Exempting certain scholarly communications from disclosure under the public records act.

 H-1246.1

HOUSE BILL 1949

State of Washington

69th Legislature

2025 Regular Session

By Representatives Pollet, Springer, Reed, Parshley, Salahuddin, Macri, and Doglio

Read first time 02/11/25. Referred to Committee on State Government & Tribal Relations.

AN ACT Relating to exempting certain scholarly communications from disclosure under the public records act; adding a new section to chapter 42.56 RCW; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. (1) The legislature finds that:

(a) In the course of their professional duties, faculty are asked and expected to provide candid advice or recommendations in a number of settings. These include peer reviews of articles or book manuscripts submitted to journal editors or scholarly presses and critiques of research proposals submitted to federal or other research funding agencies. Faculty also commonly work with research subjects who may provide various kinds of sensitive information. Academic inquiry and endeavors are also promoted when development of manuscripts, codes, and research analyses may be done without disclosure prior to patenting or copyrighting, public dissemination, or publication.