Legislative Watch
2024 WashCOG Legislative Priorities
The Washington Coalition for Open Government is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that works through the courts and the Legislature to defend and strengthen Washington’s open government laws. WashCOG has established the following priorities for legislative action during the 2024 regular legislative session. The coalition encourages its members and concerned citizens throughout Washington to contact members of the legislature to voice their opinions on the following legislation.
General Legislative priorities
End the use of so-called “legislative privilege” by legislators. This recently envisaged but never legislated exemption to the Public Records Act is not what the voters of Washington had in mind when they overwhelmingly approved the PRA. More than 80 percent of citizens polled recently by the Elway Poll opposed assertion of a privilege to hide legislators’ discussions of proposed bills.
Adopt all previous pro-transparency recommendations of the Sunshine Committee. The Legislature created this committee in 2007 in light of concerns about unnecessary exemptions to the Public Records Act, but has failed to pass most of its recommendations to improve transparency. Those should be revived and adopted.
Take steps to ensure the Sunshine Committee recommendations are heard by the Legislature. SB 5779 by Sen. Wilson would require presentation of the Sunshine Committee’s recommendations to appropriate House and Senate committees. This would ensure at least some public attention to recommendations, which has sometimes been lacking.
Require committees of governing bodies to meet in public. Policymaking bodies such as school boards, city councils and county commissions often create committees, task forces, or advisory groups to analyze policy alternatives and make recommendations. Too often these influential groups meet outside the public eye, so people can’t see what options were considered or how policies were shaped. All this work should be open to the public, with meeting times and places announced in advance. Let’s stop developing policies in secret.
Protect the Public Records Act. Each year the public faces efforts to erode the PRA, threatening their ability to monitor and participate effectively in government. Such erosion must be rejected in order to keep faith with voters and protect democracy.
A top concern this session: “Legislative privilege”
A leading Coalition priority for this year’s state legislative session and beyond is the clarification of the legal meaning of “legislative privilege,” and obtaining pledges from legislators to not invoke it as a means to withhold public information.
A recent Crosscut Elway Poll found that a strong majority of Washingtonians agree: 82% said legislators should comply with public disclosure laws, while 9% said legislators should be exempt and 8% had no opinion.
WashCOG’s legislative privilege information page.