A Seattle man should learn today how the state of Washington will answer his request for millions of emails generated by government agency employees.

Tim Clemans requested the records from all “state-level agencies” on Feb. 5. State law requires each agency to reply by Thursday with how many of its records are responsive to the request and when they would be available.

Because so many agencies are involved, Attorney General Bob Ferguson has stepped in.

“We have the matter under review, and a response, under the Public Records Act, would be due this Thursday,” spokesman Peter Lavallee wrote in an email.

The request could generate tens of millions of records. The Department of Agriculture told him they could provide him with 1,000 documents and it would take 132 years to fulfill the request.

Clemans said his goal is to get state agencies to use technology to put public records on the Internet as they are generated.

“What I’m trying to achieve is to get access to every document with automation and without having to send a request every time I want something,” he said earlier this week. “I believe it can be done.

Here is the text of Clemans request:

This is public records request to all state-level agencies. I request all emails with meta-data in the .MSG file format be provided to me via FTP server or cloud storage service or state website at no charge.

I do not want emails requiring redaction. I want an all inclusive date range and all subjects. If you do not provide the records via the internet at no charge then I request to inspect/photograph the records. If I have to inspect the records to avoid fees then I will request all major classes of records.