OLYMPIA — A task force created after Washington lawmakers attempted to exempt themselves from the state’s Public Records Act says the Legislature should be more transparent about its workings.
The group, which includes lawmakers and news media representatives, approved several guidelines for how the Legislature should handle the issue of public records at its final meeting Friday.
Members agreed that disputes about whether specific records are public should be handled by an independent body, and that privacy protections already in the Public Records Act should cover communications that people have with lawmakers. But they could not reach a consensus about the extent to which documents reflecting lawmakers’ deliberative process should be blocked from disclosure.
News organizations led by The Associated Press sued the Legislature last year for failing to release emails, schedules and reports of sexual harassment.
