Forum looks at importance of state open meetings laws

YAKIMA, Wash. -- Laws governing public records and open meetings remain critical more than 35 years after they were approved by Washington voters, speakers at a forum on open government said Wednesday.

"You have that right to know what we are doing," said Tim Ford, the open government ombudsman for the state Attorney General's Office.

Ford was part of a panel of speakers organized by the Washington Coalition for Open Government, a nonpartisan group that advocates for improvements in the state's laws governing public meetings and records.

About 75 people, including several city, county and state elected officials, attended the two-hour presentation at the downtown Yakima branch of the Yakima Valley Regional Library system.

Other speakers were Deborah Estrada, city clerk and records officer in Sunnyside; Toby Nixon, president of the coalition and a former state representative; and state Rep. Norm Johnson, R-Yakima, who served for more than 25 years on city councils for Mabton, Toppenish and Yakima. Johnson was filling in for state Auditor Brian Sonntag, who couldn't attend.

The forum was sponsored by the Yakima County League of Women Voters and the Yakima Herald-Republic.

Nixon spent part of the forum outlining the state laws on open records and public meetings by state and local agencies. Voters approved both measures in the early 1970s as part of an effort to make government more transparent for the public.

"The people who wrote and passed that initiative were very prescient and forward-thinking," Ford said.

The original list of records exemptions covered 10 areas -- including certain personnel matters and property transfers -- but has since grown to exclude more than 300 specific records from disclosure, speakers said.

That has much to do with the state's increased regulation of private businesses and efforts to protect their proprietary information, Ford said. A special committee is reviewing all the exemptions to determine whether they need to be updated.

However, the original intent of the act remains intact.

"It means we are there to help you get answers to your questions," Estrada told the audience.

She and Johnson said that training of government personnel in disclosure standards remains an issue, and Estrada suggested that legislators should consider how to fund making training more widely available.

Both said they would support the tape-recording of closed-door sessions by city councils and other government panels. Two recent legislative proposals to implement that change have failed to pass the Legislature due to broad opposition.

Under the draft legislation, a judge would be able to review the recording to determine whether the law had been violated.

* Mark Morey can be reached at 509-577-7671 or mmorey@yakimaherald.com.