Transparency is key to trust in government

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, July 8, 2026

As a foundational aspect of open government, the premise bears repeating:

“The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so that they may maintain control over the instruments that they have created.”

That is from Washington’s Public Records Act, which passed with 72 percent of the vote in 1972. The gist: Effective and responsive government depends upon transparency. Lawmakers are beholden to the public, bereft of special dispensation that allows them to keep secrets from citizens.

The Columbian has editorially quoted that phrase numerous times. And we shall continue to do so, recognizing that it is the state-level equivalent of “We hold these truths to be self-evident” or “in Order to form a more perfect Union …”

Washington’s Public Records Act has faced growing pressure since its passage more than 50 years ago. When the law was passed, 10 allowable exemptions were included to withhold information from the public; now there are more than 500 exemptions, with lawmakers gradually pulling a veil over the instruments the people have created.

In 2018, following an outcry from the public and the media, then-Gov. Jay Inslee vetoed a bill that would have exempted lawmakers from the Public Records Act. “The public’s right to government information is one we hold dearly in Washington,” Inslee said.

And despite that right and the clarity of the law, lawmakers have increasingly cited “executive privilege” in declining to make certain information public.

For one example, some legislators have sought to keep schedules or text messages related to their public duties out of the public eye. To be clear: If a lawmaker is having lunch with a gun-control group or sharing texts with an anti-abortion activist, the public has a right to know.

But the law does not apply solely to individuals who are discussing policy or pending legislation. It also applies to city and county governments, and that is where it has become burdensome.

As media outlet Washington State Standard reported recently: “A survey of 236 entities subject to the law found they received 484,000 requests for records in 2024, up from 383,000 in 2019, according to a report from the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee. In 2019, it took 15 days on average for agencies to provide records from the date of the request. In 2024, that was up to 24 days, the audit found. The agencies spent $128 million responding to requests. They also reported 113 court cases against them alleging violations of state public records statutes.”

In that climate, the office of Attorney General Nick Brown is developing recommendations to help government entities comply with the law, hoping to speed up disclosures and improve transparency. The process started when media representatives complained about increasing delays in procuring public records.

Updated guidelines would not change the law, but would aim to provide clarity for government entities, media outlets and citizens potentially named in disclosures. The most fundamental shift would be to prioritize small public records requests rather than allowing them to languish for months or years behind complex disclosures requiring thousands of pages.

The work is important; streamlining the flow of information to the public is essential to bolstering trust in government. After all, the people insist on remaining informed.