Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Filing Redaction topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
PDC allows limited redactions for Emily Hancock but denies broader secrecy
Summary
The PDC granted Emily Hancock the ability to substitute a legal description for her street address and to remove her phone number from filings (including redaction of prior reports), but denied the remainder of her redaction requests because the street address information was already publicly available.
The Washington State Public Disclosure Commission on July 1 authorized limited redactions to filings by Emily Hancock but denied most of her requests to shield personal information. Chair Jay Leach said Hancock demonstrated serious threats but that much of the information she sought to hide was already publicly available.
"I think she made a demonstration of serious threats," Leach said during the hearing, but added that "the information she seeks to shield is readily available to the public, and modifying the F-1s beyond what I've already described won't provide her with any additional protection." The chair authorized substituting a legal description for Hancock's street address on her filing and agreed staff may redact Hancock's phone number on previously submitted reports.
Staff presenter Jennifer explained that the Commission's authority to grant modifications and redactions derives from RCW 42.17A and the PDC's rules in WAC 390. Jennifer also noted specific alternatives available under the rules for reporting residential information. The chair added to the record that Hancock serves on the Judicial Qualifications Commission and works as a public defender, and the Commission agreed that original unredacted records could be exempt from public-records requests when appropriate.
The Commission’s action provided targeted relief—redacting a phone number and allowing a legal-description substitute for the street address—while denying broader secrecy because of the public availability of the same details in county records and online real-estate listings.
