The disclosure history of petition sheets
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On Wednesday, initiative king Tim Eyman distributed an e-mail to his supporters,the media, legislators and Gov. Gregoire in which he criticized Secretary of State Sam Reed and officials in our office regarding our office’s history on our policy regarding the release of initiative or referendum petition sheets.
The following sets the record straight on this matter:
After Washington voters passed Initiative 276 in 1972 that created the Public Records Act, various Secretary of State administrations took the position, from 1973 to 1998, that the personal information on petition sheets were NOT subject to disclosure. However, based on advice by the Attorney General’s Office in the 1990s, the Office of Secretary of State changed its policy to consider all information subject to disclosure upon request.
A fee of 10 cents per sheet was charged for such requests. Considering the extremely large volume of petition sheets for an initiative, it could cost an individual or group thousands of dollars to pay for a paper copy of the petition. As a result, from 1998 to 2006 nobody followed through on a public records request for such documents because it was too expensive. That changed in 2006 when our office made these documents available on CD or DVD for a modest fee ($15 per CD, $25 per DVD; each microfilm roll is $10.75). Thanks to the digital age, requesting these documents became faster and much cheaper.
Our office has released either digital image copies or microfilm copies of petition sheets every year since 2006:
2006: I-917 and I-920
2007: I-917, I-920 and I-937
2008: I-1029
2009: I-933 and I-1033; R-71 requests are pending
Throughout Secretary Reed’s tenure in this office and in the three years leading up to it, our office’s position has been that the names and addresses on initiative or referendum petition sheets are public records.
The policy shift on petition sheets in the ‘90s wasn’t made to harm initiative or referendum sponsors but to comply with the Public Records Act. As our office has said before, initiatives and referenda are attempts to change state law. Such attempts shouldn’t be hidden from public view. That being the case, when someone signs a petition sheet, they are playing a critical role in trying to change state law, so the information on these sheets should be made public if requested.
Since there is a truncated reference to a particular RCW in Mr. Eyman’s e-mail, we want to provide the full text of the relevant law:
RCW 42.56.050:
A person's "right to privacy," "right of privacy," "privacy," or "personal privacy," as these terms are used in this chapter, is invaded or violated only if disclosure of information about the person: (1) Would be highly offensive to a reasonable person, and (2) is not of legitimate concern to the public. The provisions of this chapter dealing with the right to privacy in certain public records do not create any right of privacy beyond those rights that are specified in this chapter as express exemptions from the public's right to inspect, examine, or copy public records.
RCW 42.56.210
(1) Except for information described in RCW 42.56.230(3)(a) and confidential income data exempted from public inspection pursuant to RCW 84.40.020, the exemptions of this chapter are inapplicable to the extent that information, the disclosure of which would violate personal privacy or vital governmental interests, can be deleted from the specific records sought. No exemption may be construed to permit the nondisclosure of statistical information not descriptive of any readily identifiable person or persons.
(2) Inspection or copying of any specific records exempt under the provisions of this chapter may be permitted if the superior court in the county in which the record is maintained finds, after a hearing with notice thereof to every person in interest and the agency, that the exemption of such records is clearly unnecessary to protect any individual's right of privacy or any vital governmental function.
(3) Agency responses refusing, in whole or in part, inspection of any public record shall include a statement of the specific exemption authorizing the withholding of the record (or part) and a brief explanation of how the exemption applies to the record withheld.
RCW 42.56.230
The following personal information is exempt from public inspection and copying under this chapter:
(1) Personal information in any files maintained for students in public schools, patients or clients of public institutions or public health agencies, or welfare recipients;
(2) Personal information in files maintained for employees, appointees, or elected officials of any public agency to the extent that disclosure would violate their right to privacy;
(3) Information required of any taxpayer in connection with the assessment or collection of any tax if the disclosure of the information to other persons would (a) be prohibited to such persons by RCW 84.08.210, 82.32.330, 84.40.020, or 84.40.340 or (b) violate the taxpayer's right to privacy or result in unfair competitive disadvantage to the taxpayer;
(4) Credit card numbers, debit card numbers, electronic check numbers, card expiration dates, or bank or other financial account numbers, except when disclosure is expressly required by or governed by other law; and
(5) Documents and related materials and scanned images of documents and related materials used to prove identity, age, residential address, social security number, or other personal information required to apply for a driver's license or identicard.
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Secretary of State
Steve Hobbs
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