Wash. Admin. Code § 286-06-070 - Availability of public records

(1) Hours for inspection of records. Public records are available for inspection and copying during normal business hours of the office, from 8:00 a.m. to noon and from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays.

(2) Records index.

(a) An index of public records is available for use by members of the public, including:

(i) Archived files;

(ii) Equipment inventory;

(iii) Office and board policies and procedures, including manuals;

(iv) Active project files;

(v) Publications such as brochures and special reports;

(vi) Policy statements entered after June 30, 1990, as defined in RCW 34.05.010, including grant program manuals; and

(vii) Rule-making files, as described in RCW 34.05.370, for each rule proposed for adoption in the Washington State Register and adopted.

(b) Before June 30, 1990, the office did not maintain an index of:

(i) Declaratory orders containing analysis or decisions of substantial importance to the office in carrying out its duties;

(ii) Interpretive statements as defined in RCW 34.05.010; and

(iii) Policy statements as defined in RCW 34.05.010.

(c) The following general records and files are available by reference to topic, and generally arranged alphabetically or chronologically within such topic. Due to volume, costs, and complexity; however, no master index is maintained:

(i) Administrative files;

(ii) Comprehensive park-recreation plans;

(iii) Summaries of office staff meetings;

(iv) Closed or inactive project files;

(v) General correspondence;

(vi) Attorney general opinions;

(vii) Financial records;

(viii) Summaries and memoranda of office and board meetings;

(ix) Final adjudicative proceeding orders entered after June 30, 1990, as defined in RCW 34.05.010 that contain an analysis or decision of substantial importance to the office or board in carrying out its duties (each listed alphabetically by subject with a phrase describing the issue or issues and relevant citations of law);

(x) Declaratory orders entered after June 10, 1990, that contain an analysis or decision of substantial importance to the office or board in carrying out its duties (each listed alphabetically by case name with a phrase describing the issue or issues and relevant citations of law); and

(xi) Interpretive statements as defined in RCW 34.05.-010 (each indexed by the office or board program).

(3) Organization of records. The office will maintain its records in a reasonably organized manner. The office will take reasonable actions to protect records from damage and disorganization. A requestor shall not take records from the office without the permission of the public records officer or designee. A variety of records is available on the office's web site at www.rco.wa.gov. Requestors are encouraged to view the documents available on the web site prior to submitting a records request.

(4) Making a request for public records.

(a) Any person wishing to inspect or copy public records of the office should make the request in writing on the office's request form, or by letter, fax, or email addressed to the public records officer and include the following information:

* Name of requestor;

* Address of requestor;

* Other contact information, including telephone number and any email address;

* Identification of the public records adequate for the public records officer or designee to locate the records; and

* The date and time of day of the request.

(b) If the requestor wishes to have copies of the records made instead of simply inspecting them, he or she should so indicate and make arrangements to pay for copies of the records or a deposit.

(c) A form is available for use by requestors at the office of the public records officer and online at www.rco.wa.gov.

(d) The public records officer or designee may accept requests for public records that contain the above information by telephone or in person. If the public records officer or designee accepts such a request, he or she will confirm receipt of the information and the substance of the request in writing.

(5) A public records request must be for identifiable records. A request for all or substantially all records prepared, owned, used, or retained by an agency is not a valid request for identifiable records under this chapter, provided that a request for all records regarding a particular topic or containing a particular keyword or name shall not be considered a request for all of an agency's records.

(6) An agency may deny a bot request that is one of multiple requests from the requestor to the agency within a twenty-four hour period, if the agency establishes that responding to the multiple requests would cause excessive interference with other essential functions of the office. For purposes of this subsection, "bot request" means a request for public records that an office reasonably believes was automatically generated by a computer program or script.

Notes

Wash. Admin. Code § 286-06-070

Amended by WSR 14-09-074, filed 4/18/14, effective 5/19/2014 Amended by WSR 14-22-100, Filed 11/4/2014, effective 12/5/2014 Amended by WSR 18-05-016, Filed 2/8/2018, effective 3/11/2018

Statutory Authority: RCW 43.98A.060(1), [43.98A].070(5), 43.99.080, 46.09.240 and 77.12.720. 94-17-095, § 286-06-070, filed 8/17/94, effective 9/17/94; Order 73-4, § 286-06-070, filed 12/19/73.