RSSAG: Agency should provide electronic records
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The Yakima Regional Clean Air Agency doesn’t appear to be on solid legal ground in a dispute over the format in which public records should be released.
An environmental group, Citizens for Sustainable Development, hired a Seattle lawyer to sue the agency for failure to provide electronic copies of all original email communications dealing with a policy on reducing emissions from dairies.
The agency has offered to allow viewing and copying of the documents, but not electronic versions, prompting the lawsuit in Yakima County Superior Court.
The Washington state Attorney General’s office sides with the environmental group.
The state Public Records Act does not directly address the issue. But Tim Ford, an agency public records ombudsman, said the office’s model rules conclude agencies should provide records in an electronic format if requested.
Although not binding, the rule has been referenced in eight court decisions regarding release of public records, Ford said.
If the agency determines some passages should be redacted, or blacked out, cheap computer software is available to do that and still fill the public records request in electronic format.
"It’s smart for an agency to do that. It saves them time and money," Ford said.
— David Lester
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