OLYMPIA — Top editors from Washington’s largest newspapers denounced proposed new anti-terrorism exemptions to the state’s public records law Thursday, calling them unnecessary and overly broad invasions into the public’s right to know.
Gov. Gary Locke and Attorney General Christine Gregoire are pushing the changes as part of a package of bills prompted by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
State law makes all public records open unless specifically closed. House Bill 2411 would exempt records dealing with preventing or responding to terrorism if disclosing the information could threaten public safety. Among other records, it covers disaster recovery plans, law enforcement records shared by federal officials with state and local law enforcement, and inventories of goods or materials that could be potentially dangerous or were assembled to plan for terrorist acts.
Critics say the exemption is too broad and could hamper legitimate attempts to find out how well the state is prepared for terrorism and other disasters.
"Ignorance is not freedom," Ken Bunting, executive editor of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, told a joint hearing of the House Local Government Committee and the House Select Committee on Community Security. "Often the public would be better off to know how safe they are."
Gregoire contends the changes are necessary to protect terrorism response plans from falling into the wrong hands and to reassure federal law enforcement agencies that information they share with the state will not become public.
"We must balance the need for open government with our duty to protect human life and safety," said Gregoire. She said such concerns prompted Defense Department officials to prevent her from taking notes or carrying away documents during a briefing shortly after Sept. 11.
But newspaper officials argued that such information is already protected by federal regulations and an existing exemption for law enforcement records that has been strengthened by a Washington Supreme Court ruling.
"It is essentially up to law enforcement to decide what is and is not a public record," said Alex MacLeod, managing editor of The Seattle Times. "The ability of the public to monitor law enforcement is entirely dependent on law enforcement’s willingness for that to occur."
But state officials say the feds want the reassurance of a specific exemption.
"The practical effect of it is the federal government will not share information," said Ronal Serpas, chief of the Washington State Patrol.
A telephone call to an FBI spokeswoman in Seattle was not immediately returned.
While newspaper officials oppose expanding exemptions to the public records law in general, their chief concerns are about creating broad new loopholes. For example, one new exemption would protect "disaster recovery plans, risk assessments, tests, or the results of those tests."
Because that exemption doesn’t specifically mention terrorism, it could prevent legitimate inquiries about response plans for disease outbreaks, floods or volcanic eruptions, said David Zeeck, executive editor of The News Tribune of Tacoma.
"That’s information that your constituents want to know, and we want to provide them," Zeeck said.
Administration officials and lawmakers on the committees said they were willing to consider narrowing the exemptions.
"We’re fairly confident that Mother Earth isn’t going to take advantage of an earthquake plan, but there are elements that would take advantage of a terrorism plan," said Glen Woodbury, director of the state Emergency Management Division.
The committees did not vote on the bill Thursday.
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