Thurston County Superior Court Judge Chris Lanese (right) speaks in court on Friday in Olympia. He ruled that the records of individual Washington state lawmakers are subject to public disclosure. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

Thurston County Superior Court Judge Chris Lanese (right) speaks in court on Friday in Olympia. He ruled that the records of individual Washington state lawmakers are subject to public disclosure. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

Judge: Lawmakers’ emails, texts subject to public disclosure

News organizations had sued to challenge the Legislature’s claim that members were exempt.

By Rachel La Corte / Associated Press

OLYMPIA — The emails, text messages and other information from Washington state lawmakers are subject to public disclosure, a judge said Friday as he ruled in favor of a media coalition led by The Associated Press.

Thurston County Superior Court Judge Chris Lanese sided with the group that sued in September, challenging the Washington Legislature’s assertion that lawmakers are excluded from stricter disclosure rules that apply to other elected officials and agencies.

While Lanese said the offices of individual lawmakers are subject to the public records act, the Washington Legislature, the House and Senate were not.

But regarding the individual lawmakers named, Lanese said the statute was clear.

The law “literally says that representatives and senators and their offices are agencies under the public records act,” he said from the bench. “The defendants have raised many different arguments contending that that is incorrect in this case. However none of the arguments advanced by the defendants here can escape the fact that the plain and unambiguous language of the statute literally has a definitional chain that goes from agencies to state agencies to state offices to state legislative offices.”

He noted lawmakers can always amend the law, but unless they do they are subject to the state’s public records law.

Attorneys for the Legislature had argued that lawmakers exempted most of their records from the state’s public records act through a series of changes in past years and therefore were not violating the law passed by voter initiative in 1972.

The media’s lawsuit focused on how lawmakers interpreted a 1995 revision to a 1971 definition of legislative records. Legislative lawyers have regularly cited that change as a reason to withhold records.

Separate legislative attorneys hired for this case have further argued that later changes in 2005 and 2007 definitively removed lawmakers from disclosure requirements.

“We are pleased with the court’s decision that records of state lawmakers are in fact subject to public disclosure,” said AP’s deputy managing editor for U.S. news, Noreen Gillespie. “Today’s ruling is a victory for the public — allowing the people to know what their elected officials are doing behind closed doors.”

When told of the outcome, two Snohomish County lawmakers said they’re prepared to abide by the decision.

“I learned to live with it,” said Rep. Carolyn Eslick, R-Sultan, who was that city’s mayor before arriving in the state House in September. “I am sorry that for my colleagues it may mean they are going to have to do business a little differently. I won’t be doing anything different than I had been.”

Said state Sen. Guy Palumbo, D-Maltby, who is in his second year in the Legislature: “I am of the mindset that we should craft a bill that subjects us to the Public Records Act like local government but also takes care of some legitimate privacy issues.”

Constituents sometimes email lawmakers on personal matters that are not connected with legislation, and it would be wrong to expose those to the public, he said.

He also said any bill needs to ensure that lobbyists aren’t able to use the law to obtain drafts of bills and amendments that a lawmaker might be working on with staff.

“If they can get records in real time, it will only increase their power,” he said.

The news organizations, which included Daily Herald parent Sound Publishing, filed requests for records from all 147 Washington lawmakers last year, including daily calendars, text messages and documentation of staff complaints against House and Senate members.

Lanese set a hearing for March 9 to discuss next steps, which could include the date records would have to be released, assuming no appeal had been filed by that point. But Paul Lawrence, an attorney for the Legislature, said an appeal was likely.

“We disagree with the court’s order,” Lawrence said after the ruling.

Michele Earl-Hubbard, the attorney for the media coalition, noted the ruling was just a first step, “but it’s a huge first step.”

Besides The AP and The Herald, the groups involved in the lawsuit are public radio’s Northwest News Network, KING-TV, KIRO-TV, Allied Daily Newspapers of Washington, The Spokesman-Review of Spokane, the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association, Tacoma News Inc. and The Seattle Times.

Herald Olympia reporter Jerry Cornfield contributed.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

Trader Joe’s customers walk in and out of the store on Monday, Nov. 20, 2023 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Trader Joe’s opens this week at Everett Mall

It’s a short move from a longtime location, essentially across the street, where parking was often an adventure.

Ian Bramel-Allen enters a guilty plea to second-degree murder during a plea and sentencing hearing on Wednesday, March 6, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Deep remorse’: Man gets 17 years for friend’s fatal stabbing in Edmonds

Ian Bramel-Allen, 44, pleaded guilty Wednesday to second-degree murder for killing Bret Northcutt last year at a WinCo.

Firefighters respond to a small RV and a motorhome fire on Tuesday afternoon in Marysville. (Provided by Snohomish County Fire Distrct 22)
1 injured after RV fire, explosion near Marysville

The cause of the fire in the 11600 block of 81st Avenue NE had not been determined, fire officials said.

Ashton Dedmon appears in court during his sentencing hearing on Tuesday, March 5, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Everett Navy sailor sentenced to 90 days for fatal hit and run

Ashton Dedmon crashed into Joshua Kollman and drove away. Dedmon, a petty officer on the USS Kidd, reported he had a panic attack.

A kindergarten student works on a computer at Emerson Elementary School on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘¡Una erupción!’: Dual language programs expanding to 10 local schools

A new bill aims to support 10 new programs each year statewide. In Snohomish County, most follow a 90-10 model of Spanish and English.

Logo for news use featuring the Tulalip Indian Reservation in Snohomish County, Washington. 220118
Woman drives off cliff, dies on Tulalip Reservation

The woman fell 70 to 80 feet after driving off Priest Point Drive NW on Sunday afternoon.

Everett
Boy, 4, survives fall from Everett fourth-story apartment window

The child was being treated at Seattle Children’s. The city has a limited supply of window stops for low-income residents.

People head out to the water at low tide during an unseasonably warm day on Saturday, March 16, 2024, at Lighthouse Park in Mukilteo, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Everett shatters record high temperature by 11 degrees

On Saturday, it hit 73 degrees, breaking the previous record of 62 set in 2007.

Snohomish County Fire District #4 and Snohomish Regional Fire & Rescue respond to a motor vehicle collision for a car and pole. The driver was pronounced dead at the scene, near Triangle Bait & Tackle in Snohomish. (Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office)
Police: Troopers tried to stop driver before deadly crash in Snohomish

The man, 31, was driving at “a high rate of speed” when he crashed into a traffic light pole and died, investigators said.

Alan Dean, who is accused of the 1993 strangulation murder of 15-year-old Bothell girl Melissa Lee, appears in court during opening statements of his trial on Monday, March 18, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
31 years later, trial opens in Bothell teen’s brutal killing

In April 1993, Melissa Lee’s body was found below Edgewater Creek Bridge. It would take 27 years to arrest Alan Dean in her death.

Logo for news use featuring the municipality of Snohomish in Snohomish County, Washington. 220118
Man dies after crashing into pole in Snohomish

Just before 1 a.m., the driver crashed into a traffic light pole at the intersection of 2nd Street and Maple Avenue.

Bodies of two men recovered after falling into Eagle Falls near Index

Two men fell into the falls and did not resurface Saturday, authorities said. After a recovery effort, two bodies were found.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.