State auditor estimates $60 million spent on public records requests

A report from the Washington State Auditor's office last week estimated that more than $60 million was spent in 2015 on 285,000 public records requests.

State and local governments that responded to a State Auditor's office survey reported the numbers. Requesters pay a small portion of the costs (less than one percent) involved in fulfilling public records requests.

City and state government staff time was found to be more than 90 percent of the cost to locate, review, redact and prepare public records for release.

“A changing public records environment and a Public Records Act that has not kept pace with present-day issues pose challenges that, if not addressed, may undermine the original intent of public records laws and hinder other essential government services,” said Troy Kelley, Washington State Auditor, in a statement. “We found that people today make more and increasingly complex records requests, which absorb significant government resources.”

Existing public records laws prevent governments from charging requesters for staff time.

The survey also noted that the average cost of a record request increased by 70 percent from 2011-15. Total records requests increased by 36 percent in the same period.

“More people making more complex requests,” said Sohara Monaghan, Senior Performance Auditor for the state auditor's office.

In addition, survey respondents indicated that, for 2015, they recovered less than one percent ($350,000) of the $60 million in costs incurred fulfilling requests for public records.

The survey also suggested that advances in technology have transformed the way government conducts business and increased the amount of digital information they manage.

While exemption laws change frequently, local and state government consult legal counsel to ensure they exempt and protect the right information or redact information that should not be disclosed.

This work can result in delays in response time to requests.

In the past five years, 17 percent of governments responding to the survey reported being involved in public records litigation, spending $10 million in 2015.

The state legislature requested that the Auditor's office conduct a study on the cost of responding to public records requests.

In 1972, Washington voters approved Initiative 276, requiring that most records created by state, county and city governments be made available to the public. The public disclosure statutes have since been revised, the latest being RCW 42.56, now referred to, since 2006, as the Public Records Act.