Washington State

Office of the Attorney General

Attorney General

Bob Ferguson

AGO 1973 NO. 5 >

(1) The provisions of § 14 (2) of Initiative No. 276 setting limits upon campaign expenditures in connection with ballot propositions apply to excess property tax levy campaigns in all school districts including those having less than 5,000 registered voters. (2) Section 14 (2) of Initiative No. 276 does not limit the total amounts which may be expended by all political committees either in support of, or in opposition to, a school district's excess levy proposition; instead, it separately limits the combined expenditures of all such committees working for the proposition and those of all such committees working against it. (3) The limitation set forth in § 14 (2) of Initiative No.276 for less than state‑wide ballot propositions is based upon the number of voters registered in the constituency in which the election is being held ‑ without regard to the number of voters actually voting on the proposition in question.

AGO 1991 NO. 6 >

1.   RCW 42.17.270 requires agencies to make identifiable public records promptly available to the public.  To compel with this requirement, agencies should act reasonably expeditiously in light of all the circumstances.   2.  RCW 42.17.300 provides that no fee shall be charged for the inspection of public records.  This statute prohibits any agency from imposing a charge for searching for and retrieving public records.  3.  RCW 42.17.300 permits agencies to impose a reasonable charge for providing copies of public records.  This includes actual costs directly incident to copying.

AGLO 1973 NO. 9 >

(1) Section 24 (1) (e) of Initiative No. 276 is applicable to the prosecuting attorney of a county with respect to his preparation of legislation for his county. (2) In order to comply with the reporting requirements of § 24 (1) (f) of Initiative No. 276, in the case of a prosecuting attorney, it will be sufficient simply to include that during the reporting period the individual performed the duties and functions of prosecuting attorney of his county in return for his statutory compensation. (3) Section 26 (1) of Initiative No. 276 requires each county to adopt rules governing the availability for public inspection and copying of its public records.

AGLO 1973 NO. 11 >

During the pendency of the temporary injunction entered by the Thurston County Superior Court in Fritz, et al. v. Gorton, et al., (1) Any lobbyist may elect to continue operating under the provisions of Initiative No. 276 during the period covered by the court's present order, in which case he will not be required to register or otherwise conduct himself as called for in Referendum Bill No. 24; or (2) Any such lobbyist may, instead, comply with the registration and reporting requirements of the referendum bill to the extent that they also cover his particular lobbying activities, in which case he will be excused from compliance with the initiative during the period covered by the court's order.

AGO 1973 NO. 14 >

Elections to which Initiative No. 276 is applicable; meaning of terms; restrictions upon anonymous contributions; reporting requirements for candidates and political committees; reporting requirements for commercial advertisers; procedures for obtaining relief from reporting requirements; use of public facilities in electoral campaigns.

AGO 1974 NO. 16 >

A candidate for elective office who is required to pay a filing fee under RCW 29.18.050 must treat that fee as an expenditure under the campaign expenditure reporting requirements of Initiative No. 276.

AGLO 1974 NO. 24 >

(1) The term "state agency" as used in RCW 42.17.250 includes, in addition to all of the various statutory state boards and commissions, such nonstatutory boards as the Washington state women's council. (2) While the descriptive rule contemplated by RCW 34.04.020 (2), the state administrative procedures act, is among the items covered by RCW 42.17.250, it is not the only thing which state agencies are required to publish by reason of that section of Initiative No. 276.

AGLO 1976 NO. 24 >

A discussion of the extent to which the provisions of RCW 42.17.310(1)(d) and (e) prohibit public access to police records.

AGLO 1974 NO. 25 >

(1) When requested by a committee or member of the legislature, a state agency may disclose to that committee or member information relating to programming, revenue, spending or other fiscal matters involving that agency. (2) The authorized means for state agencies to communicate their budget requests to the legislature in the absence of such a request by a committee or member of the legislature is through certain procedures set forth in the state budget and accounting act.

AGO 1973 NO. 26 >

It is not a violation of § 13 of Initiative No. 276 (RCW 42.17.130 for the board of directors of a school district to allow the facilities of that district to be used by others on a nondiscriminatory basis for the conduct of meetings at which members of the legislature, or others, appear and speak either in favor of, or in opposition to pending ballot proposals or candidates for election to public office.