As fervor grows over a bill that would hide state lawmakers’ existing records and keep some of them private in the future, two King County politicians are joining the call for a veto.
“Preventing public disclosure of legislative documents will limit the transparency and openness of state government,” King County Council Members Reagan Dunn (a Republican) and Joe McDermott (a Democrat) wrote in a brief letter to Governor Jay Inslee Tuesday. “This is not an acceptable way for our state government to operate.”
Read their letter here.
While state legislators try to exempt themselves from public disclosure, local governments have long been required to comply.
For his part, Inslee is claiming he can’t veto the bill even though he can. His office is now receiving a “high volume” of calls and hundreds of emails opposing the bill. As the Seattle Times‘ Joseph O’Sullivan notes: “The messages are the types of records that lawmakers have long claimed they are exempt from releasing. But Inslee’s office, like other state and local government agencies, is covered by the Public Records Act.”
