PRA/students & employees

AN ACT Relating to protecting student and employee information 1
from public disclosure; amending RCW 42.56.250 and 42.56.320; 2
reenacting and amending RCW 42.56.250; providing an effective date; 3
and providing an expiration date. 4
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:5
Sec. 1. RCW 42.56.250 and 2025 c 283 s 1 are each amended to 6
read as follows: 7
(1) The following employment and licensing information is exempt 8
from public inspection and copying under this chapter:9
(a) Test questions, scoring keys, and other examination data used 10
to administer a license, employment, or academic examination;11
(b) All applications for public employment other than for 12
vacancies in elective office, including the names of applicants, 13
resumes, and other related materials submitted with respect to an 14
applicant; 15
(c) Professional growth plans (PGPs) in educator license renewals 16
submitted through the eCert system in the office of the 17
superintendent of public instruction; 18
(d) The following information held by any public agency in 19
personnel records, public employment related records, volunteer 20
rosters, or included in any mailing list of employees or volunteers 21
Z-0594.2
SENATE BILL 6049
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2026 Regular Session
By Senators C. Wilson, Frame, Nobles, and Wellman; by request of
Office of Financial Management
Prefiled 01/09/26. Read first time 01/12/26. Referred to Committee
on State Government, Tribal Affairs & Elections.
p. 1 SB 6049
of any public agency: Residential addresses, residential telephone 1
numbers, personal wireless telephone numbers, personal email 2
addresses, social security numbers, driver's license numbers, 3
identicard numbers, payroll deductions including the amount and 4
identification of the deduction, and emergency contact information of 5
employees or volunteers of a public agency, and the names, dates of 6
birth, residential addresses, residential telephone numbers, personal 7
wireless telephone numbers, personal email addresses, social security 8
numbers, and emergency contact information of dependents of employees 9
or volunteers of a public agency. For purposes of this subsection 10
(1)(d), "employees" includes independent provider home care workers 11
as defined in RCW 74.39A.240; 12
(e) Information that identifies a person who, while an agency 13
employee: (i) Seeks advice, under an informal process established by 14
the employing agency, in order to ascertain his or her rights in 15
connection with a possible unfair practice under chapter 49.60 RCW 16
against the person; and (ii) requests his or her identity or any 17
identifying information not be disclosed; 18
(f)(i) Except as provided in (f)(ii) of this subsection, 19
investigative records compiled by an employing agency in connection 20
with an investigation of a possible unfair practice under chapter 21
49.60 RCW or of a possible violation of other federal, state, or 22
local laws or an employing agency's internal policies prohibiting 23
discrimination or harassment in employment. Records are exempt in 24
their entirety while the investigation is active and ongoing. After 25
the agency has notified the complaining employee of the outcome of 26
the investigation, the records may be disclosed only if the names, 27
images, employee agency job titles, email addresses, and phone 28
numbers of complainants, other accusers, and witnesses are redacted 29
and their voices on any audio recording taken during the course of 30
the investigation have been altered while retaining inflection and 31
tone, except to the extent that such a complainant, other accuser, or 32
witness has consented to the disclosure of such information. The 33
employing agency must inform a complainant, other accuser, or witness 34
that his or her name, image, agency job title, email address, and 35
phone number will be redacted from the investigation records and 36
their voice on any audio recording taken during the course of the 37
investigation will be altered in accordance with this subsection 38
unless he or she consents to disclosure; 39
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(ii) After the investigation is complete and the complainant has 1
been notified of the outcome of the investigation, if an elected 2
government official is a complainant, the name and title of such 3
elected government official shall not be redacted from the 4
investigatory records; 5
(g) Criminal history records checks for board staff finalist 6
candidates conducted pursuant to RCW 43.33A.025; 7
(h) Photographs and month and year of birth in the personnel 8
files of employees or volunteers of a public agency, including 9
employees and workers of criminal justice agencies as defined in RCW 10
10.97.030. The news media, as defined in RCW 5.68.010(5), shall have 11
access to the photographs and full date of birth. For the purposes of 12
this subsection (1)(h), news media does not include any person or 13
organization of persons in the custody of a criminal justice agency 14
as defined in RCW 10.97.030; 15
(i)(i) Any employee's name or other personally identifying 16
information, including but not limited to birthdate, job title, 17
addresses of work stations and locations, work email address, work 18
phone number, bargaining unit, or other similar information, 19
maintained by an agency in personnel-related records or systems, or 20
responsive to a request for a list of individuals subject to the 21
commercial purpose prohibition under RCW 42.56.070(8), if the 22
employee: 23
(A) Has provided a sworn statement, signed under penalty of 24
perjury and verified by the director of the employing agency or 25
director's designee, that the employee or a dependent of the employee 26
is a survivor of domestic violence as defined in RCW 10.99.020 or 27
7.105.010, sexual assault as defined in RCW 70.125.030 or sexual 28
abuse as defined in RCW 7.105.010, stalking as described in RCW 29
9A.46.110 or defined in RCW 7.105.010, a hate crime as described in 30
RCW 9A.36.080 or defined in RCW 49.76.020, or harassment as described 31
in RCW 9A.46.020 or defined in RCW 7.105.010, and notifying the 32
agency as to why the employee has a reasonable basis to believe that 33
the risk of domestic violence, sexual assault, sexual abuse, 34
stalking, hate crime, or harassment continues to exist. A sworn 35
statement under this subsection expires after two years, but may be 36
subsequently renewed by providing a new sworn statement to the 37
employee's employing agency; or 38
p. 3 SB 6049
(B) Provides proof to the employing agency of the employee's 1
participation or the participation of a dependent in the address 2
confidentiality program under chapter 40.24 RCW. 3
(ii) Any documentation maintained by an agency to administer this 4
subsection (1)(i) is exempt from disclosure under this chapter and is 5
confidential and may not be disclosed without consent of the employee 6
who submitted the documentation. Agencies may provide information to 7
their employees on how to submit a request to anonymize their work 8
email address. 9
(iii) For purposes of this subsection (1)(i), "verified" means 10
that the director of the employing agency or director's designee 11
confirmed that the sworn statement identifies the alleged perpetrator 12
or perpetrators by name and, if possible, image or likeness, or that 13
the director or designee obtained from the employee a police report, 14
protection order petition, or other documentation of allegations 15
related to the domestic violence, sexual assault or abuse, stalking, 16
hate crime, or harassment. 17
(iv) The exemption in this subsection (1)(i) does not apply to 18
public records requests from the news media as defined in RCW 19
5.68.010(5); 20
(j) The global positioning system data that would indicate the 21
location of the residence of a public employee or volunteer using the 22
global positioning system recording device; 23
(k) Information relating to a future voter, as provided in RCW 24
29A.08.725; 25
(l) Voluntarily submitted information collected and maintained by 26
a state agency or higher education institution that identifies an 27
individual state employee's personal demographic details. "Personal 28
demographic details" means race or ethnicity, sexual orientation as 29
defined by RCW 49.60.040, immigration status, national origin, or 30
status as a person with a disability. This exemption does not prevent 31
the release of state employee demographic information in a 32
deidentified, anonymized, or ((aggregate)) aggregated format, as 33
those terms are defined in (n) of this subsection; ((and))34
(m) Benefit enrollment information collected and maintained by 35
the health care authority through its authority as director of the 36
public employees' benefits board and school employees' benefits board 37
programs as authorized by chapter 41.05 RCW. This subsection (1)(m) 38
does not prevent the release of benefit enrollment information in a 39
p. 4 SB 6049
deidentified or aggregate format. "Benefit enrollment information" 1
means: 2
(i) Information listed in (d) of this subsection;3
(ii) Personal demographic details as defined in (l) of this 4
subsection; 5
(iii) Benefit elections; 6
(iv) Date of birth; 7
(v) Documents provided for verification of dependency, such as 8
tax returns or marriage or birth certificates; 9
(vi) Marital status; 10
(vii) Primary language spoken; 11
(viii) Tobacco use status; and 12
(ix) Tribal affiliation; and13
(n)(i) All individual survey responses voluntarily provided by a 14
state employee, vendor, or contractor in response to a voluntary 15
survey administered by or on behalf of a public agency for the 16
purposes of engagement and improving state government. This exemption 17
does not prevent the release of survey information that is 18
deidentified, anonymized, or aggregated.19
(ii) For purposes of this subsection (1)(n):20
(A) "Aggregated" means data combined from many individuals and 21
reported in summary form such that individual-level information is 22
not disclosed.23
(B) "Anonymized" means data processed so that an individual can 24
no longer be identified directly or indirectly by any party making 25
reidentification effectively impossible.26
(C) "Deidentified" means data that has been stripped of personal 27
identifiers so that it cannot reasonably be linked to a specific 28
individual. 29
(2) Upon receipt of a request for information located exclusively 30
in an employee's personnel, payroll, supervisor, or training file, 31
the agency must provide notice to the employee, to any union 32
representing the employee, and to the requestor. The notice must 33
state: 34
(a) The date of the request; 35
(b) The nature of the requested record relating to the employee;36
(c) That the agency will release any information in the record 37
which is not exempt from the disclosure requirements of this chapter 38
at least ten days from the date the notice is made; and39
p. 5 SB 6049
(d) That the employee may seek to enjoin release of the records 1
under RCW 42.56.540. 2
Sec. 2. RCW 42.56.250 and 2025 c 283 s 1 and 2025 c 238 s 5 are 3
each reenacted and amended to read as follows: 4
(1) The following employment and licensing information is exempt 5
from public inspection and copying under this chapter:6
(a) Test questions, scoring keys, and other examination data used 7
to administer a license, employment, or academic examination;8
(b) All applications for public employment other than for 9
vacancies in elective office, including the names of applicants, 10
resumes, and other related materials submitted with respect to an 11
applicant; 12
(c) Professional growth plans (PGPs) in educator license renewals 13
submitted through the eCert system in the office of the 14
superintendent of public instruction; 15
(d) The following information held by any public agency in 16
personnel records, public employment related records, volunteer 17
rosters, or included in any mailing list of employees or volunteers 18
of any public agency: Residential addresses, residential telephone 19
numbers, personal wireless telephone numbers, personal email 20
addresses, social security numbers, driver's license numbers, 21
identicard numbers, payroll deductions including the amount and 22
identification of the deduction, and emergency contact information of 23
employees or volunteers of a public agency, and the names, dates of 24
birth, residential addresses, residential telephone numbers, personal 25
wireless telephone numbers, personal email addresses, social security 26
numbers, and emergency contact information of dependents of employees 27
or volunteers of a public agency. For purposes of this subsection 28
(1)(d), "employees" includes independent provider home care workers 29
as defined in RCW 74.39A.240; 30
(e) Information that identifies a person who, while an agency 31
employee: (i) Seeks advice, under an informal process established by 32
the employing agency, in order to ascertain his or her rights in 33
connection with a possible unfair practice under chapter 49.60 RCW 34
against the person; and (ii) requests his or her identity or any 35
identifying information not be disclosed; 36
(f)(i) Except as provided in (f)(ii) of this subsection, 37
investigative records compiled by an employing agency in connection 38
with an investigation of a possible unfair practice under chapter 39
p. 6 SB 6049
49.60 RCW or of a possible violation of other federal, state, or 1
local laws or an employing agency's internal policies prohibiting 2
discrimination or harassment in employment. Records are exempt in 3
their entirety while the investigation is active and ongoing. After 4
the agency has notified the complaining employee of the outcome of 5
the investigation, the records may be disclosed only if the names, 6
images, employee agency job titles, email addresses, and phone 7
numbers of complainants, other accusers, and witnesses are redacted 8
and their voices on any audio recording taken during the course of 9
the investigation have been altered while retaining inflection and 10
tone, except to the extent that such a complainant, other accuser, or 11
witness has consented to the disclosure of such information. The 12
employing agency must inform a complainant, other accuser, or witness 13
that his or her name, image, agency job title, email address, and 14
phone number will be redacted from the investigation records and 15
their voice on any audio recording taken during the course of the 16
investigation will be altered in accordance with this subsection 17
unless he or she consents to disclosure; 18
(ii) After the investigation is complete and the complainant has 19
been notified of the outcome of the investigation, if an elected 20
government official is a complainant, the name and title of such 21
elected government official shall not be redacted from the 22
investigatory records; 23
(g) Criminal history records checks for board staff finalist 24
candidates conducted pursuant to RCW 43.33A.025; 25
(h) Photographs and month and year of birth in the personnel 26
files of employees or volunteers of a public agency, including 27
employees and workers of criminal justice agencies as defined in RCW 28
10.97.030. The news media, as defined in RCW 5.68.010(5), shall have 29
access to the photographs and full date of birth. For the purposes of 30
this subsection (1)(h), news media does not include any person or 31
organization of persons in the custody of a criminal justice agency 32
as defined in RCW 10.97.030; 33
(i)(i) Any employee's name or other personally identifying 34
information, including but not limited to birthdate, job title, 35
addresses of work stations and locations, work email address, work 36
phone number, bargaining unit, or other similar information, 37
maintained by an agency in personnel-related records or systems, or 38
responsive to a request for a list of individuals subject to the 39
p. 7 SB 6049
commercial purpose prohibition under RCW 42.56.070(8), if the 1
employee: 2
(A) Has provided a sworn statement, signed under penalty of 3
perjury and verified by the director of the employing agency or 4
director's designee, that the employee or a dependent of the employee 5
is a survivor of domestic violence as defined in RCW 10.99.020 or 6
7.105.010, sexual assault as defined in RCW 70.125.030 or sexual 7
abuse as defined in RCW 7.105.010, stalking as described in RCW 8
9A.46.110 or defined in RCW 7.105.010, a hate crime as described in 9
RCW 9A.36.080 or defined in RCW 49.76.020, or harassment as described 10
in RCW 9A.46.020 or defined in RCW 7.105.010, and notifying the 11
agency as to why the employee has a reasonable basis to believe that 12
the risk of domestic violence, sexual assault, sexual abuse, 13
stalking, hate crime, or harassment continues to exist. A sworn 14
statement under this subsection expires after two years, but may be 15
subsequently renewed by providing a new sworn statement to the 16
employee's employing agency; or 17
(B) ((Proof [Provides proof] )) Provides proof to the employing 18
agency of the employee's participation or the participation of a 19
dependent in the address confidentiality program under chapter 40.24 20
RCW. 21
(ii) Any documentation maintained by an agency to administer this 22
subsection (1)(i) is exempt from disclosure under this chapter and is 23
confidential and may not be disclosed without consent of the employee 24
who submitted the documentation. Agencies may provide information to 25
their employees on how to submit a request to anonymize their work 26
email address. 27
(iii) For purposes of this subsection (1)(i), "verified" means 28
that the director of the employing agency or director's designee 29
confirmed that the sworn statement identifies the alleged perpetrator 30
or perpetrators by name and, if possible, image or likeness, or that 31
the director or designee obtained from the employee a police report, 32
protection order petition, or other documentation of allegations 33
related to the domestic violence, sexual assault or abuse, stalking, 34
hate crime, or harassment. 35
(iv) The exemption in this subsection (1)(i) does not apply to 36
public records requests from the news media as defined in RCW 37
5.68.010(5); 38
p. 8 SB 6049
(j) The global positioning system data that would indicate the 1
location of the residence of a public employee or volunteer using the 2
global positioning system recording device; 3
(k) Information relating to a future voter, as provided in RCW 4
29A.08.725; 5
(l) Voluntarily submitted information collected and maintained by 6
a state agency or higher education institution that identifies an 7
individual state employee's personal demographic details. "Personal 8
demographic details" means race or ethnicity, sexual orientation as 9
defined by RCW 49.60.040, immigration status, national origin, or 10
status as a person with a disability. This exemption does not prevent 11
the release of state employee demographic information in a 12
deidentified, anonymized, or ((aggregate)) aggregated format, as 13
those terms are defined in (o) of this subsection;14
(m) Benefit enrollment information collected and maintained by 15
the health care authority through its authority as director of the 16
public employees' benefits board and school employees' benefits board 17
programs as authorized by chapter 41.05 RCW. This subsection (1)(m) 18
does not prevent the release of benefit enrollment information in a 19
deidentified or aggregate format. "Benefit enrollment information" 20
means: 21
(i) Information listed in (d) of this subsection;22
(ii) Personal demographic details as defined in (l) of this 23
subsection; 24
(iii) Benefit elections; 25
(iv) Date of birth; 26
(v) Documents provided for verification of dependency, such as 27
tax returns or marriage or birth certificates; 28
(vi) Marital status; 29
(vii) Primary language spoken; 30
(viii) Tobacco use status; and 31
(ix) Tribal affiliation; ((and))32
(n) Information contributed by the department of licensing to the 33
data system or shared with the cosmetology licensure compact 34
commission, or member states described in the cosmetology licensure 35
compact pursuant to RCW 18.16.400; and36
(o)(i) All individual survey responses voluntarily provided by a 37
state employee, vendor, or contractor in response to a voluntary 38
survey administered by or on behalf of a public agency for the 39
purposes of engagement and improving state government. This exemption 40
p. 9 SB 6049
does not prevent the release of survey information that is 1
deidentified, anonymized, or aggregated. 2
(ii) For purposes of this subsection (1)(o):3
(A) "Aggregated" means data combined from many individuals and 4
reported in summary form such that individual-level information is 5
not disclosed.6
(B) "Anonymized" means data processed so that an individual can 7
no longer be identified directly or indirectly by any party making 8
reidentification effectively impossible.9
(C) "Deidentified" means data that has been stripped of personal 10
identifiers so that it cannot reasonably be linked to a specific 11
individual. 12
(2) Upon receipt of a request for information located exclusively 13
in an employee's personnel, payroll, supervisor, or training file, 14
the agency must provide notice to the employee, to any union 15
representing the employee, and to the requestor. The notice must 16
state: 17
(a) The date of the request; 18
(b) The nature of the requested record relating to the employee;19
(c) That the agency will release any information in the record 20
which is not exempt from the disclosure requirements of this chapter 21
at least ten days from the date the notice is made; and22
(d) That the employee may seek to enjoin release of the records 23
under RCW 42.56.540. 24
Sec. 3. RCW 42.56.320 and 2009 c 191 s 1 are each amended to 25
read as follows: 26
The following educational information is exempt from disclosure 27
under this chapter: 28
(1) Financial disclosures filed by private vocational schools 29
under chapters 28B.85 and 28C.10 RCW; 30
(2) Financial and commercial information supplied by or on behalf 31
of a person, firm, corporation, or entity under chapter 28B.95 RCW 32
relating to the purchase or sale of tuition units and contracts for 33
the purchase of multiple tuition units; 34
(3) Individually identifiable information received by the 35
workforce training and education coordinating board for research or 36
evaluation purposes; 37
(4) Except for public records as defined in RCW 40.14.010, any 38
records or documents obtained by a state college, university, 39
p. 10 SB 6049
library, or archive through or concerning any gift, grant, 1
conveyance, bequest, or devise, the terms of which restrict or 2
regulate public access to those records or documents; ((and))3
(5) The annual declaration of intent filed by parents under RCW 4
28A.200.010 for a child to receive home-based instruction; and5
(6) Records containing individual student responses to the health 6
youth survey administered by the health care authority under RCW 7
69.50.540(3)(b)(i). 8
NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. Section 1 of this act expires June 1, 9
2028.10
NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. Section 2 of this act takes effect June 1, 11
2028.12
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