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Title : Please Contact Your State Legislator Tomorrow
link : Please Contact Your State Legislator Tomorrow
Please Contact Your State Legislator Tomorrow
Most of you know, I'm a big believer in transparency in public entities. The overwhelming majority of government entities are subject to public disclosure including the Governor. But not our state legislature which stubbornly refuses to be transparent.Please contact your state reps and tell them: Do NOT vote for SB 6617
Backstory via the News Tribune:
Washington state lawmakers who want to circumvent a recent ruling finding them fully subject to the state's public disclosure laws on Wednesday introduced a bill that seeks to make some of their records public but would retroactively prohibit the release of other records being sought by a coalition of news organizations.
The measure comes as lawmakers are in the midst of appealing the ruling of a superior court judge who sided with the media groups, led by the Associated Press, who argued lawmakers had illegally been withholding documents like daily calendars, emails and text messages. The bill would officially remove the legislative branch from the state's Public Records Act, but, starting on July 1, it would allow release of some correspondence, "specified information" from lawmaker calendars, and final disciplinary reports.
The move comes as the Legislature was trying to appeal directly to the state Supreme Court for direct review of Superior Court Judge Chris Lanese's Jan. 19 ruling that state representatives and senators and their offices are agencies subject to the Public Records Act.
It's too late in the legislative session for a public hearing on the bill, so it will be heard before a joint work session of the Senate and House State Government Committees at noon Thursday. Unlike normal work sessions though, Nelson said public testimony will be allowed. However there will no committee vote on the bill, which will instead be pulled directly to the Senate floor on Friday. The House is expected to take it up and pass it the same day.
Here's the latest from the News Tribune's editorial page:
Under normal circumstances, we cheer bipartisanship and applaud Democratic and Republican leaders for coming together on legislation. But the cynical game that’s afoot at the state Capitol this week is being played under abnormal circumstances and should be met with jeers, not cheers.
Washington Senate Majority Leader Sharon Nelson, a Democrat, and Minority Leader Mark Schoesler, a Republican, have quietly conspired in an eleventh-hour ambush on the public’s inalienable right to know how their elected representatives operate.
The bill Nelson and Schoesler introduced Wednesday would all but carve out a separate PRA for the legislative branch. It would let lawmakers release communications, calendar items and other records they’re comfortable releasing; they could withhold others while hiding behind a fig leaf of constituent privacy — all the more suspect because it’s based on their own fluid definition of a constituent.
Sure, the bill would require legislators to disclose contacts with registered lobbyists. But that leaves them absurdly wide latitude to keep secrets with corporate honchos, union chiefs and other “constituents” who write big campaign checks and shape policy behind the scenes.
What’s more, the bill’s authors have the audacity to invoke an “emergency clause,” despite the fact state government has managed to function for decades without these disclosure constraints. If they want to change the law, bring a bill up next session when it can be fairly and thoughtfully debated in hearings and on the floor.
Legislators would have the absolute right to deny release of a record without oversight from any court; instead, all appeals would go through House and Senate committees. (Insert fox-henhouse analogy here.)
Please, please contact your legislators tomorrow morning. This stinks on ice.
This proposal also would let lawmakers bottle up all preliminary drafts, notes and other work-related material that form the backbone of laws they’ve already passed and decisions they’ve already made — a luxury that city councils and other local legislative bodies don’t have.
Why should legislators be given cover for their past actions on sexual harassment, official misconduct and other controversial matters?What’s more, the bill’s authors have the audacity to invoke an “emergency clause,” despite the fact state government has managed to function for decades without these disclosure constraints. If they want to change the law, bring a bill up next session when it can be fairly and thoughtfully debated in hearings and on the floor.
Legislators would have the absolute right to deny release of a record without oversight from any court; instead, all appeals would go through House and Senate committees. (Insert fox-henhouse analogy here.)
Please, please contact your legislators tomorrow morning. This stinks on ice.
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