Local Open Government Blog : Open Government Law : Foster Pepper Law Firm : Northwest, Seattle, Spokane, Portland Lawyer & Attorney

On Friday, Ted Sickinger of The Oregonian reported on changes to the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System that allow public disclosure of individual members' information. The following is a reprint of the article in full:

The board of directors of Oregon's public employee retirement system voted 3-to-1 Friday to change its rules to allow the public disclosure of members' individual benefits.

The administrative rule change reflects a legal settlement that PERS reached earlier this year to release benefit information to The Oregonian and the Statesman Journal in Salem on Nov. 21 for 110,000 individual retirees.

The PERS Board was quick to note the release is still contingent on a hearing Monday in Marion County Circuit Court, where a group of retirees has filed a class-action lawsuit seeking to prevent release of the information.

"It's out of our hands -- above our pay grade," said James Dalton, a former technology executive who chairs the PERS Board. "It's in the court system and we'll abide" by what the court determines.

The Oregonian has long sought access to such information as part of its reporting on the retirement system's costs and financial difficulties. PERS previously released individually identifiable pension benefits, but started denying requests for such information on all but the most prominent public employees in 2002, saying the information was exempt from public records laws.

Attorney General John Kroger changed that course last October, ordering the agency to release individually identifiable benefit information to the two newspapers.

Pat West, a former Salem firefighter who sits on the PERS board, was the lone vote against the rule change. He said he opposed the data release, which he contends could make retirees marks for financial scams.

The rule change was administrative to align policy with the settlement, and has no bearing on whether the data is releasable, board members said. But they were heavily lobbied by retirees to vote against it.

The Oregonian has intervened in the employees' lawsuit. Its lawyer, Portland attorney Charles Hinkle, says he hasn't seen issues related to the release of similar data in other states, and is confident the court will agree with the Attorney General.
 

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In February, thousands of protestors, including many teachers, attended rallies in Wisconsin’s capitol to protest Governor Scott Walker’s proposed limits on collective bargaining for public workers.  As a result, schools were closed for a day or more in many districts.  Now conservative groups have filed public records requests asking school districts across the state to release the names of teachers who “called in sick” during the protests.

Many districts have complied, but the Madison School District (“District”), which had four days of closures in February, has denied several public records requests.  As reported by the Wisconsin State Journal, the District is concerned that the release of the teachers’ names could “risk the safety of teachers and students, and disrupt morale and the learning environment in schools.”  The requesting groups deny that the information will be used to harm or harass teachers.  However, the District’s counsel believes otherwise, citing “a number of threats” made against board members, administrators and district employees as a result of teachers’ participation in the protests.

Some districts have successfully prevented disclosure of teachers’ names. The Wisconsin Education Association Council argued on behalf of the La Crosse and Holmen School Districts that safety risks outweighed the benefits of disclosure, obtaining an injunction from a La Crosse Circuit Court Judge.

Wisconsin’s Public Records laws do not include a disclosure exemption for general safety concerns. There is an exemption for specific employee records, including “personally identifiable information” such as addresses, phone numbers and social security numbers. Sec. 19.36(1) of the 2003 Wisconsin Act 47.  However, the requestors in this case seek only names, not identifying information.

When there is no established exemption (by statute or common law) and a public records custodian has doubts or concerns about whether to release records, Wisconsin courts perform a balancing test. Sec. 19.35(1)(a).  Records may be withheld only if the public interest in nondisclosure outweighs the public interest in disclosure, as there is a strong presumption of access.  See Matter of Estates v. Zimmer, 151 Wis. 2d 122 (Wis. Ct. App. 1989).

It remains to be seen how the court will balance the competing interests in this case, and whether the District’s safety argument will outweigh the presumption of disclosure that is central to the Wisconsin Public Records Act.

Washington’s Public Records Act is similar, in that there is no blanket exemption for safety or privacy. To prevent disclosure out of concerns for privacy or safety, an agency must prove that disclosure of the information 1) would be highly offensive to a reasonable person, and 2) is not of legitimate concern to the public.  RCW 42.56.050.  Specific personal identifying data is, of course, exempt from disclosure. RCW 42.56.210.  However, names must generally be disclosed.  See John Doe No. 1 v. Reed, __ U.S. ___, 130 S. Ct. 2811, 177 L.Ed.2d 493 (2011) (finding that Washington’s public records act authorized the release of the names of voters who signed referendum petitions); King County v. Sheehan, 114 Wn. App. 325, 57 P.3d 307 (2002) (holding that public records act does not exempt from disclosure the full names and ranks of county police officers).

An article in the May 26, 2011 Seattle Times highlights a recent Seattle “name release” case.  A labor arbitrator, acting at the request of the Seattle Police Officers’ Guild, just ordered the Seattle Police Department to stop releasing the names of officers found to have engaged in misconduct.  It is reported that the city attorneys plan to appeal, believing the decision is in conflict with Washington law.
 

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The New York Times has been reporting on how open public records laws are being enlisted in the fight against governmental corruption – not here in the United States – but on the other side of the world, in rural India. In 2005, India joined a growing list of developing countries to enact a national open public records law, known as the Right to Information Act (“RIA”).  The legislation’s preamble asserted that “democracy requires an informed citizenry and transparent information” and identified curbing governmental corruption as a central goal of the RIA. The RIA requires governmental agencies to respond to citizen requests for information within 30 days of receiving a request. Similar to Washington’s Public Records Act, 42.56 R.C.W., and the federal Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 551-559, governmental agencies that fail to comply with information requests are subject to daily penalties. 

In 2010, the New York Times reported on how the RIA was leveling the playing field between corrupt governmental bureaucrats and India’s poor.  Right-To-Know Law Gives India’s Poor a Lever, New York Times, June 28, 2010. The piece included a number of stories illustrating how India’s poorest citizens used the RIA to spur governmental bureaucrats into action.  One story involved an impoverished mother of three who had been waiting for four years to receive a housing assistance grant. After seeing her well-to-do neighbors receive grants ahead of her, the mother used the RIA to request records detailing who had received grants in her community and why. Days after submitting the request, governmental officials approved her grant. In another village, community members became fed up with a public health care worker who rarely showed up to staff the community health clinic. The citizens utilized the RIA to request copies of the clinic’s attendance records. With her attendance record revealed, the health care worker started showing up every day. Success stories like these have provided hope to good governance advocates that India is moving in the direction of open and transparent government.

However, on January 22, 2011, the New York Times published a follow-up story showing how opponents of open government have begun using violence to intimidate and silence requesters. High Price for India’s Information Law, New York Times, January 22, 2011. The article described one case where a requester was murdered after uncovering evidence about an illegal mining operation that may have involved government officials. The author estimated that at least a dozen requesters have been murdered since the RIA was enacted in 2005 and scores of others have been beaten and harassed. This violence is apparently having a chilling effect on many would-be activists. 

Time will tell whether India’s nascent open public records policies can survive this backlash. 

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The tension between open meeting laws and laws restricting use of public property for political activities is highlighted by a reported incident out of the City of Sumner, Washington. According to the Tacoma News Tribune, a councilmember has filed a complaint with the State’s Public Disclosure Commission. The complaint is reported to assert the Mayor and other City officials allowed political speech (criticism of the councilmember who was running for a state legislative office) to continue at a public meeting of the Sumner City Council.

Washington, like many states, has a public meeting law that requires public access to meetings of a municipal governing body and related agencies. While public access does not grant a public right to speak at such a meeting (the public has a right to speak at public hearings, not meetings), local councils and commissions regularly provide for citizen comment at some time during a meeting’s agenda. The presiding officer of such a meeting can control the meeting to prevent improper conduct by a citizen. See Council Meeting Conduct and Citizen Rights under the First Amendment.

But, in addition to laws providing for open public meetings, many states prohibit the use of public facilities, funds and personnel to advocate for a political campaign or to support a ballot measure. See RCW 42.17.130, the Washington State law that address this issue. According to the News Tribune, the Sumner councilmember urged the Mayor to cut off a speaker at a city council meeting. The speaker was, according to the councilmember, using the council meeting to advocate for that councilmember’s opponent in the legislative race (and using the City facilities for political activity). The mayor, and apparently the rest of the city council, disagreed with the Councilmember under fire, and the speaker was allowed to continue. The Public Disclosure Commission will now decide whether to reconcile the potentially competing public policies of open public meetings and the prohibition on use of public facilities for campaign activity.

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Metadata is the new worry of public disclosure requests. Within the hard drive of any standard computer, a host of metadata is created with each underlying electronic document. Metadata describes the document’s history, tracking and management.

At least in Arizona and Washington that metadata is now also subject to a public disclosure, along with the underlying document itself, when requested. A recent Phoenix Law Review article analyses this proliferating phenomenon. David W. Degnan, Accessing Arizona’s Government: Open Records Requests for Metadata and other Electronically Stored Information after Lake v. Phoenix, 3 Phoenix L. Rev. 69 (2010).

Lake v. Phoenix, 222 Ariz. 527, 218 P.3d 1004 (2009), involved a request by a demoted City of Phoenix police officer, attempting to show through documents’ metadata that comments about his performance were backdated to conceal retaliation for his whistleblowing activities. The Arizona Supreme Court held that this metadata (showing the creation and history of the documents) was a public record and must be disclosed. In Washington, the State Supreme Court arrived at the same conclusion regarding metadata in O’Neill v. City of Shoreline, _____Wn.2d____, ____P.3d____, (2010) WL 3911347 (2010). There, the requestor of the metadata was attempting to find transmission history of the author and recipients of an e-mail. The email was originally sent to the Deputy Mayor’s home computer, and later discussed in a Council meeting. A print copy of the email was provided to the requestor in response to the original request. But, the requestor later sough the metadata for the email that had by then been deleted from the Deputy Mayor’s home computer. The Washington Supreme Court found that the metadata associated with that e-mail was also a public record and that the computer drive on the Deputy Mayor’s home computer should have been searched to find that metadata. The email, and the underlying metadata, had become part of the City’s public records.

The issues with the nature of electronic records and their storage are multiplying. As the Law Review article points out, a study published as early as 2003 suggested that 93% of all communication was then conducted in an electronic medium; and the percentage has only risen. In addition, there are divergent standards for keeping and retrieving electronic records in response to actual or threatened litigation in contrast to public records act requirements. In electronic discovery, there can be a court enforced reasonableness standard. In the public records context there may be no such limitation. But, public records laws in Washington and most other jurisdictions do not require a public agency to produce any new document or summarize documents in response to a public records request. And, a courteous discussion with a requestor may eliminate the need to search for or retrieve metadata associated with any requested documents, as the requestor may have no interest in that level of electronic scrutiny.

The Law Review article concludes with the well recognized caution that in the end there “is the need for state and local government agencies to have electronic record management procedures (and resources) in place to respond quickly and efficiently to future open records requests involving ESI [electronically stored information].” The record management systems for ESI must also include metadata, at least in Arizona and Washington.
 

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As everyone who responds to public disclosure requests knows, compliance with the public records act is expensive. The Yakima Herald-Republic reports that the City of Yakima is now spending $500,000 per year on public record requests, including staff and outside attorney time. The article notes that Yakima officials generally support the goal of the public records act, but wish that the legislature would do something to cut down on fishing expeditions, especially requests by lawyers who use the public records act as an end run on pre-trial discovery costs. The number of requests to the City is on a pace to reach 400 requests in 2010, up from 284 requests in 2007.

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On July 16, 2010, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that a public employee's personal e-mails are not public records under that State's Public Records Law. Like Washington, Wisconsin has broad public disclosure laws. Or, as noted by the Supreme Court, "[i]f Wisconsin were not known as the Dairy State it could be known, and rightfully so, as the Sunshine State." But, the Court held personal e-mails "are not a part of government business," simply because they may be sent or received on a Wisconsin local government's e-mail and computer system.

This holding is similar to (and cites) a Washington Court of Appeals decision, Tiberino v. Spokane County, 103 Wn. App. 680, 13 P.3d 1104 (2000). There, the Washington court held the personal e-mails were "public records," and excessive personal e-mail use was a reason for discharge of a government employee. However, the personal e-mails were exempt from disclosure under Washington law. While the fact of excessive email use is of legitimate public concern, the actual content of the personal emails was not.

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Yesterday, the Supreme Court of Arizona held, in a unanimous decision, that under the state’s public records laws any entity that maintains electronic records must disclose those records along with embedded metadata. Lake v. City of Phoenix et al, No. CV-09-0036. 

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Update 8/3

Here's an update from the Open Records Blog -- a great blog that tracks state public records issues nation wide -- on the R-71 controversy.  The Post also provides Tim Eyman's perspective on the issue. 

Update 7/30

As noted by the Seattle Times, a Federal Judge has issued an injunction prohibiting the State from releasing the names of the persons who signed the R-71 petition.  According to the Times:

Judge Settle . . . gave what appears to be a nod to the strength of the referendum backers' case, writing that they "have sufficiently demonstrated a reasonable likelihood of success on the merits" of their First Amendment claim, and "a reasonable likelihood of irreparable harm if the names are released."

Here is an editorial from the Yakima Herald on this ruling:  "Open records means just that -- so release the names on R-71"

Update 6/11

The Secretary of State's office has weighed in on this debate on its blog, "From Our Corner."  The post summarizes of Elections Director Nick Handy's position and captures the conflicts this issue raises:

State Elections Director Nick Handy notes the the state has long been committed to open records and transparency in government, but says he’s unhappy with the thought of the petition process being used as a weapon to dampen voters’ participation in their constitutional right of petition.

***

“Nobody is comfortable with releasing personal information in situations like this, but it is part of transparency in government,” Handy says. “We hope people will keep their cool.”

Almost everyone would agree that information on campaign donations should be public, and it is.  Likewise, almost everyone would agree that information about how an individual voter voted should be private, and it is.  Signing a petition seems to fall somewhere in between, but under current law, no privacy exists. 

Original Post 6/10

In this Seattle Times article, the author puts the spotlight on a new trend of publicizing the names of persons who sign petitions for initiatives and referenda.  The stated goal of this tactic is to foster conversations between those who sign a petition and their friends and family who oppose the initiative or referendum.  Critics say the real goal is to intimidate potential signers who don't want to be publicly associated with a controversial issue.  The article quotes the president of a special interest group as noting:

"They are using the public-disclosure laws to punish people for participating in the democratic process — a core right."

As the Internet brings the prospect of a more transparent government, this state and other governments will face new questions about privacy and fairness that weren't implicated when most public access was to pieces of paper. 

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