(1) Applicable law. Requests for public records will be processed in accordance with these rules and applicable provisions of the Public Records Act, chapter 42.56 RCW. Guidance concerning the application of these rules may be found in the advisory model rules adopted by the attorney general under chapter 44-14 WAC.

(2) Prioritizing requests. Public records requests generally will be processed in the order in which they are received by the college's public records office, and within the staffing limitations of the office. However, the records office may expedite requests for a single record or for only a few records, if such records are easily identifiable and can be readily retrieved. The records office may ask, but not require, a requestor to prioritize the records the requestor is seeking.

(3) Clarification of requests. The public records officer may request clarification of a records request in accordance with applicable provisions of the Public Records Act. The requestor must respond to the request for clarification within 30 days of the request.

(4) Providing records by installment. If a requestor submits multiple records requests, or if a request seeks a large number of records or many different types of records, the public records office may provide access to the records in installments in accordance with applicable provisions of the Public Records Act.

(5) Denial of bot requests. The public records officer may deny a bot request as defined under the Public Records Act, RCW 42.56.080(3), if responding to the multiple requests would cause excessive interference with other essential functions of the college and the records officer reasonably believes the request was automatically generated by a computer program or script.

(6) Closure of requests. When the requestor withdraws the request, fails to respond to a request for clarification from the college within 30 days or clarify an entirely unclear request within 30 days, fails to provide signed certification that a request for records including a list of names is not for commercial purposes, or fails to fulfill the requestor's obligations to inspect records, pay the deposit, pay the required fees for an installment, or make final payment for the requested copies, the public records officer will close the request and notify the requestor that the request has been closed.