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Committee hears narrow bill to exempt citizen newsletter email addresses from public records requests after Bainbridge incident
Summary
House Bill 17 65 would exempt email addresses submitted to local agencies to receive regular communications (newsletters) from disclosure under the Public Records Act. Supporters said the change protects trust in local government newsletters after a city list was used for campaign mailings; media and open-government groups opposed broadening PRA.
Lawmakers received testimony for House Bill 17 65, a narrowly framed proposal to exempt from the Washington Public Records Act email addresses that individuals provide to local agencies for newsletters and routine updates.
Sponsor Representative Joel Simmons (state Representative, cosponsored by Representative Waters) described the bill as a targeted response to an incident on Bainbridge Island where a candidate used a city newsletter email list to send campaign material. ‘‘It is just a very…
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