Gov. Jay Inlsee on Tuesday will sign into law Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s agency-request bill to increase transparency in government by enhancing penalties for knowing violations of Washington’s Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA).
The OPMA requires meetings of multimember, public-agency governing bodies such as city councils, county commissions, school boards and many state boards to be open and accessible to the public.
Senate Bill 6171 will modernize the out-of-date penalty provisions of the OPMA. The current penalty for violating the OPMA is $100, unchanged since the act was enacted in 1971. The new law will increase the penalty to $500 for a first-time knowing violation, roughly in line with inflation. It will also enact a new $1,000 “repeat violator” penalty for a subsequent knowing violation of the act.
“This bipartisan bill promotes the open and honest government Washingtonians demand and deserve,” said Ferguson in a media release. “When the law requires an open meeting, yet officials knowingly close the door on the public, they must be held accountable with meaningful penalties.”
Sen. Pam Roach, R-Sumner, was prime sponsor of the bill.
“The people have a right to know what their officials are doing and hold them accountable for those decisions,” Roach said in a prepared statement. “This update of the law will mean those officials who knowingly and repeatedly violate our open meetings law will now face a real penalty — one strong enough to protect the public’s right to know.”
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