Table of Contents
Signpost for Model Rules
First, I have pledged to keep the Beehiv firing every Sunday morning when possible until the Washington State Attorney General’s Office Model Rules input process concludes. To me, the guidence the office can provide on providing public records is vital to the work we do. It’s important to signpost these efforts and encourage public input. For as Heather “Newsbrooke” Brooke, Ph.D. said…
How our public records are handled should be of deep concern. These model rules will be persuasive authority in Washington State courts. Already, the Association of Washington Cities is paging their members with these talking points about the model rules proposal that if enacted will:
Triage requests into simple and complex tracks to ensure that processing times are proportionate to the difficulty of each request;
Provide records with their initial five-day response where the request is for a single, specific, identifiable record; and
Make sure the agency has a reasonable belief that the records are arguably exempt from disclosure before issuing a third-party notice.
Address the need to make public records accessible for search and production; and
Send requesters a closure letter, consistent with a recent court case, to let them know when an agency is no longer working on a response and the one-year time frame for judicial review has begun.
But for the AWC - shocking - the model rules fail to, “Address the creation of additional requirements and burden for local government or account for any of the abuses and extraordinary cost drivers related to managing records and responding to records requests.” We are told to expect a forthcoming AWC comment letter. Many other government lobby groups - like Washington Ports - also will be weighing in with more complaints. However, the mainstream media has been incredibly quiet about this - versus arguably wasteful coverage about a terrorist masquerading as a soccer/futbol referee. I do understand some Joe called into Ari Hoffman to complain…
With that, I made that call from the green room before a pretty big upgrade in my life…
I Win A Key Award
Deeply grateful and humbled that the Washington Coalition for Open Government honored me with a Key Award for my contributions to open government. Below is a YouTube of the ceremony, with special thanks to S-W Mayor JoEllen Kesti for holding my cell phone for those who couldn’t attend:
As I shared in the ceremony:
You simply cannot have democracy without journalism, without the knowledge to participate, without the courage to stand up and defend our rights, without the diligence to vote, and the decency to show up for your neighbor in between elections, and the chivalry to stand up against a threat to the commons. I've had to do that a few times.
I admit that I had listened to Scott Pelley’s interview as I wrote my remarks. Also yes, the House Press Pass saga was on my mind also. News just broke on that, which will be at the top of the roundup…
A Two-Part Access Roundup
This time, two big stories have broken… the first is we have a trial date for Hoffman et al vs. Washington State House of Representatives et al on the House press pass saga. June 28, 2027 for 7 days, so assuming weekends off about July 7-8 for a conclusion. That means likely the same 2026 controversial rules about media access to the House of Representatives will remain in 2027.
Author Black & White Photo of the Washington State Legislature
The second is that Skagit Transit at 11 AM Wednesday will deliberate on hiring a designated full-time public records officer. From their agenda packet:
Something worth discussing. I do happen to support the effort, as much as a statistical report of the past 3-5 years of public records requests would arguably strengthen the CEO’s case to the Board.