Public records exemptions

AN ACT Relating to recommendations of the public records 1
exemptions accountability committee; and amending RCW 42.56.140.2
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:3
Sec. 1. RCW 42.56.140 and 2007 c 198 s 2 are each amended to 4
read as follows: 5
(1)(a) The public records exemptions accountability committee is 6
created to review exemptions from public disclosure, with thirteen 7
members as provided in this subsection. 8
(i) The governor shall appoint two members, one of whom 9
represents the governor and one of whom represents local government.10
(ii) The attorney general shall appoint two members, one of whom 11
represents the attorney general and one of whom represents a 12
statewide media association. 13
(iii) The state auditor shall appoint one member.14
(iv) The president of the senate shall appoint one member from 15
each of the two largest caucuses of the senate. 16
(v) The speaker of the house of representatives shall appoint one 17
member from each of the two largest caucuses of the house of 18
representatives. 19
(vi) The governor shall appoint four members of the public, with 20
consideration given to diversity of viewpoint and geography.21
S-0997.1
SENATE BILL 5623
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2025 Regular Session
By Senators J. Wilson, Fortunato, Holy, McCune, Boehnke, Dozier,
Short, Braun, and Warnick
p. 1 SB 5623
(b) The governor shall select the chair of the committee from 1
among its membership. 2
(c) Terms of the members shall be four years and shall be 3
staggered, beginning August 1, 2007. 4
(2) The purpose of the public records exemptions accountability 5
committee is to review public disclosure exemptions and provide 6
recommendations pursuant to subsection (7)(d) of this section. The 7
committee shall develop and publish criteria for review of public 8
exemptions. 9
(3) All meetings of the committee shall be open to the public.10
(4) The committee must consider input from interested parties.11
(5) The office of the attorney general and the office of 12
financial management shall provide staff support to the committee.13
(6) Legislative members of the committee shall be reimbursed for 14
travel expenses in accordance with RCW 44.04.120. Nonlegislative 15
members, except those representing an employer or organization, are 16
entitled to be reimbursed for travel expenses in accordance with RCW 17
43.03.050 and 43.03.060. 18
(7)(a) Beginning August 1, 2007, the code reviser shall provide 19
the committee by August 1st of each year with a list of all public 20
disclosure exemptions in the Revised Code of Washington.21
(b) The committee shall develop a schedule to accomplish a review 22
of each public disclosure exemption. The committee shall publish the 23
schedule and publish any revisions made to the schedule.24
(c) The chair shall convene an initial meeting of the committee 25
by September 1, 2007. The committee shall meet at least once a 26
quarter and may hold additional meetings at the call of the chair or 27
by a majority vote of the members of the committee.28
(d) For each public disclosure exemption, the committee shall 29
provide a recommendation as to whether the exemption should be 30
continued without modification, modified, scheduled for sunset review 31
at a future date, or terminated. By November 15th of each year, the 32
committee shall transmit its recommendations to the governor, the 33
attorney general, and the appropriate committees of the house of 34
representatives and the senate. The committee shall present these 35
annual recommendations to the appropriate committees of the house of 36
representatives and the senate during committee assembly days.37
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p. 2 SB 5623