I'm on the State Auditor's email list. Sometimes, interesting information comes out through the office. I rec'd the following note this afternoon. Looks like there might be changes in the offing for PRA requests.


Today, our Office published a report that identifies the volume and nature of public records requests state and local governments receive, and the costs they incur fulfilling them. Washington’s Public Records Act (PRA) guarantees the public broad access to government records to foster sound governance. Our interactions with governments during this project showed their commitment to the principles of open, accessible and accountable government. However, a changing public records environment and a PRA that has not kept pace with present-day issues pose challenges that, if not addressed, may undermine the original intent of public records laws and hinder other essential government services.

We found that people today make more and increasingly complex requests for records, which absorb significant government resources. The state and local governments that responded to our statewide survey reported spending more than $60 million to fulfill more than 285,000 public records requests in the most recent year alone. Requesters pay only a small portion of the costs (less than 1 percent) involved in fulfilling public records requests.

Our research shows that a combination of statewide policy changes and better information management and disclosure practices is needed to keep pace with changing times. We identified policies the Legislature can consider to address public records issues. We also identified practical solutions that can help state and local governments continue to improve their records management and disclosure processes.

We welcome comments and suggestions for future reports. You will find this report and related materials here at our website at www.sao.wa.gov.

Sincerely,
Troy Kelley
Washington State Audito

It's almost September and people are posting about state auditors and public requests? Dear god fishing must be slow.

or your a sleep at the wheel!

Isn't a bit ironic that the press release makes it look like Troy is trying help Public Disclosure work better?

is that $21k per request?? wtf??

No Bhudda, that is $211 per request, still a fair amount of dough though.

It also represents somewhere between 1500 and 2000 FTEs. I'm glad those folks have jobs, but these are not the sort of jobs we should seek to create, as they amount to zero economic and social value to the vast majority of the citizens who pay for them. I think it makes sense to have requestors shoulder more of the cost for large requests, especially considering that it's mostly private interests that account for this ever-increasing (but important) public expense.

Ah, lets try this. When the process was set up for PDR's by the legislature agencies were given funding to put in place the process needed to comply with the law. Some took it seriously ( such as DSHS ) but others just put up a fancy bit that in reality had little hope of really doing what was required. That is where WDF&W went and in the name of full disclosure I am the one who took their butts to court a bit back. It is simple enough to set up a coding system that passes muster but one has to buy into transparency which several agencies just absolutely have done everything but that. The Governors office being the most egregious in my mind in particular around tribal issues.

Bottom line is quit lying to people and hiding documents and no problem but that is the problem you see because agencies ( WDF&W fits here ) more or less think they are the law.

Why aren't all public records just automatically put on a site we can access them?Are these documents only paper copies that have to be scanned? I highly doubt it. It sounds to like being transparent isn't exactly the goal.

Way back when, before personal computers, there were people called "secretaries" and (at least in WDF) Central Files. EVERY letter, memo, report, etc. was typed by a support person who then was responsible for the distribution. You, the author, signed/initialed and then they distributed it. This included copies to Central Files where it was all retained. Author files, subject files. It was all there and there was no problem tracking stuff down.

Now, most staff do it all themselves, electronically. No central storage place. No real process in place to ensure that everything is locatable. And as Riverguy well knows, some parts of WDFW aggressively throw out copies of memos, reports, etc. And, when somebody gets a new computer (or leaves) the old one gets wiped clean.

The PRA is [Bleeeeep!], there is ZERO accountability regarding this law, if they don't want to give it to you all they have to do is destroy it which is a class C felony, regardless if it's done on purpose or accident.. the catch is there will be zero investigation or prosecution by the attorney general's office, never has happened and never will, it was never intended to be enforced. The PRA was implemented to give the false impression of open honest government and nothing more.

I know this is true because my friend and prior attorney wrote the PRA and attempted to enforce it. He made some money off it in the beginning but then reality set in after he saw that the system was systemically currupt from prosecutors to judges who protected dirty local governments and politicians and screwed the honest private citizen with no lube time and time agian.

So, instead of modernizing the existing system and replacing the secretaries with a central computer system, they went this way instead. I don't know why that surprises me. It sure seems like things are going as per plan.