Other Papers Say: Secrecy doesn’t provide safety

The following editorial originally appeared in The Seattle Times:

Washington state must protect survivors of domestic and sexual violence. But a bill that would allow survivors who work for state and local governments to exempt themselves from public records disclosure offers false hope.

House Bill 1533 would create a new exemption to the state Public Records Act. If it becomes law, government and K-12 school employees could sign an affidavit that they or a dependent had been the victim of harassment, abuse or sexual assault. Their employer then would be required to keep all information about them secret.

We’re not talking birth dates, home addresses, cellphone numbers and the like. Those are already exempt from disclosure for good reason. This bill would keep something as basic as the name and place of employment of the person secret. Those workers would become ghosts, hidden from the people who pay their salaries and deserve government accountability. As the bill is written, parents might not be able to learn the name of their children’s teacher, for example.

The instinct to protect vulnerable people is correct, but the execution is flawed. Existing laws already provide some protection, and employers can provide genuine safety rather than the illusory safety of secrecy. They might escort vulnerable employees to their vehicles and better ensure that no one who doesn’t belong on the grounds of a school or in a government office gets in.

Abusers almost always know where their victims might be because a restraining order tells them where not to go. Keeping the public in the dark gains little.

Meanwhile, the bill would have unintended consequences that make people less safe. It would provide bad actors a chance to hide behind anonymity without any actual evidence that they need protection. The affidavit that public employees must file to qualify for anonymity would have no objective oversight or review. Bad actors — and there are bad actors in government and schools — could exploit that.

If there’s an incident of workplace harassment, the steps an agency takes to address the situation might have to remain secret. That would leave co-workers and the public unsure whether the problem was appropriately addressed.

The House has already passed HB 1533. The bill now sits in the Senate State Government and Elections Committee. Chaired by Sen. Sam Hunt, D-Olympia, the committee has heard deeply emotional testimony, but when considering such a sweeping reduction in government transparency, lawmakers must also weigh the facts.

The fact is that the bill’s good intentions do not outweigh its negative consequences. Senators should shelve it. Then, lawmakers should work with public employees, safety experts and government watchdogs to find a sweet spot that will improve survivors’ security without compromising safety and accountability.