Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Records Policy topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee moves correspondence off public website to protect private information; form to route submissions to members
Summary
Staff explained a LegTech recommendation to stop publishing correspondence on the committee website to prevent automated harvesting of personal information; records remain public and will be available on request, while a submission form will deliver material securely to committee members.
A staff member explained the select committee will change how it publishes correspondence: rather than posting letters and member communications to the public website, staff will remove correspondence from the site and make records available on request, a change motivated by privacy and security concerns and a LegTech recommendation.
Staff said posting letters online can expose personal and private information to “bad actors” and enable data-harvesting tools; the proposed alternative is an online form that routes submissions directly and securely to members and to staff. Staff emphasized that the records remain public and will be provided to requesters, and that members and the public may still submit materials by email, phone, or the online form.
Committee members asked whether the website will include notice to the public that submissions become public records; staff said the website will place submitters on notice and that staff will continue to redact information confidential under RCW (state law) before releasing records. The staff representative said the form was expected to go live on June 1 and invited members to contact staff with further questions.
