Open the door to public records

Rep. Brendan Williams, D-Olympia, wants to bulldoze the intimidating mound heaped by the state Supreme Court in front of citizens requesting public records from their local agencies.

Recently, the high court narrowly affirmed the right of agencies to sue citizens or organizations who merely request public documents under the state Open Records Act. Imagine, you are a middle-class parent wanting documents related to a controversial school board decision and instead of the document, you get hauled into court. Are you going to drop your request or tap your kids' college fund to pay a lawyer?

It could happen under the troubling Soter v. Cowles Publishing Co. decision. In a 5-4 decision, the court held the Spokane School District had the right to pre-emptively sue The Spokesman-Review newspaper over its records request relating to the tragedy of a 9-year-old who had a fatal reaction to peanuts served in a school lunch. Additionally troubling, the court expanded an earlier court decision that essentially lets agencies keep documents secret by running them past their attorneys.

In Soter, the court said the district could keep its investigation report private because its attorney conducted the probe. As if parents of other children with allergies don't have the right to know what went wrong and be assured the problem was fixed.

Unfortunately, Williams' bill doesn't solve the entire Soter problem. Because of the abbreviated legislative session, he is tackling only the intimidating practice of agencies suing those who request public documents.

But Williams intends to work on a bill to prevent agencies from keeping documents secret simply by involving an attorney in the process. If history is an indicator, lobbyists for agencies — from cities and counties to school and hospital districts — will be gunning for any attempt to open the door to the public.