The purpose of these rules is to establish the procedures the attorney general's office (office) will follow in order to provide full access to public records. These rules provide information to persons wishing to request access to public records of the office and establish processes for both requestors and the office staff that are designed to best assist members of the public in obtaining such access.

In carrying out its responsibilities under the Public Records Act chapter 42.56 RCW (act), the office will be guided by the provisions of the act describing its purposes and interpretation.

(1) Function, organization and administrative offices. The office is charged by the constitution and statutes with the general obligation of advising and legally representing the state of Washington, its officials, departments, boards, commissions and agencies but not the local units of government. In response to requests from state officers, legislators and prosecuting attorneys, the office issues attorney general opinions. More information about the office's roles is available on the office website at www.atg.wa.gov.

The office is organized into several divisions that provide legal advice to state agencies. Offices are located in cities across the state. The main office is in Olympia. The mailing address and phone number of the Olympia main office is:

Office of the Attorney General

1125 Washington Street S.E.

P.O. Box 40100

Olympia, WA 98504-0100

Phone: 360-753-6200

An online form for contacting the main office is also available on the office website. More information about the Olympia main office, and offices outside the Olympia main office is on the office website.

(2) General inquiries and correspondence unrelated to a Public Records Act request to the office. Inquiries and correspondence concerning a matter unrelated to a Public Records Act request to the office and where a specific assistant attorney general is identified as representing a specific agency should be directed to that assistant attorney general, if known; or the appropriate division of the office, if known (example: Washington State University division).

Other inquiries and correspondence concerning a matter unrelated to a Public Records Act request to the office, including where the relevant attorney, division or regional office is not known, should be sent or directed to the Olympia main office.

Public records shall be available for inspection and copying from 9:00 a.m. to noon and from 1:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays.

(1) Website records. Persons seeking public records of the office under the act are strongly encouraged to, before submitting a records request, first review the office's website at www.atg.wa.gov. Indexed records may include formal attorney general's opinions and some orders. Those records are indexed on the website, which is updated as the opinions and orders are issued.

Another website, data.wa.gov, has data about consumer protection complaints to the office. These websites have many records about office business that are free for viewing and downloading at any time, and are accessible without making a Public Records Act request to the office.

(2) Public Records Act requests. Public Records Act requests to the office must be sent or submitted only to the public records officer in the Olympia main office, in one of the following ways:

Online form at http://www.atg.wa.gov/request-ago-public-records

Email: publicrecords@atg.wa.gov

U.S. Mail or Delivery:

Public Records Unit

Office of the Attorney General

1125 Washington Street S.E.

P.O. Box 40100

Olympia, WA 98504-0100

Requestors are strongly encouraged to make requests in writing. Requestors are encouraged to use the online Public Records Act request form, which, once completed, is automatically submitted to the Olympia main office and to the attention of the public records officer. The office accepts in-person requests at the Olympia main office during normal office hours, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding holidays and days the office is closed. If the office receives an oral request, the office will reduce the request to writing and verify in writing with the requestor that it correctly memorialized the request.

Other office locations outside the Olympia main office, other office email addresses, other office fax or phone numbers, and other office staff are not authorized to accept Public Records Act requests to the office.

Communications seeking office records, but which are sent or provided to unauthorized locations, addresses or staff, will not be accepted as or processed as Public Records Act requests. The office will process such communications as general informal inquiries, general correspondence, general requests for information, or discovery, as appropriate. The requestor may resubmit his/her request to the public records officer at the Olympia main office.

This Public Records Act request procedure provides the fullest assistance to requestors by:

(a) Establishing a uniform point of contact for all Public Records Act requests to the office and related inquiries, consistent with the public records officer contact information published in the Washington State Register, and pursuant to RCW 42.56.580;

(b) Enabling the office to promptly distinguish Public Records Act requests from the high volume of other daily communications to the office on multiple topics, so as to enable appropriate responses and thereby avoid excessive interference with other essential agency functions as provided in RCW 42.56.100; and

(c) Ensuring that records requests submitted under the act are centrally reviewed during business hours by the public records officer or designee, so the office may more efficiently assign a tracking number to the request, log it in, review it, provide an initial or other response within five business days after receipt as provided in RCW 42.56.520, and otherwise timely process the request pursuant to the act and these rules.

(3) Processing – General. The public records officer will oversee compliance with the act but a designee may process the request. The public records officer or designee and the office will provide the fullest assistance to requestors; ensure that public records are protected from damage or disorganization; and prevent fulfilling public records requests from causing excessive interference with essential functions of the office. More information about submitting public records requests to the office is in this chapter and on the office's website.

(1) General. The office shall respond promptly to requests for records made under chapter 42.56 RCW, the Public Records Act. Within five business days of receiving a Public Records Act request at the main Olympia office, the office will assign the request a tracking number and log it in. The public records officer or designee will evaluate the request according to the nature of the request, clarity, volume, and availability of requested records.

(2) Response. Following the initial evaluation of the request, and within five business days of receipt of the request, the public records officer or designee will do one or more of the following:

(a) Make the records available for inspection or copying including:

(i) If copies are available on the office's website, provide an internet address and link on the website to specific records requested;

(ii) If copies are requested and payment of a deposit for the copies, if any, is made or other terms of payment are agreed upon and satisfied, send the copies to the requestor.

(b) Acknowledge receipt of the request and provide a reasonable estimate of when records or an installment of records will be available (the public records officer or designee may revise the estimate of when records will be available).

(c) Acknowledge receipt of the request and ask the requestor to provide clarification for a request or part of a request that is unclear, and provide, to the greatest extent possible, a reasonable estimate of time the office will require to respond to the unclear request or unclear part of a request if it is not clarified.

(i) Such clarification may be requested and provided by telephone and memorialized in writing, or by email or letter;

(ii) If the requestor fails to respond to a request for clarification and the entire request is unclear, the office need not respond to it. The office will respond to those portions of a request that are clear.

(d) Deny the request.

(3) Additional timeto respond. Additional time for the office to respond to a request may be based upon the need to clarify the request, locate and assemble the records requested, notify third persons or agencies affected by the request, or determine whether any of the information requested is exempt and that a denial should be made as to all or part of the request.

(4)(a) Communication encouraged. If the requestor has not received a response in writing or has questions or concerns regarding the records request, the requestor is encouraged to contact the public records officer.

(b) Reasonable estimate of time or costs. The office will provide an estimate of the time required to respond to the request, and may provide an estimate of copying costs pursuant to a specific request seeking an estimate of cost. If the requestor believes the amount of time or estimated costs stated are not reasonable, the requestor may petition the public records officer for a formal review under WAC 44-06-120.

(5) Third-party notice. In the event that the requested records contain information that may affect rights of others and may be exempt from disclosure, the public records officer or designee may, prior to providing the records, give notice to such others whose rights may be affected by the disclosure under RCW 42.56.540. Such notice should be given so as to make it possible for those other persons to contact the requestor and ask him or her to revise the request, or, if necessary, seek an order from a court to prevent or limit the disclosure. The notice to the affected persons will include a copy of the request.

(6) Exemptions from disclosure. Some records are exempt from disclosure, in whole or in part. If the office believes that a record or part of a record is exempt from disclosure and should be withheld, the public records officer or designee will state the specific exemption and provide a brief written explanation of why the record or a portion of the record is being withheld. If only a portion of a record is exempt from disclosure, but the remainder is not exempt, the public records officer or designee will redact the exempt portions, provide the nonexempt portions, and indicate to the requestor why portions of the record are being redacted.

(7) Inspection of records.

(a) Consistent with other demands, the office shall provide space to inspect public records at a location designated by the office. No member of the public may remove a document from the viewing area or disassemble or alter any document. The requestor shall indicate which documents he or she wishes the office to copy.

(b) The requestor must claim or review the assembled records within thirty days of the office's notification to him or her that the records are available for inspection or copying. The office will notify the requestor in writing of this requirement and inform the requestor that he or she should contact the office to make arrangements to claim or review the records. If the requestor or a representative of the requestor fails to claim or review the records within the thirty-day period or make other arrangements, the office may close the request and refile the assembled records. Multiple public records requests from the same requestor can be processed in a manner so as not to interfere with essential agency functions including processing records requests from other requestors.

(8) Providing copies of records. After inspection is complete and the requestor asks for copies of some or all of the inspected records, or where copies are otherwise requested by the requestor, the public records officer or designee shall make the requested copies or arrange for copying.

(a) Where the office charges for copies, the requestor must pay for the copies prior to the copies being provided to the requestor.

(b) Electronic records will be provided as a link to the records on the office's website if the records are located on the website, or in a format used by the office and which is generally commercially available. Records will generally not be provided by email, particularly for larger records responses with multiple records, or where records may not be successfully delivered or received via the office's or the requestor's email systems.

(9) Providing records in installments. When the request is for a large number of records, the public records officer or designee will provide access for inspection and copying in installments, if he or she reasonably determines that it would be practical to provide the records in that way. If, within thirty days, the requestor fails to inspect or pay for the entire set of records or one or more of the installments, the public records officer or designee may stop searching for or producing the remaining records and close the request.

(10) Completion of inspection. When the inspection of the requested records is complete and all requested copies are provided, the public records officer or designee will indicate that the office has completed a reasonable search for the requested records and made any located nonexempt records available for inspection.

(11) Closing withdrawn or abandoned request. When the requestor either withdraws the request, or fails to clarify an entirely unclear request, or fails to fulfill his or her obligations to inspect the records, pay the deposit, pay the required fees for an installment, or make final payment for the requested copies, the public records officer or designee will close the request and, unless the agency has already indicated in previous correspondence that the request would be closed under the above circumstances, indicate to the requestor that the office has closed the request.

(12) Later discovered documents. If, after the office has informed the requestor that it has provided all available records, the office becomes aware of additional responsive documents existing at the time of the request, it will promptly inform the requestor of the additional documents and provide them on an expedited basis.

(1) The following copy fees and payment procedures apply to requests to the office under chapter 42.56 RCW.

(2) Pursuant to RCW 42.56.120 (2)(b), the office is not calculating all actual costs for copying records because to do so would be unduly burdensome for the following reasons:

(i) The office does not have the resources to conduct a study to determine all its actual copying costs;

(ii) To conduct such a study would interfere with other essential agency functions; and

(iii) Through the 2017 legislative process, the public and requesters have commented on and been informed of authorized fees and costs, including for electronic records, provided in RCW 42.56.120 (2)(b) and (c), (3) and (4).

(3) The office will charge for copies of records pursuant to the default fees in RCW 42.56.120 (2)(b) and (c). The office will charge for customized services pursuant to RCW 42.56.120(3). Under RCW 42.56.130, the office may charge other copy fees authorized by statutes outside of chapter 42.56 RCW. The office may enter into an alternative fee agreement with a requester under RCW 42.56.120(4). The charges for copying methods used by the office are summarized in the fee schedule available on the office's website at www.atg.wa.gov.

(4) Requesters are required to pay for copies in advance of receiving records. Fee waivers are an exception and are available for some small requests under the following conditions.

(a) It is within the discretion of the public records officer to waive copying fees when:

(i) All of the records responsive to an entire request are paper copies only and are twenty-five or fewer pages; or

(ii) All of the records responsive to an entire request are electronic and can be provided in a single email with attachments of a size totaling no more than the equivalent of 100 printed pages. If that email for any reason is not deliverable, records will be provided through another means of delivery, and the requester will be charged in accordance with this rule.

(b) Fee waivers are not applicable to records provided in installments.

(5) The public records officer may require an advance deposit of ten percent of the estimated fees when the copying fees for an installment or an entire request, or customized service charge, exceeds twenty-five dollars.

(6) All required fees must be paid in advance of release of the copies or an installment of copies, or in advance of when a deposit is required. The office will notify the requester of when payment is due.

(7) Payment should be made by check or money order to the attorney general's office. The office prefers not to receive cash. For cash payments, it is within the public records officer's discretion to determine the denomination of bills and coins that will be accepted.

(8) The office will close a request when a requester fails by the payment date to pay in the manner prescribed for records, an installment of records, or a required deposit.

(1) The Public Records Act provides that a number of types of documents are exempt from public inspection and copying. In addition, documents are exempt from disclosure if any "other statute" exempts or prohibits disclosure. The office maintains a list of exemptions commonly applicable to its records which can be found on the office website, www.atg.wa.gov. Requestors should view this list to be aware of some of the exemptions, some of which are outside the Public Records Act, that restrict the availability of some records held by the office including, but not limited to, attorney-client privilege and work product doctrine.

(2) The office is prohibited by statute from disclosing lists of individuals for commercial purposes.

(1) The requestor is encouraged to communicate with the public records officer or assigned designee regarding denials of public records requests, estimates of time, or estimates of costs. If the requestor remains unsatisfied, the requestor may seek formal review of the issue.

(2) Any person who objects to the office's denial or partial denial of a request for a public record, or contends an estimate of time to provide records or copying costs to provide records is not reasonable, may petition for prompt review of such decision by submitting a written request for a formal internal administrative review to the public records officer.

(3) The written request for formal review shall specifically refer to the written statement by the public records officer or designee which constituted or accompanied the denial or estimate.

(4) The request for formal review is to be directed to:

Public Records Unit

Office of the Attorney General

1125 Washington Street S.E.

P.O. Box 40100

Olympia, WA 98504-0100

(5) After receiving a written request for formal review of a decision denying a public record or estimate, the public records officer or designee denying the request shall refer it to the designated deputy attorney general or public records counsel. The office will, within two business days following receipt of written request, respond with an estimate of time to consider the matter. Following such review, the deputy attorney general or public records counsel will either affirm, reverse, or amend the denial or estimate.

(6) For purposes of WAC 44-06-160, the office shall have concluded a public record is exempt from disclosure only after the review conducted under this section has been completed.

A person may request that the office conduct a review pursuant to RCW 42.56.530 of a state agency's denial of records requested by him or her. Requests for such review shall be directed to Public Records Review, Office of the Attorney General, P.O. Box 40100, Olympia, Washington 98504-0100, publicrecords@atg.wa.gov. If the state agency provides the records, the office will not issue a written opinion because the question has become moot. However, if the state agency continues to deny access to the records, the office will provide the person with a written opinion on whether the record is exempt.

Nothing in this section shall be deemed to establish an attorney-client relationship between the attorney general and a person making a request under this section.