Two down, 298-plus to go.
The state’s new Sunshine Committee is off to a very modest start in its mission to trim the long list of government records that can be kept secret. In its first two recommendations, the committee wants the Legislature to drop public disclosure exemptions that conceal the names of applicants for top government jobs and to give the public access to more information about investigations into child deaths.
The committee charged with suggesting improvements in state open government laws has quite a job ahead of it in examining the exemptions to Washington’s public disclosure requirements. The number of exemptions has exploded from 10 in 1972 to more than 300 today.
Many of the exemptions – such as those that protect people’s Social Security numbers and private financial information – make sense, particularly when identity theft is such a problem. Other exemptions protect personal safety, such as the identity and location of domestic violence victims in hiding from their abusers.
But some are just curiously selective. There’s the infamous exemption that prohibits release of business information about dealers or growers of American ginseng. (That one is next up for Sunshine Committee review.) Other exemptions conceal waste- reduction plans, fireworks license records, and complaints against embalmers and funeral directors.
The committee’s initial recommendations are sound. Revealing the names of finalists for top management jobs in state, county or local agencies is in the public interest. The search for Tacoma’s new school superintendent shows that high-quality candidates aren’t necessarily deterred by having their names made public. And going public with finalists’ names is a good way to get more public involvement, which could result in better hires.
Regarding child-death investigations, the committee found that greater disclosure was possible without compromising confidential medical information or discouraging witnesses from participating in government reviews.
The exemptions the Sunshine Committee has so far addressed are considered “low-hanging fruit.” A bigger hurdle for the committee involves exemptions legislators have reserved for themselves. Individual lawmakers get to decide whether to release certain communications, which these days is mostly in the form of e-mails.
While an argument could be made for protecting e-mails sent by constituents, there should be no secrecy provision for communications between lawmakers or with lobbyists, just as there is no such exemption for city and county officials. The Sunshine Committee shouldn’t let legislators get away with keeping their communications secret.
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