Diving into strengths, weaknesses of Washington’s public records act

Six years later, Washingtonians passed Initiative 276, creating the Public Disclosure Act, which later became the Public Records Act. Citing the people’s right to be informed and involved in government, the act established what records are public, and made it the government’s responsibility to maintain them.

“It sets the tone,” Western Washington University journalism professor Peggy Watt said of the state act. She tells her students, “You’re not asking a favor, you’re in charge.”