AG’s Office proposes revised model Public Records Act rules to incorporate public feedback

The Attorney General's Office (AGO) has proposed revisions to draft model rules designed to help state and local governments fully comply with the Public Records Act.

The changes reflect feedback from public comments about the AG's initial proposal.

"Governments and elected officials that best serve the public must operate transparently-it's our ethical and legal responsibility," Attorney General Nick Brown said. "We've carefully reviewed the feedback submitted in this process and have made adjustments to deliver on our goal to reduce barriers to information and be responsive to the public."

The process of developing new model rules was initiated by a rulemaking petition from news organizations concerned about agencies' often-slow response to requests under the state's Public Records Act.

After public comment and testimony on the initial proposal, the AGO is now suggesting revisions to some sections of the model rules. The proposal incorporates Public Records Act legislative updates and recent court decisions, providing clarity on submitting a records request, records production in a timely manner, third-party notice of records requests, as well as aligning the rules for internal consistency and addressing copy edit errors, among other amendments.

The new proposal was filed with the Washington State Code Reviser's Office on May 18 and a copy with tracked changes is available on the AGO website.

A second public hearing will be held in Olympia next month to gather feedback on the new proposal. The public hearing is scheduled for June 30, 2026, from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm in the John A. Cherberg Building, Rooms ABC, 304 15^th Avenue SW, Olympia WA. The public may also attend remotely via Zoom, and the Zoom information is available on the AGO website.

The public is invited to submit written comments on the proposed amendments by email at [email protected]. The deadline for submitting written comments is June 30, 2026, at 5:00 pm.

The essence of the proposed model rules remains the same. The proposed model rules encourage agencies to:

• Triage requests into simple and complex tracks to ensure that processing times are proportionate to the difficulty of each request.
• Provide records with their initial five-day response where the request is for a single, specific, identifiable record.
• Make sure the agency has a reasonable belief that the records are arguably exempt from disclosure before issuing a third-party notice.

The model rules also say agencies should:

• Address the need to make public records accessible for search and production.
• Send requesters a closure letter, consistent with a recent court case, to let them know when an agency is no longer working on a response and the one-year timeframe for judicial review has begun.

The AGO provides model rules that public agencies at any level of government across the state can adopt, in whole or in part, as part of their work to meet their legal obligations under the Public Records Act.

Washington's Public Records Act, which originally passed as a ballot initiative in 1972, is designed to prioritize transparency in government. It states "the people of this state do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies that serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know."

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