Title 40 — Title 40 PUBLIC DOCUMENTS, RECORDS, AND PUBLICATIONS

As used in this chapter, the term "public records" shall include any paper, correspondence, completed form, bound record book, photograph, film, sound recording, map drawing, machine-readable material, compact disc meeting current industry ISO specifications, or other document, r…

All public records shall be and remain the property of the state of Washington. They shall be delivered by outgoing officials and employees to their successors and shall be preserved, stored, transferred, destroyed or disposed of, and otherwise managed, only in accordance with th…

The imaging account is created in the custody of the state treasurer. All receipts collected under RCW 40.14.020(8) for contract imaging, micrographics, reproduction, and duplication services provided by the division of archives and records management must be deposited into the a…

The local government archives account is created in the state treasury. All receipts collected by the county auditors under RCW 40.14.027 and 36.22.175 for local government services, such as providing records schedule compliance, security microfilm inspection and storage, archiva…

(1) The secretary of state and the director of financial management shall jointly establish a procedure and formula for allocating the costs of services provided by the division of archives and records management to state agencies. The total amount allotted for services to state …

(1) The division of archives and records management in the office of the secretary of state must establish and administer a competitive grant program for local agencies to improve technology information systems for public record retention, management, and disclosure, and any rela…

State agencies shall collect a surcharge of twenty dollars from the judgment debtor upon the satisfaction of a warrant filed in superior court for unpaid taxes or liabilities. The surcharge is imposed on the judgment debtor in the form of a penalty in addition to the filing fee p…

*** CHANGE IN 2026 *** (SEE 5863.SL) ***(1) All public records, not required in the current operation of the office where they are made or kept, and all records of every agency, commission, committee, or any other activity of state government which may be abolished or discontinue…

Each department or other agency of the state government shall designate a records officer to supervise its records program and to represent the office in all contacts with the records committee, hereinafter created, and the division of archives and records management. The records…

There is created a committee, to be known as the records committee, composed of the archivist, an appointee of the state auditor, an appointee of the attorney general, and an appointee of the director of financial management. Committee members shall serve without additional salar…

(1) Any destruction of official public records shall be pursuant to a schedule approved under RCW 40.14.050. Official public records shall not be destroyed unless:(a) Except as provided under RCW 40.14.070(2)(b), the records are six or more years old;(b) The department of origin …

(1)(a) Other than those records detailed in subsection (4) of this section, county, municipal, and other local government agencies may request authority to destroy noncurrent public records having no further administrative or legal value by submitting to the division of archives …

The provisions of this chapter shall not be construed as repealing or modifying any other acts or parts of acts authorizing the destruction of public records save for those specifically named in *section 9 of this act; nor shall this chapter affect the provisions of chapter 40.07…

As used in RCW 40.14.010 and 40.14.100 through 40.14.180, unless the context requires otherwise, "legislative records" shall be defined as correspondence, amendments, reports, and minutes of meetings made by or submitted to legislative committees or subcommittees and transcripts …

Nothing in RCW 40.14.010 and 40.14.100 through 40.14.180 shall prohibit a legislator or legislative employee from contributing his or her personal papers to any private library, public library, or the state archives. The state archivist is authorized to receive papers of legislat…

As used in RCW 40.14.010 and 40.14.100 through 40.14.180 "clerk" means clerk of the Washington state house of representatives and "secretary" means the secretary of the Washington state senate.[ 1971 ex.s. c 102 s 4.]

The legislative committee chair, subcommittee chair, committee member, or employed personnel of the state legislature having possession of legislative records that are not required for the regular performance of official duties shall, within ten days after the adjournment sine di…

It shall be the duty of the clerk and the secretary to advise the party caucuses in each house concerning the necessity to keep public records. The state archivist or his or her representative shall work with the clerk and secretary to provide information and instructions on the …

Committee records may be used by legislative employees for research at the discretion of the clerk or the secretary.[ 1971 ex.s. c 102 s 7.]

The clerk or the secretary shall, with advice of the state archivist, prescribe rules for access to records more than three years old when such records have been delivered to the state archives for preservation and maintenance.[ 1971 ex.s. c 102 s 8.]

Any sound recording of debate in the house or senate made by legislative employees shall be preserved by the chief clerk of the house and by the secretary of the senate, respectively, for two years from the end of the session at which made, and thereafter shall be transmitted to …

The provisions of RCW 40.14.010 and 40.14.100 through 40.14.180 shall not be construed as repealing or modifying any other acts or parts of acts authorizing the retention or destruction of public records nor shall RCW 40.14.010 and 40.14.100 through 40.14.180 affect the provision…