The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

By LaVendrick Smith, WNPA, Olympia News Bureau

OLYMPIA—Lawmakers are looking to modify the Public Records Act in an effort to help local agencies that claim they’re burdened by overly broad and massive public-records requests.

House Bill 2576 would give local agencies the power to limit the time they spend each month responding to public-records requests, and would allow local agencies to charge a fee for providing public records that are requested for commercial purposes.

Rep. Joan McBride, D-Kirkland, the bill’s sponsor, said the bill isn’t meant to undermine transparency in local government...