Current through Register Vol. 24-06, March 15, 2024
(1)
Providing fullest
assistance. The Washington state criminal justice training commission is
charged by statute with adopting rules which provide for how it shall "provide
full access to public records," "protect records from damage or
disorganization," "prevent excessive interference with other essential
functions of the agency," provide "fullest assistance" to requestors, and
provide the "most timely possible action" on public records requests. The
public records officer or designee will evaluate and process requests according
to the nature of the request, clarity, volume, and availability of requested
records.
(2)
Acknowledging
receipt of request. Within five business days of receipt of the request,
the public records officer or designee will do one or more of the following:
(a) Make the records available for
inspection;
(b) Provide the
requested records (or provide a bill for the records if applicable) to the
requestor;
(c) Provide a reasonable
estimate of when records will be available (the public records officer may
revise the estimate of when records will be available);
(d) Deny the request and provide a statutory
explanation as to the reason for the denial; or
(e) Acknowledge receipt of the request and
ask the requestor to clarify all or any part of the request that is unclear and
provide to the greatest extent possible a reasonable estimate of the time the
commission will require to respond to the unclear request or unclear part of a
request if it is not clarified.
(i) Such
clarification may be requested and provided by telephone and memorialized in
writing, or by email or letter;
(ii) Clarification may include identifying a
record with specificity sufficient for the commission to locate or produce the
record;
(iii) If the requestor
fails to respond to a request for clarification and the entire request is
unclear, the commission need not respond to it. The commission will respond to
those portions of a request that are clear.
(3)
Additional time to respond.
Additional time for the commission to respond to a request may be based upon
the need to clarify the request, locate and assemble the records requested,
notify affected others or agencies affected by the request, or determine
whether any of the information requested is exempt and that a denial should be
made as to all or part of the request.
(4)
Consequences of failure to
respond. If the commission does not respond in writing within five
business days of receipt of the request for disclosure, the requestor should
consider contacting the public records officer to determine the reason for the
failure to respond.
(5)
Protecting rights of others. In the event the requested records
contain information that may affect rights of others and may be exempt from
disclosure, the public records officer or designee may, prior to providing the
records, give notice to such others whose rights may be affected by the
disclosure. This notice is given so affected persons may seek an order from a
court to prevent or limit the disclosure. The notice to the affected persons
may include a copy of the request.
(6)
Records exempt from
disclosure.
(a) The commission
reserves the right to determine a public record is exempt in whole or in part
consistent with provisions of the Public Records Act or other applicable
provision of law.
(b) If the
commission believes a record is exempt from disclosure and should be withheld,
the public records officer or designee will state the specific exemption and
provide a brief explanation of why the record or a portion of the record is
being withheld. If only a portion of a record is exempt from disclosure, but
the remainder is not exempt, the public records officer or designee will redact
the exempt portions, provide the nonexempt portions, and indicate to the
requestor why portions of the record are being redacted.
(c) Certain exemptions other than the Public
Records Act itself restrict the disclosure of documents held by the commission.
Some examples of such other applicable statutory exemptions include, but are
not limited to:
RCW
5.60.060: Attorney-client privileged
records.
Chapter 19.108 RCW: Trade secrets.
(7) The commission reserves the right to
delete identifying details when producing any public record when there is
reason to believe disclosure of such details would be an invasion of personal
privacy protected by
RCW
42.56.050.
(8) The commission is prohibited by statute
from disclosing lists of individuals or records that may be manipulated to
created lists of individuals for commercial purposes pursuant to
RCW
42.56.070.
(9)
Inspection of public
records.
(a) A requestor must notify
the commission in advance of their intent to inspect public records. Using the
tracking ID the commission assigns to each public records request a requestor
must identify with specificity and in advance the records the requestor wishes
to inspect. The commission will assist the requestor in scheduling an
appointment for inspection and may propose convenient alternatives to an
in-person visit. Public records will be available for inspection during
customary business hours and when staff are available to assist the
requestor.
(b) When the request to
inspect is for a large number of records, the public records officer may
schedule inspection in installments.
(c) The commission will notify the requestor
of the scheduled appointment. The requestor must inspect the requested records
within 30 days of the scheduled appointment. If the requestor or a
representative of the requestor fails to inspect the records within the 30-day
period or fails to make other arrangements, the commission may close the
request and refile the assembled records. If the requestor makes a request for
the same records it will be processed as a new request.
(d) Agency facilities shall be made available
to any person for the copying of public records except when and to the extent
that this would unreasonably disrupt the operations of the agency.
(e) Inspections are conducted in accordance
with the requirement that agencies protect the requested records from damage or
disorganization. No member of the public shall remove a document from the
inspection area or disassemble or alter any public record.
(f) After inspection is complete, the
requestor may wish to identify which documents the requestor wishes the agency
to copy.
(i) Where the commission charges for
copies, the requestor must pay for the copies prior to the copies being
provided to the requestor.
(ii)
Electronic records will be provided as a link to the records on the commission
public records website if the records are located on the public records
website, or in a format used by the commission and which is generally
commercially available.
(g) When the inspection of the requested
records is complete and any requested copies are provided the public records
officer will close the records request.
(10)
Providing records in
installments.
(a) When the request is
for a large number of records, the public records officer or designee may
provide access for inspection and copying in installments, if he or she
reasonably determines that it would be more practical.
(b) If, within 30 days, the requestor fails
to inspect one or more of the installments, the public records officer or
designee may stop searching for the remaining records and close the
request.
(c) When the request is
for copies of public records, the public records officer may require payment
for each installment either prior to providing the installment or prior to
providing subsequent installments. In addition, the requestor may be required
to provide a deposit up to 10 percent of the estimated cost of copying all
records selected by the requestor. If the requestor fails to pay the required
cost by the scheduled payment date, the public records officer may close the
request.
(11)
Closing withdrawn or abandoned request.
(a) The public records officer will close a
request when the requestor:
(i) Withdraws the
request;
(ii) Fails to fulfill his
or her obligations to inspect the records 30 days after the scheduled
inspection date;
(iii) Fails to
clarify an entirely unclear request 30 days after clarification was
requested;
(iv) Fails to claim an
installment 30 days after records were provided;
(v) Fails to pay required fees for an
installment by the scheduled payment date;
(vi) Fails to pay the deposit or final
payment for the requested copies by the scheduled payment date.
(b) The public records officer
will close the request and indicate to the requestor that the Washington state
criminal justice training commission has closed the request and refile the
assembled records.
(12)
Later discovered documents. If, after the Washington state
criminal justice training commission has informed the requestor that it has
provided all available records, the Washington state criminal justice training
commission becomes aware of additional responsive documents existing at the
time of the request, it will promptly inform the requestor of the additional
documents and provide them on an expedited basis.
(13) The commission is not required to create
a record that does not otherwise exist.
Statutory Authority:
RCW
43.56.040 and
43.101.080. 09-13-066, §
139-02-090, filed 6/16/09,
effective 7/17/09. Statutory Authority:
RCW
43.101.080. 00-17-017, §
139-02-090, filed 8/4/00,
effective 9/4/00.