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The Washington Association of Public Records Officers (WAPRO) is a non-profit corporation founded to provide education on the Public Records Act to public disclosure practitioners and to provide a forum for public records officers and those involved in responding to public records requests to discuss issues associated with the Act.

News

Spring Training Materials
Training materials from the April 19, 2012 WAPRO Spring Training are now available for download from the Toolkit in the Members Only section.

Heroes of Open Government
Watch WAPRO founder and Everett Assistant City Attorney Ramsey Ramerman's presentation on "Heroes of Open Government" from the Washington Association of Public Records Officers 2011 Annual Conference.


Spring 2012 Newsletter

The Executive Board of WAPRO is pleased to provide you with its 6th Edition of the WAPRO Newsletter.

Featured FAQ

Harassing Requester & Inspection of Records

Q: I have a frequent flyer that will be in soon to take a look at multiple requests made over the last two years that they never came to pick up. We have a strict protection order against this requester for harassment and a security guard will be in the room instead of me. If the requester needs to ask a question or wants to request copies, don't you think it is a good idea to have a way for this person to do so?

A. Generally yes, but there may be other circumstances that make it preferable to have any communications be in writing. Certainly any oral conversations should be documented. And personal safety is paramount.

Multi-Agency Groups

Q. Have you ever addressed a public records request asking for records created by a task force? My City is the administrative agency for a Drug Task Force and our Interlocal agreement does not address protocol for responding to public records requests. My City possesses some of the Task Force's records responsive to the request, but the remainder would have to come from each participating agency. In this scenario, is the best practice to have each agency search for records created by their own Task Force representatives?

A. I have dealt with this situation. The scope of your search depends on who “owns” or has “used” the records. Assuming the request is the City's request, the City must track down any records it owns or used. If someone from the City has seen/reviewed records that the City no longer has, those are still probably the City's records. If the City could get the task force records from other agencies that it has not seen just by asking, then the safest course would also be to treat those records as the City's records.

Going forward, you might want to consider our solution to this problem - we made one city the depository for all records and created a unified case number that all agencies use. Agencies are required to provide all records to the chosen city and just maintain a “place holder” in their own files. This way, we know what records are out there and don't have to try to track them down. We are also having each agency adopt a policy that says all records requests must go to chosen city - if they get a request they are to forward it to the chosen city and instruct the requester that future requests should go to the chosen city. This won't allow agencies to ignore requests, but it will help.

Training Center

 

WAPRO Annual Business Meeting & Fall Training - October 2012 - stay tuned for more info

Toolkit FAQ and Best Practices

Transparency News

From Washington and the world
for the week of 4/30/2012

WASHINGTON STATE

Government Accountability

Councilman vows to press OPMA concerns on ad hoc committees

Records show frustrations led to Bauer's fall from City Hall

Open Government

One finalist drops out, 2 left for Seattle Superintendent

San Juan County retro subcommittee plan would skirt Open Public Meetings Act

Council Members' Blogs Could Violate OPMA

State closes public notice loophole for "special" city meetings

Opinion

Our future depends on open government

Public should have right to see police videos

Tale of Two Public Records Rulings: Dashcam & Gendler

Penalties

Grant County penalized $44,000 for improperly withholding public records

Privacy

KOMO appeals police dashcam ruling to state Supreme Court

Withholding

Supreme Court to hear public records "executive privilege" withholding arguments

State Supreme Court: Paralyzed cyclist due Montlake Bridge records

OUTSIDE WASHINGTON STATE

Costs

GA   Chatham charged $800 by state for one-page records' request

TX   Health district board raises its legal budget by $58,000 to cover one citizen's open records requests

Government Accountability

MA   Perps on the public payroll

WI   Swapping emails, texts during meetings raises questions about law

CA   Reuters suit seeks data on universities' investiment funds

WI   Milwaukee Public Schools on defensive over criminal records of bus drivers

NJ   City fires back at Health Board Lawsuit on OPMA violation

AZ   Newspaper, TV station settle public records lawsuit with Sheriff's Office

US   EEOC warns employers using criminal records to screen out applicants

MA   Prosecutor defends $ spent on sports programs

MA   D.A. under fire for using seized drug $ to fund youth sports

TX   Judges' misdeeds kept secret by oversight commission

Open Government

NC   Unsealing a challenge to the public trust

OH   Ohio A.G. wants JobsOhio bill, law changed on public records access

AZ   Tech firms win change in state's public records law

MA   Public health reporting system receives key electronic record certification

TN   Public building ad for public meeting meets public notice requirement?

KOR   Seoul city meetings now open to public

GA   OK to record council meetings

NY   NYC Dept of Records releases 870,000 images into database

FL   Court records released in George Zimmerman case

IA   Iowa Senate unanimously approves public information board

IA   New agency to enforce open government OK'd

CAN   Secret salary flies in the face of public's right to know

KS   Documents presented to officials during an open meeting are public

PA   Pa.: less than 30 health complaints about drilling

SC   SC House approves strengthening open records law

CO   Elbert County gadfly not a threat to safety, judge rules

PA   State says county must reveal hotel tax collection

HI   Open records advocates fear information roadblocks

FL   Governor launches a program to push staff emails online

CA   Balancing Online Privacy With Employers' Right to Know

CA   Labeling to go before voters

US   Meet the Media Companies Lobbying Against Transparency

BRZ   The Open Government Partnership – from eight to 54 countries

CAN   Ottawa releases open government action plan

BRZ   The Age of Open is Upon Us

BRZ   Hillary Clinton Lauds Global Open Government Efforts

TX   League of Women Voters support open government, public access

MI   State Court to say if fiscal review meetings are open to public

TX   Do open meetings penalties chill free speech of public officials?

MO   Bill Requires Financial Disclosure By Sports Teams Assisted with Public $

NY   Volunteer Fire Company Records Ruled Quasi-Public

GA   Guilty After Proven Innocent? Access to Non-conviction Criminal Records at issue

Opinion

NC   Prayer ruling defends religious liberty for all

CA   Commentary: Why cell-phone tracking should require a warrant

NY   Parents' right to know

Privacy

UK   Hampshire and City of London police reveal body part retention

NY   NYC Rapped in Transgender Birth Certificate Case

CA   Judge Grants Disclosure of Candidate's Evaluations

MA   Public access to birth records feeds ID theft industry

SC   Dodgy criminal checks hurt job-seekers' chances

Withholding

PA   Easton Area School District keeping up fight against open records

LA   Shreveport public records hearing moved to July

CO   School district denies access to public records during open meeting

HI   Hawaii's Lone Public Records Voice opposes agency disclosure appeal bill

VT   Supreme Court rules police investigation files exempt forever

TRANSPARENCY NEWS ARCHIVES
(member-only access)

(Note: News links will take you away from WAPRO's website. WAPRO is not responsible for changing ad content surrounding the articles.)