Committee sends travel-transparency bill for state officers to consent calendar

The Local Government Transparency and Ethics Committee voted to send Senate Bill 362 to the consent calendar after members discussed the scope of the records the bill would require.

Committee staff summarized SB362 as a proposal to "enact new law requiring all state officers to keep and maintain records of information concerning travel by the state officer that is paid for or reimbursed by the state," and said those records would be open to disclosure on request. The bill lists the affected officers as the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, state treasurer and the commissioner of insurance.

Several members asked whether the bill would require records of planned travel or only travel that had already been paid or reimbursed. Staff (identified in the transcript as Jason Long) said the bill's language refers to past travel that "has been paid for or reimbursed in the past tense by the state," and reminded the committee that the Open Records Act applies only to records that are already kept and maintained; agencies are not required to create records that do not exist.

Committee members also asked who could request the records; staff noted the Open Records Act does not limit who may request public records. After discussion, the committee moved and seconded to send SB362 to the consent calendar; the motion carried.

Senator Bowser was named to carry SB362 going forward.