‘Abusive’ info requests lead to push for less government transparency in Washington

Flooded with requests for public records, local officials in Washington want to put limits on how much information public servants have to make available to the public.

The concepts have long been enshrined in Washington state law:

  • Information held by the government belongs to the people.
  • Public access to that information is essential to a functioning democracy.

But a parade of local officials called for new limits on that access at a hearing in Olympia on Thursday. They shared horror stories of what they called "abusive," "malicious" and "vexatious" requests for records. Continue… 

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