WA public records bill scraps task force, focuses only on school records

(The Center Square) – A Washington bill concerning public records requests advanced out of committee, but not before lawmakers amended it to remove a proposed task force and narrow the scope to just school districts.

House Bill 2661 sponsored by Rep. Skyler Rude, R-Walla Walla, would have originally created a temporary task force of eight voting members and four nonvoting legislators to “to examine the impact of frivolous, retaliatory, or harassing public records requests on state and local agencies, and strategies to deter such requests.”

However, the substitute bill proposed by Rep. Jim Walsh, R-Aberdeen, and advanced out of the House State Government & Tribal Relations on Feb. 4 removed the task force, instead directing the Joint Legislative Audit & Review Commissio...