Section 139-02-090 - Processing requests for public records(1)Providing fullest assistance. The Washington state criminal justice training commission is charged by statute with adopting rules which provide for how it shall "provide full access to public records," "protect records from damage or disorganization," "prevent excessive interference with other essential functions of the agency," provide "fullest assistance" to requestors, and provide the "most timely possible action" on public records requests. The public records officer or designee will evaluate and process requests according to the nature of the request, clarity, volume, and availability of requested records.(2)Acknowledging receipt of request. Within five business days of receipt of the request, the public records officer or designee will do one or more of the following: (a) Make the records available for inspection;(b) Provide the requested records (or provide copying fees for the records if applicable) to the requestor;(c) Provide a reasonable estimate of when records will be available (the public records officer may revise the estimate of when records will be available when necessary);(d) Deny the request and provide a statutory explanation as to the reason for the denial; or(e) Acknowledge receipt of the request and ask the requestor to clarify all or any part of the request that is unclear and provide to the greatest extent possible a reasonable estimate of the time the commission will require to respond to the unclear request or unclear part of a request if it is not clarified. (i) Such clarification may be requested and provided by telephone and memorialized in writing, or by email or letter;(ii) Clarification may include identifying a record with specificity sufficient for the commission to locate or produce the record;(iii) If the requestor fails to respond to a request for clarification, the commission will respond to those portions of a request that are clear. If the requestor does not respond to the request for clarification on the unclear portion of the request after records on the clear portion have been provided, the commission will consider the request abandoned per subsection (11) of this section;(iv) If the requestor fails to respond to a request for clarification for 30 days on an entirely unclear request, the commission will consider the request abandoned per subsection (11) of this section.(3)Additional time to respond. Additional time for the commission to respond to a request may be based upon the need to clarify the request, locate and assemble the records requested, notify affected others or agencies affected by the request, or determine whether any of the information requested is exempt and that a denial should be made as to all or part of the request.(4)Consequences of failure to respond. If the commission does not respond in writing within five business days of receipt of the request for disclosure, the requestor should consider contacting the public records officer to determine the reason for the failure to respond.(5)Protecting rights of others. In the event the requested records contain information that may affect rights of others and may be exempt from disclosure, the public records officer or designee may, prior to providing the records, give notice to such others whose rights may be affected by the disclosure. This notice is given so affected persons may seek an order from a court to prevent or limit the disclosure. The notice to the affected persons may include a copy of the request.(6)Records exempt from disclosure.(a) The commission reserves the right to determine a public record is exempt in whole or in part consistent with provisions of the Public Records Act or other applicable provision of law.(b) If the commission believes a record is exempt from disclosure and should be withheld, the public records officer or designee will state the specific exemption and provide a brief explanation of why the record or a portion of the record is being withheld. If only a portion of a record is exempt from disclosure, but the remainder is not exempt, the public records officer or designee will redact the exempt portions, provide the nonexempt portions, and indicate to the requestor why portions of the record are being redacted.(c) Certain exemptions other than the Public Records Act itself restrict the disclosure of documents held by the commission. Some examples of such other applicable statutory exemptions include, but are not limited to: (i)RCW 5.60.060: Attorney-client privileged records.(ii) Chapter 19.108 RCW: Trade secrets.(iii)RCW 43.101.400(1) background investigation records.(7) The commission reserves the right to redact identifying details when producing any public record when there is reason to believe disclosure of such details would be an invasion of personal privacy protected by RCW 42.56.050.(8) The commission is prohibited by statute from disclosing lists of individuals or records that may be manipulated to created lists of individuals for commercial purposes pursuant to RCW 42.56.070.(9)Inspection of public records.(a) A requestor must notify the commission in advance of their intent to inspect public records. Using the tracking ID the commission assigns to each public records request a requestor must identify with specificity and in advance the records the requestor wishes to inspect. The commission will assist the requestor in scheduling an appointment for inspection and may propose convenient alternatives to an in-person visit. Public records will be available for inspection during customary business hours and when staff are available to assist the requestor.(b) When the request to inspect is for a large number of records, the public records officer may schedule inspection in installments.(c) The commission will work with the requestor to schedule an inspection and notify the requestor in writing of the scheduled appointment. If the requestor does not attend the scheduled inspection date, the commission will reach out to reschedule the inspection within 30 days of the first scheduled appointment. If the requestor or a representative of the requestor fails to inspect the records within the 30-day period or fails to make other arrangements, the commission may consider the request abandoned and refile the assembled records. If the requestor makes a request for the same records it will be processed as a new request.(d) Agency facilities shall be made available to any person for the copying of public records except when and to the extent that this would unreasonably disrupt the operations of the agency.(e) Inspections are conducted in accordance with the requirement that agencies protect the requested records from damage or disorganization. No member of the public shall remove a document from the inspection area or disassemble or alter any public record.(f) After inspection is complete, the requestor may wish to identify which documents the requestor wishes the agency to copy.(i) Where the commission charges for copies, the requestor must pay for the copies prior to the copies being provided to the requestor.(ii) Electronic records will be provided as a link to the records on the commission public records website if the records are located on the public records website, or in a format used by the commission and which is generally commercially available.(g) When the inspection of the requested records is complete and any requested copies are provided the public records officer will close the records request.(10)Providing records in installments.(a) When the request is for a large number of records, the public records officer or designee may provide access for inspection and copying in installments, if he or she reasonably determines that it would be more practical.(b) If, within 30 days, the requestor fails to inspect one or more of the installments, the public records officer or designee may stop searching for the remaining records and close the request.(c) When the request is for copies of public records, the public records officer may require payment for each installment either prior to providing the installment or prior to providing subsequent installments. In addition, the requestor may be required to provide a deposit up to 10 percent of the estimated cost of copying all records selected by the requestor. If the requestor fails to pay the required cost by the scheduled payment date, the public records officer may consider the request abandoned and close the request.(11)Closing a withdrawn or abandoned request.(a) The public records officer will close a request when the requestor:(i) Withdraws the request;(ii) Fails to fulfill his or her obligations to inspect the records 30 days after the scheduled inspection date;(iii) Fails to clarify an entirely unclear request 30 days after clarification was requested;(iv) Fails to claim an installment 30 days after records were provided;(v) Fails to pay required fees for an installment by the scheduled payment date;(vi) Fails to pay the deposit or final payment for the requested copies by the scheduled payment date.(b) The public records officer will close the request and indicate to the requestor that the Washington state criminal justice training commission has closed the request and refile the assembled records.(12)Later discovered documents. If, after the Washington state criminal justice training commission has informed the requestor that it has provided all available records, the Washington state criminal justice training commission becomes aware of additional responsive documents existing at the time of the request, it will promptly inform the requestor of the additional documents and provide them on an expedited basis.(13) The commission is not required to create a record that does not otherwise exist.Wash. Admin. Code § 139-02-090
Amended by WSR 22-19-001, Filed 9/7/2022, effective 10/8/2022Amended by WSR 24-13-058, Filed 6/13/2024, effective 7/14/2024Statutory Authority: RCW 43.56.040 and 43.101.080. 09-13-066, §139-02-090, filed 6/16/09, effective 7/17/09. Statutory Authority: RCW 43.101.080. 00-17-017, §139-02-090, filed 8/4/00, effective 9/4/00.