Public Records: Yakima Spends $500,000 Per Year
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.
