Dear Mr. Starks:
Your request (below) was forwarded to this office for reply. You have requested records that Representative Appleton’s office might have received in the nature of threats regarding HB 1012. The House cannot provide any records meeting your request for a couple of reasons.
First, your request encompasses information that does not fall within the definition of public records as applied to the House and Senate. RCW 42.56.010(2) states in relevant part:
"Public record" includes any writing containing information relating to the conduct of government or the performance of any governmental or proprietary function prepared, owned, used, or retained by any state or local agency regardless of physical form or characteristics. For the office of the secretary of the senate and the office of the chief clerk of the house of representatives, public records
means legislative records as defined in RCW 40.14.100 and also means the following: All budget and financial records; personnel leave, travel, and payroll records; records of legislative sessions; reports submitted to the legislature; and any other record designated a public record by any official action of the senate or the house of representatives.
RCW 40.14.100 provides that:
"legislative records" shall be defined as correspondence, amendments, reports, and minutes of meetings made by or submitted to legislative committees or subcommittees and transcripts or other records of hearings or supplementary written testimony or data thereof filed with committees or subcommittees in connection with the exercise of legislative or investigatory functions
but does not include the records of an official act of the legislature kept by the secretary of state, bills and their copies, published materials, digests, or multi-copied matter which are routinely retained and otherwise available at the state library or in a public repository, or reports or
correspondence made or received by or in any way under the personal control of the individual members of the legislature.
Consequently, to the degree that Representative Appleton received any personal correspondence on this bill, that information would not fall within the scope of the Public Records Act.
Furthermore, the House permits members who are sole sponsors of a bill to withdraw pre-filed bill(s) from further consideration prior to introduction without needing to provide a reason. This happens very rarely, but does occur occasionally. So, to the degree that the Representative felt threatened or intimidated by any form of communication, those materials would not have to be provided to the House.
Thank you for your patience while we sorted this out. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Timothy Sekerak
House Counsel
Washington State House of Representatives
360-786-7767