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.

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Sunshine Committee Meets for the First Time

Here's the AP story on the first meeting of the Sunshine Committee. During the three-hour meeting it became apparent just how difficult the Committee's task is. The Committee wrestled with these questions: What is an "exemption" from disclosure? How many there are? Where are they? How should the exemptions be categorized so that hearings on a given topic (like agricultural records) could take place in one sitting thus allowing interested parties to present testimony? Finally, what criteria should the Committee use to decide whether a given exemption stays, goes, or should be modified?

This mess is what happens when laws haphazardly proliferate over 30 years. It's like a lawn no one takes care of for 30 years. Now "tidying up" is a huge project.

Tom Carr did an admirable job chairing the Committee. The criticism over his appointment was that he represented a big public records offender, the City of Seattle; the criticism never was that he couldn't run a meeting. He ran this meeting well.