Well, the Washington State Legislature appears to be done for 2026. So what’s happened and… the issues that continue unresolved.
First, I got my bill tracker updated with all the bills delivered for Governor Bob Ferguson to sign or veto in toto or line-item veto. I spent at least 15 hours, 20 minutes this session on a tracker that thankfully had a lot of big blue Fs for Frozen. There were some very serious bills that were on deck that could have taken serious gashes to and possibly shredded the public records act worthy of emergency Beehivs. So with that, for reference here is the spirit of the Public Records Act:
The people of this state do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies that serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so that they may maintain control over the instruments that they have created. This chapter shall be liberally construed and its exemptions narrowly construed to promote this public policy and to assure that the public interest will be fully protected. In the event of conflict between the provisions of this chapter and any other act, the provisions of this chapter shall govern.
Second, I agree with WashCOG President Mike Fancher on the state of WashCOG that:
We're running on fumes. I mean, this has been a really rough year. There's so much going on, and we're still standing and we've had some victories, but it's tougher and tougher every every year. … Our Government Committee, led by Robert McClure and our our lobbyist, Donna Christensen, has had the most work it's ever had to do, and I think the biggest impact.
With that, really do appreciate the shout-out of this Beehiv by Tom Layson of KBTC at the end of his program so I’m posting this Beehiv in earlier than I promised:
With that, the rest of the news…
Table of Contents
Author Photo in Black & White of the Washington State Capitol Dome & Temple of Justice
Legislative Privlege is Roaring Back…
Our ability to access public records in our Washington State Legislature is at high risk. If for some reason you have not heard Episode 15 of The Public Records Officer Podcast yet, well it’s embedded below and I encourage you to please give this episode a listen:
Washington Coalition for Open Government Decries the Ruling
With that, as the Washington Coalition for Open Government (WashCOG) shared in a March 12 statement;
In a disappointing decision, the Washington state Court of Appeals in Tacoma ruled Tuesday that the state Legislature has a “privilege” to withhold internal legislative records from public disclosure.
The ruling came in the case of Jamie Nixon and the Washington Coalition for Open Government v. State of Washington. It is one of two cases that challenged the Legislature’s claim that it has a constitutional “privilege” to withhold records from the public.
While three “conservative” activist journalists - at best - are litigating over press passes to a desk and aisles/wings of the Washington House of Representatives, the fight for true openness is being waged by the WashCOG. As WashCOG President Mike Fancher shared in the statement,
“Rather than require the Legislature to clarify limitations in statute, the court said all internal legislative deliberations are secret. The public has no right to question lawmakers in any meaningful way because no one can now look behind the scenes. The public has been relegated to audience-only seating to view contrived performances.”
There was also journalism by The Center Square;s TJ Martinelli about the case here. Also below at 7:03 or so TJ is interviewed by one of The Center Square’s anchors on the matter for most of the YouTube:
Closing Us Out: Governor Ferguson &… an A-10 pilot?
On the evening of March 12, Governor Ferguson as a chess player that went pro at one point stressed the need to review past performances:
If you're playing high level chess, you play a game, win, lose or draw. You spend a lot of time looking at that game afterwards. You spend a lot of time looking at it. You dissect that game, move by move, what I do right, what I do wrong? How could I improve that? That's the nature of chess. You want to get good at it, you better be doing that. You're doing that after every single game.
. . .
That's an approach I try to take in my life in general. And a legislative session as a first time governor is no different.
As a high school varsity chess player, I concur and appreciate the Governor’s mein. Where the Governor and I hopefully agree is that access to legislative public records is key to those debriefs. Furthermore, as former A-10 pilot Kim “KC” Campbell pictured below wrote in her bestseller….
“U.S. Air Force Col. Kim Campbell, 612th Theater Operations Group commander, relaxes in the cockpit of her A-10 Thunderbolt II after her fini flight at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., June 25, 2018”. U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Kristine Legate
The sharing of lessons learned is part of the fighter pilot mindset because we want to help make the team better. When we have the courage to be vulnerable and share our stories, both good and bad, even when they expose mistakes or weaknesses, our experiences can help make other people better. We would face many failures in training and sometimes in combat, too, but the intent was that we would learn from them and then share them with other pilots. We had to learn to fail forward.
In other words, it’s hard to learn from a legislative session without legislative records. So please pardon this airshow fan’s urging and showing off what an A-10 is but… ATTACK!
U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Chris Drzazgowski
House Press Pass Fiasco Rolls On
The temporary restraining order (TRO) fight may have concluded, but the conflict over 2027 legislative press access has only begun. After all, The Center Square’s Colleen Johnson is calling this, the “credential saga”.
With that, the attorney for Ari Hoffman-Brandi Kruse-Jonathan Choe in Jackson Maynard landed a good interview on The Center Square so here you go:
Ari Hoffman Blogs While Brandi Kruse Vlogs…
Additionally, Ari Hoffman of KVI isn’t satisified podcasting his own trial, Ari also has to blog his own trial also. Now people who know Ari - like the author - know Ari is a smart guy who thunders on KVI. But as Kevin Underhill a partner in the San Francisco law firm of Shook, Hardy & Bacon has famously warned plaintiffs like Ari Hoffman,
Blogging about your own trial is probably not a good idea. If you are the defendant, do not (for example) reveal the defense strategy of the case, or accuse jurors of not paying attention. This is because blogs appear on something called the "Internet," which can be viewed by something called "the public." And this can come back to bite something called "your ass."
With that, as Ari’s contributions to our state’s ongoing dialogue continue, Hoffman famously has shared on his program and transferred over to the KVI website,
I do not think anyone seriously disputes that the state can have some guidelines for press credentials. Governments can impose some decorum. They can set basic standards. The issue is not whether guidelines can exist. The issue is what those guidelines are.
Yes, Ari Hoffman is literally publicly sharing legal strategy. Wow. Then there’s Brandi Kruse talking to vlogging (video blogging) her own views on the case:
With that, back on February 6, Hoffman shared on KVI:
“You know why they don’t want people like me, Brandi and Jonathan Choe at the Washington State Capitol? Because then we tell you about bills, then you call the legislature, and then bills get shut down or you talk about the Democrats supporting it and they want to get reelected.”
. . .
“[Speaker] Laurie Jinkins is so vindictive, she doesn’t want us in the room. Why? Because we might ask questions and we might give you information and then guess what? Things like House Bill 2611 die”
But Speaker Jinkins is not the only state legislator with an access problem…
“We do not have access” - and I name names
With that, I want to start this section with where I happen to agree with Hoffman when Hoffman writes,
The point is that we do not have access. … I do not just mean physical access to Olympia. I mean practical press access. When I email Democratic officials, many do not respond. Bob Ferguson’s office has never once gotten back to me. Bruce Harrell never once got back to me for comment. Katie Wilson? Never. Many Democratic lawmakers refuse interviews altogether. What they will do is send out carefully worded press statements that answer nothing. That is why access in the room matters.
I have the same problem with two Washington State Representatives. One of them Representative Sharlett Mena (DEM). The other Representative Skylar Rude (REP). Both of these Representatives worked hard on legislation and yet I do not know WHY those state representatives did what they did this session. Stay tuned… I will be announcing the future of this Beehiv on March 29.
Other Loose Ends
With that, some are making issue of the Washington State Legislature using outside counsel in the Summit Law Group instead of Washington State Attorney General’s Office (AGO) attorneys. However an AGO spokesperson in Mike Faulk kindly shared that the AGO attorneys for the Washington State legislature felt, “The needs of the case exceeded the workload capacities” of those attorneys.
Ultimately, it is safe to say that we have a “saga” - thank you Colleen Johnson - with a full life of its own. Which means this is far from over...
Other Stories of Washingtonian Transparency
Author photo of an Intercity Transit Gillig 40’ BRT Bus passing a lit Washington State Capitol
Sunshine Month Continues on KBTC
First, I would be remiss if I did not remind everyone that KBTC’s Sunshine Month continues:
Coverage on ALPR/Flock Camera Legislation
Second, the Association of Washington Cities reports that the Washington State Legislature has passed new limits on Automated Licence Plate Reader (ALPR) cameras - aka Flock cameras. Sadly ALPR data is now exempt from the public records act (PRA).
But it has been reported by “Have I Been Flocked” that Flock, the primary provider of ALPR cameras, now claims to retain all data. Communites like Redmond have been increasingly concerned:
The fact that Flock actviely works to thwart public records requests should also be of concern.
Finally, Public Records Act passed by initiative
This Beehiv is at 1972 words as 1972 is when the Public Records Act initiative passed.