Final Legislative Summary – 2019

by Toby Nixon

We tracked 88 bills during the session. However, after the session completed we identified seven additional bills of interest (mostly due to late introduction or amendments) so the total number of bills in the report is now 95. Of those 95, 31 bills passed and were signed into law, which is by far the greatest number passed since we started tracking bills back in 2007.

As for changes since the previous report, of greatest interest is HB 1195. This bill makes many updates to campaign finance reporting law. You may recall at the last minute on the floor of the Senate the bill was amended to prohibit the Public Disclosure Commission from moving ahead with their plans to proactively post F-1 personal finance disclosure statements on their web site. The amendment was passed at least in part because of a story told by one senator about the kidnapping in Mexico of the spouse of an elected official based somehow on the content of that official’s F-1 report. That story turned out to be false in several ways. Governor Inslee vetoed that section of the bill, and the PDC has said it intends to move ahead with its plans to make it easier for citizens to access F-1 information (it will be on the web site rather than having to submit a public records request). While this did not address the primary reason WCOG opposed HB 1195, it was a better outcome than if this provision was not vetoed.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Nancy Krier, the assistant attorney general for open government, for sharing with us her bill tracking information. We incorporated into this final report seven additional bills that she identified, six of which create new public records exemptions. Those bills are as follows:

• SHB 1049 — Expands whistleblower protections, including exemptions from disclosure, to employees and other persons who initiate complaints about quality of care by health care providers or facilities.
• E2SHB 1224 — Creates several new exemptions for data submitted to the Health Care Authority by pharmaceutical manufacturers and wholesalers regarding prescription drug prices. Exemptions for such confidential proprietary financial information of regulated companies is routine.
• SHB 1356 — Expands an existing exemption regarding the personnel with whom communications with a peer support group counselor are considered privileged.
• SHB 1360 — Expands an existing exemption; requires that driving record abstracts received by public agencies be treated with the same confidentiality as driving record abstracts received directly from DOL.
• SHB 1545 — Requires the Secretary of State to make records of ballots with missing or mismatched signatures publicly available rather than those records having to be sought through a public records request (not a new exemption, but a requirement for proactive posting of records).
• SHB 1909 — Expands protections for information contained in claim files for injured workers such that employers and employer representatives, including in the public sector, are subject to civil penalties for disclosing mental health conditions to unauthorized persons.
• SB 6025 — Creates a new exemption for information about individuals who participated in the state bump-stock buyback program.

Including the bills listed above, of the 31 bills that passed, 22 create new exemptions or expand existing exemptions, in some cases multiple exemptions in a single bill. One bill narrows an existing exemption (applications for appointment to fill a vacancy in public office, which was a recommendation of the Sunshine Committee). One bill added an allowed purpose for an executive session under the Open Public Meetings Act.

Thank you all once again for your support of open government in Washington, including all the contacts made to legislators to support good bills and oppose bad ones. Even though the statistics above don’t feel very positive, the fact is that we killed many bills that would have been much worse, and we could not have done that without your involvement!

WCOG Bill Status Report June 3, 2019

This report shows bills in the Washington State Legislature tracked by Washington Coalition for Open Government during the 2019 legislative session because they have some impact on Washington’s open government laws. If you have any comments on the format or contents of this report, including the indicated WCOG positions or comments, please contact the Coalition president at president@washingtoncog.org.

Summary of Bills Tracked

High Priority Bills

 Medium Priority Bills

 Low Priority Bills 

 Monitoring Bills

 Dead Bills