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12/21/06
McKenna proposes 'Sunshine Committee'
By DAVID AMMONS
AP Political Writer
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) -- Attorney General Rob McKenna is urging
the Legislature to create a "Sunshine Committee"
-- to promote disclosure of public records, not to banish
Washington's endless rainfall.
McKenna, who has made public disclosure and press freedom
a signature issue, on Wednesday introduced a package of open-government
bills for the upcoming legislative session, including the
proposed "Sunshine Committee" to question ever-expanding
exemptions from disclosure of public records.
The Republican attorney general also joined forces with Democratic
Gov. Chris Gregoire in proposing stronger public notice requirements
whenever local government is invoking eminent domain to condemn
private property for a public project.
McKenna said that when voters approved a strong disclosure
law by initiative in 1972, there were only 10 tightly drawn
exceptions to the general policy that all public records should
be readily available to the public. Over the past 30-plus
years, more and more exemptions have been approved by the
Legislature, making it harder to get government information,
he said.
He quoted an Associated Press project last spring that showed
over 300 exemptions are now on the books in Washington state.
He said they range from the clearly defensible to the oddball
-- such as a disclosure ban for business records on sale of
the herb ginseng.
Some of the exemptions are "stealth" additions quietly
added to legislation with little attention, McKenna said.
Once in place, they are never independently reviewed, he said.
"They build up like a coral reef over time -- slow to
accrete, but hard to get rid of," McKenna said.
He proposes a nine-member panel to comb through those scores
of exemptions every year and make suggestions for repeal or
tightening. The panel would include representatives of state
and local government, the auditor, attorney general's office,
the four legislative caucuses and the media.
The process will have the added benefit of showing the public
how much is off limits, he said.
"The committee will be a forum to wrestle with disclosure
issues," he said. "My guess is that there will be
a Top 10 list" of exemptions that lawmakers should repeal.
McKenna also proposed cleanup legislation to strengthen the
disclosure law, restoring, for instance, a clear statement
that the state supports a generous Public Records Act.
McKenna and the governor also are pursuing legislation to
require local governments to give notice to property owners
when an eminent-domain decision is pending. This is a response
to a state Supreme Court ruling that said Sound Transit could
use its agency Web site to satisfy the notice requirement.
The average person doesn't scan government Web sites to see
if their property is threatened, McKenna said. The legislation
would require a certified letter to the affected party when
a governing body is about to take property. It would also
require publication of notice of the decision-making meeting
in the largest area newspaper.
A majority of local governments aren't providing adequate
notice, relying on Web notice or general meeting agendas,
he said. The bill wouldn't apply to state government, such
as the state Department of Transportation, unless the project
gets federal money. The federal government has a strong notification
policy, McKenna said.
Notification costs, estimated at perhaps $100 or $200 per
case, would easily be offset by having earlier and better
settlements and fewer court challenges, he said.
House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam, and Reps. Kathy
Haig, D-Shelton, and Pat Lantz, D-Gig Harbor, both committee
chairwomen, are among the influential backers of the bill,
he said.
Kessler said she was stunned when she learned that property
owners could lose their land without even being notified.
"In America? That seemed unbelievable to me," she
said in a written statement that coincided with McKenna's
remarks.
"This is a simple matter of fairness," she said.
Kessler also endorsed the Sunshine Committee and other McKenna
proposals. The explosion of public records exemptions is ridiculous,
she said. Some no doubt make sense, but all should be re-examined,
she said.
McKenna said no opposition has surfaced yet, but that his
proposals could draw resistance from local governments defending
the exemptions.
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On the Net:
Attorney General: http://www.atg.wa.gov
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