Washington HB 2661: Expanding accessible, affordable child care and early childhood development programs.

Bill Text

AN ACT Relating to establishing the legislative task force on 1
public records act modernization consisting of eight voting members 2
and four nonvoting legislators; creating new sections; and providing 3
an expiration date.4
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:5
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds the public records 6
act was enacted as part of a voter initiative and is the cornerstone 7
of transparency and accountability in state and local government. The 8
legislature reaffirms that broad public access to government records 9
strengthens accountability, promotes civic engagement, and fosters 10
confidence in public institutions. The legislature further finds that 11
misuse of the public records act for frivolous, retaliatory, or 12
harassing purposes strains limited public resources, especially for 13
school districts, delays access to records for individuals who use 14
the public records request process for legitimate purposes, and does 15
not advance the public interest in governmental transparency. The 16
legislature therefore finds that it is necessary to examine ways to 17
improve the functionality of the public records act that will 18
increase efficiency, reduce the financial burden on school districts, 19
maintain transparency in government, and deter abuse of the public 20
records request process.21
H-3446.1
SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 2661
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2026 Regular Session
By House State Government & Tribal Relations (originally sponsored by
Representative Rude)
READ FIRST TIME 02/04/26.
p. 1 SHB 2661

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. (1) The joint legislative audit and review 1
committee must examine:2
(a) The nature and impact of frivolous, retaliatory, or harassing 3
public records requests on school districts and their employees;4
(b) Strategies to deter frivolous, retaliatory, and harassing 5
public records requests received by school districts such as 6
preventing anonymous requests and eliminating financial motivation 7
that results in bad faith requests;8
(c) The role that enhanced judicial discretion can have in 9
preventing or stopping frivolous, retaliatory, or harassing public 10
records requests received by school districts;11
(d) Approaches other states have taken to address requests that 12
are made in bad faith or that otherwise abuse the public records 13
request process such as frivolous, retaliatory, or harassing 14
requests; and15
(e) Other tools, safeguards, or statutory or policy 16
clarifications that could be implemented by school districts to 17
reduce the level of abuse of the public records request process while 18
preserving transparency and broad public access to public records.19
(2)(a) The joint legislative audit and review committee may 20
establish a work group to discuss and explore the topics described in 21
subsection (1) of this section. Representatives from the following 22
entities must be invited to participate in any work group established 23
under this subsection:24
(i) The Washington association of public records officers;25
(ii) Allied daily newspapers of Washington;26
(iii) The Washington coalition for open government;27
(iv) The association of Washington cities;28
(v) The Washington schools risk management pool;29
(vi) The Washington state association for justice;30
(vii) The office of the attorney general; and31
(viii) The Washington association of school administrators.32
(b) All meetings of any work group created under this section 33
must be held remotely.34
(3) The joint legislative audit and review committee may hold 35
virtual work sessions to hear from school districts and individuals 36
from the public with demonstrated knowledge and expertise in the area 37
of public records to inform the work of the joint legislative audit 38
and review committee.39
p. 2 SHB 2661

(4) The joint legislative audit and review committee shall report 1
its findings and recommendations to the governor and appropriate 2
committees of the legislature no later than October 1, 2027.3
(5) This section expires October 15, 2027.4
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p. 3 SHB 2661