Court of Appeals: PRA Statute of Limitation Not Triggered Until Proper Withholding Index Provided

The Court of Appeals issued it's ruling in Tobin v. Worden today. They got it exactly right.

As the Supreme Court held last year, the one-year statute of limitations for a Public Records Act case does not begin to run until the agency provides the required index showing the records it is withholding. Tobin just applies that to a set of facts where the agency never provided a withholding index so the statute of limitation was never triggered.

Kagan Argued Against Openness 4 out of 5 Times

This AP story begins:

"Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan's arguments as solicitor general in several cases on government secrecy were at odds with a promise of transparency made by her boss and top client, President Barack Obama."

NFOIC Hires Ken Bunting

The National Freedom of Information Coalition has announced that former Seattle P-I editor Ken Bunting will be its new executive director.

We know Ken Bunting very well and think the world of him. NFOIC is getting a great executive director. Congratulations, Ken!

TNT Editorial on Juvenile Court Records

The (Tacoma) News-Tribune editorializes against a proposal to shield more juvenile records from the public.

(Everett) Herald Editorial on Legislative Transparency

The (Everett) Herald editorializes on the Legislature's lack of transparency and discusses the findings of the Washington Policy Center on this topic.

Seattle Times Editorial on Legislative Transparency

The Seattle Times editorializes on a darned good idea from the Washington Policy Center: legislative transparency so the people know what their (supposed) representatives are voting on.

TNT Editorial on Judge's Decision to Withhold Records on Lakewood Police Killings

The (Tacoma) News-Tribune is known for pithy editorials. Here's one of them.

(Updated) Public Records Show ... Details About "Damage Control" in Alleged Sex

The (Everett) Herald writes about how public records shed some light on "damage control" efforts by Snohomish County and a lobbying group when a high-ranking County employee was accused of sexual misconduct by an employee of the lobbying group.

UPDATE: Police reports obtained via the Public Records Act shed more light on what happened.

Olympian Editorial on Legislative Transparency

The Olympian writes this editorial on the Legislature's lack of transparency.

Judge Refuses to Release Records on Lakewood Police Killings

A Pierce County judge ruled that defendants' right to a fair trial "trumps" the Public Records Act requirement of disclosure of records relating to the Lakewood police killings.

The newspaper requestors will appeal.

Transparency at the Legislature

The (Vancouver) Columbian writes this about ways to improve transparency at the Legislature. The proposals in the piece come from the Washington Policy Center.