transcript of R-71 Oral Argument in U.S. Supreme C...
- Summary of R-71 Argument in US Supreme Court
- (Everett) Herald Editorial on R-71
- Anti-Dislcosure Op-Ed on R-71 Case
- McKenna Op-Ed on R-71 Case
- TNT Editorial on R-71 Case
- TNT Explains Why It Obtains Public Salary Database
- Video Tape a Public Meeting, Go to Jail
- (Vancouver) Columbian Editorial on R-71 Case in US...
- Public Records Show ... SEC Staff Viewing Porn Dur...
- Tri-City Herald Editorial on Benton Clean Air Auth...
- McKenna Prepares to Argue R-71 Case in U.S. Suprem...
- Spokesman Blog on Secretive Legislature
- EFF Sues State Ferry Agency for Drug and Alcohol T...
- (Longview) Daily News Editorial on Special Privile...
- Olympian Editorial on Special Access to Public Rec...
- Legislative Speed Readers
- Agencies Can Now Respond to Public Records Request...
- Elma Proposes a Brand New Kind of Meeting: a "Clos...
- TNT Editorial on Yousoufian
- They Work For Us
- Attorney General: Bungled Records Requests Cost Ta...
- The Caste System for Public Records Requestors
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