SB 6049

S-4714.1
  SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 6049
State of Washington  69th Legislature        2026 Regular Session
By Senate State Government, Tribal Affairs & Elections (originally
sponsored by Senators C. Wilson, Frame, Nobles, and Wellman; by
request of Office of Financial Management)
READ FIRST TIME 02/04/26.
1     AN ACT Relating to protecting student and employee information
2 from public disclosure; amending RCW 42.56.250 and 42.56.320;
3 reenacting and amending RCW 42.56.250; providing an effective date;
4 and providing an expiration date.
5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
6     Sec. 1.   RCW 42.56.250 and 2025 c 283 s 1 are each amended to
7 read as follows:
8     (1) The following employment and licensing information is exempt
9 from public inspection and copying under this chapter:
10     (a) Test questions, scoring keys, and other examination data used
11 to administer a license, employment, or academic examination;
12     (b) All applications for public employment other than for
13 vacancies in elective office, including the names of applicants,
14 resumes, and other related materials submitted with respect to an
15 applicant;
16     (c) Professional growth plans (PGPs) in educator license renewals
17 submitted   through  the   eCert   system  in   the   office  of  the
18 superintendent of public instruction;
19     (d) The following information held by any public agency in
20 personnel records, public employment related records, volunteer
21 rosters, or included in any mailing list of employees or volunteers
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1 of any public agency: Residential addresses, residential telephone
2 numbers,   personal  wireless   telephone  numbers,   personal  email
3 addresses, social security numbers, driver's license numbers,
4 identicard numbers, payroll deductions including the amount and
5 identification of the deduction, and emergency contact information of
6 employees or volunteers of a public agency, and the names, dates of
7 birth, residential addresses, residential telephone numbers, personal
8 wireless telephone numbers, personal email addresses, social security
9 numbers, and emergency contact information of dependents of employees
10 or volunteers of a public agency. For purposes of this subsection
11 (1)(d), "employees" includes independent provider home care workers
12 as defined in RCW 74.39A.240;
13     (e) Information that identifies a person who, while an agency
14 employee: (i) Seeks advice, under an informal process established by
15 the employing agency, in order to ascertain his or her rights in
16 connection with a possible unfair practice under chapter 49.60 RCW
17 against the person; and (ii) requests his or her identity or any
18 identifying information not be disclosed;
19     (f)(i) Except as provided in (f)(ii) of this subsection,
20 investigative records compiled by an employing agency in connection
21 with an investigation of a possible unfair practice under chapter
22 49.60 RCW or of a possible violation of other federal, state, or
23 local laws or an employing agency's internal policies prohibiting
24 discrimination or harassment in employment. Records are exempt in
25 their entirety while the investigation is active and ongoing. After
26 the agency has notified the complaining employee of the outcome of
27 the investigation, the records may be disclosed only if the names,
28 images, employee agency job titles, email addresses, and phone
29 numbers of complainants, other accusers, and witnesses are redacted
30 and their voices on any audio recording taken during the course of
31 the investigation have been altered while retaining inflection and
32 tone, except to the extent that such a complainant, other accuser, or
33 witness has consented to the disclosure of such information. The
34 employing agency must inform a complainant, other accuser, or witness
35 that his or her name, image, agency job title, email address, and
36 phone number will be redacted from the investigation records and
37 their voice on any audio recording taken during the course of the
38 investigation will be altered in accordance with this subsection
39 unless he or she consents to disclosure;
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1     (ii) After the investigation is complete and the complainant has
2 been notified of the outcome of the investigation, if an elected
3 government official is a complainant, the name and title of such
4 elected government official shall not be redacted from the
5 investigatory records;
6     (g) Criminal history records checks for board staff finalist
7 candidates conducted pursuant to RCW 43.33A.025;
8     (h) Photographs and month and year of birth in the personnel
9 files of employees or volunteers of a public agency, including
10 employees and workers of criminal justice agencies as defined in RCW
11 10.97.030. The news media, as defined in RCW 5.68.010(5), shall have
12 access to the photographs and full date of birth. For the purposes of
13 this subsection (1)(h), news media does not include any person or
14 organization of persons in the custody of a criminal justice agency
15 as defined in RCW 10.97.030;
16     (i)(i) Any employee's name or other personally identifying
17 information, including but not limited to birthdate, job title,
18 addresses of work stations and locations, work email address, work
19 phone number, bargaining unit, or other similar information,
20 maintained by an agency in personnel-related records or systems, or
21 responsive to a request for a list of individuals subject to the
22 commercial purpose prohibition under RCW 42.56.070(8), if the
23 employee:
24     (A) Has provided a sworn statement, signed under penalty of
25 perjury and verified by the director of the employing agency or
26 director's designee, that the employee or a dependent of the employee
27 is a survivor of domestic violence as defined in RCW 10.99.020 or
28 7.105.010, sexual assault as defined in RCW 70.125.030 or sexual
29 abuse as defined in RCW 7.105.010, stalking as described in RCW
30 9A.46.110 or defined in RCW 7.105.010, a hate crime as described in
31 RCW 9A.36.080 or defined in RCW 49.76.020, or harassment as described
32 in RCW 9A.46.020 or defined in RCW 7.105.010, and notifying the
33 agency as to why the employee has a reasonable basis to believe that
34 the risk of domestic violence, sexual assault, sexual abuse,
35 stalking, hate crime, or harassment continues to exist. A sworn
36 statement under this subsection expires after two years, but may be
37 subsequently renewed by providing a new sworn statement to the
38 employee's employing agency; or
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1     (B) Provides proof to the employing agency of the employee's
2 participation or the participation of a dependent in the address
3 confidentiality program under chapter 40.24 RCW.
4     (ii) Any documentation maintained by an agency to administer this
5 subsection (1)(i) is exempt from disclosure under this chapter and is
6 confidential and may not be disclosed without consent of the employee
7 who submitted the documentation. Agencies may provide information to
8 their employees on how to submit a request to anonymize their work
9 email address.
10     (iii) For purposes of this subsection (1)(i), "verified" means
11 that the director of the employing agency or director's designee
12 confirmed that the sworn statement identifies the alleged perpetrator
13 or perpetrators by name and, if possible, image or likeness, or that
14 the director or designee obtained from the employee a police report,
15 protection order petition, or other documentation of allegations
16 related to the domestic violence, sexual assault or abuse, stalking,
17 hate crime, or harassment.
18     (iv) The exemption in this subsection (1)(i) does not apply to
19 public records requests from the news media as defined in RCW
20 5.68.010(5);
21     (j) The global positioning system data that would indicate the
22 location of the residence of a public employee or volunteer using the
23 global positioning system recording device;
24     (k) Information relating to a future voter, as provided in RCW
25 29A.08.725;
26     (l) Voluntarily submitted information collected and maintained by
27 a state agency or higher education institution that identifies an
28 individual state employee's personal demographic details. "Personal
29 demographic details" means race or ethnicity, sexual orientation as
30 defined by RCW 49.60.040, immigration status, national origin, or
31 status as a person with a disability. This exemption does not prevent
32 the release of state employee demographic information in a
33 deidentified, anonymized, or ((aggregate)) aggregated format, as
34 those terms are defined in (n) of this subsection; ((and))
35     (m) Benefit enrollment information collected and maintained by
36 the health care authority through its authority as director of the
37 public employees' benefits board and school employees' benefits board
38 programs as authorized by chapter 41.05 RCW. This subsection (1)(m)
39 does not prevent the release of benefit enrollment information in a
  p. 4  SSB 6049
1 deidentified or aggregate format. "Benefit enrollment information"
2 means:
3     (i) Information listed in (d) of this subsection;
4     (ii) Personal demographic details as defined in (l) of this
5 subsection;
6     (iii) Benefit elections;
7     (iv) Date of birth;
8     (v) Documents provided for verification of dependency, such as
9 tax returns or marriage or birth certificates;
10     (vi) Marital status;
11     (vii) Primary language spoken;
12     (viii) Tobacco use status; and
13     (ix) Tribal affiliation; and
14     (n)(i) All individual survey responses voluntarily provided by a
15 state employee, vendor, or contractor in response to a voluntary
16 survey administered by or on behalf of a public agency for the
17 purposes of engagement and improving state government. This exemption
18 does not prevent the release of survey information that is
19 deidentified, anonymized, or aggregated.
20     (ii) For purposes of this subsection (1)(n):
21     (A) "Aggregated" means data combined from many individuals and
22 reported in summary form such that individual-level information is
23 not disclosed.
24     (B) "Anonymized" means data processed so that an individual can
25 no longer be identified directly or indirectly by any party making
26 reidentification effectively impossible.
27     (C) "Deidentified" means data that has been stripped of personal
28 identifiers or redacted so that it cannot reasonably be linked to a
29 specific individual.
30     (2) Upon receipt of a request for information located exclusively
31 in an employee's personnel, payroll, supervisor, or training file,
32 the agency must provide notice to the employee, to any union
33 representing the employee, and to the requestor. The notice must
34 state:
35     (a) The date of the request;
36     (b) The nature of the requested record relating to the employee;
37     (c) That the agency will release any information in the record
38 which is not exempt from the disclosure requirements of this chapter
39 at least ten days from the date the notice is made; and
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1      (d) That the employee may seek to enjoin release of the records
2  under RCW 42.56.540.
3     Sec. 2. RCW 42.56.250 and 2025 c 283 s 1 and 2025 c 238 s 5 are
4 each reenacted and amended to read as follows:
5     (1) The following employment and licensing information is exempt
6 from public inspection and copying under this chapter:
7     (a) Test questions, scoring keys, and other examination data used
8 to administer a license, employment, or academic examination;
9     (b) All applications for public employment other than for
10 vacancies in elective office, including the names of applicants,
11 resumes, and other related materials submitted with respect to an
12 applicant;
13     (c) Professional growth plans (PGPs) in educator license renewals
14 submitted   through  the   eCert   system  in   the   office  of  the
15 superintendent of public instruction;
16     (d) The following information held by any public agency in
17 personnel records, public employment related records, volunteer
18 rosters, or included in any mailing list of employees or volunteers
19 of any public agency: Residential addresses, residential telephone
20 numbers,   personal  wireless   telephone  numbers,   personal  email
21 addresses, social security numbers, driver's license numbers,
22 identicard numbers, payroll deductions including the amount and
23 identification of the deduction, and emergency contact information of
24 employees or volunteers of a public agency, and the names, dates of
25 birth, residential addresses, residential telephone numbers, personal
26 wireless telephone numbers, personal email addresses, social security
27 numbers, and emergency contact information of dependents of employees
28 or volunteers of a public agency. For purposes of this subsection
29 (1)(d), "employees" includes independent provider home care workers
30 as defined in RCW 74.39A.240;
31     (e) Information that identifies a person who, while an agency
32 employee: (i) Seeks advice, under an informal process established by
33 the employing agency, in order to ascertain his or her rights in
34 connection with a possible unfair practice under chapter 49.60 RCW
35 against the person; and (ii) requests his or her identity or any
36 identifying information not be disclosed;
37     (f)(i) Except as provided in (f)(ii) of this subsection,
38 investigative records compiled by an employing agency in connection
39 with an investigation of a possible unfair practice under chapter
  p. 6  SSB 6049
1 49.60 RCW or of a possible violation of other federal, state, or
2 local laws or an employing agency's internal policies prohibiting
3 discrimination or harassment in employment. Records are exempt in
4 their entirety while the investigation is active and ongoing. After
5 the agency has notified the complaining employee of the outcome of
6 the investigation, the records may be disclosed only if the names,
7 images, employee agency job titles, email addresses, and phone
8 numbers of complainants, other accusers, and witnesses are redacted
9 and their voices on any audio recording taken during the course of
10 the investigation have been altered while retaining inflection and
11 tone, except to the extent that such a complainant, other accuser, or
12 witness has consented to the disclosure of such information. The
13 employing agency must inform a complainant, other accuser, or witness
14 that his or her name, image, agency job title, email address, and
15 phone number will be redacted from the investigation records and
16 their voice on any audio recording taken during the course of the
17 investigation will be altered in accordance with this subsection
18 unless he or she consents to disclosure;
19     (ii) After the investigation is complete and the complainant has
20 been notified of the outcome of the investigation, if an elected
21 government official is a complainant, the name and title of such
22 elected government official shall not be redacted from the
23 investigatory records;
24     (g) Criminal history records checks for board staff finalist
25 candidates conducted pursuant to RCW 43.33A.025;
26     (h) Photographs and month and year of birth in the personnel
27 files of employees or volunteers of a public agency, including
28 employees and workers of criminal justice agencies as defined in RCW
29 10.97.030. The news media, as defined in RCW 5.68.010(5), shall have
30 access to the photographs and full date of birth. For the purposes of
31 this subsection (1)(h), news media does not include any person or
32 organization of persons in the custody of a criminal justice agency
33 as defined in RCW 10.97.030;
34     (i)(i) Any employee's name or other personally identifying
35 information, including but not limited to birthdate, job title,
36 addresses of work stations and locations, work email address, work
37 phone number, bargaining unit, or other similar information,
38 maintained by an agency in personnel-related records or systems, or
39 responsive to a request for a list of individuals subject to the
  p. 7  SSB 6049
1 commercial purpose prohibition under RCW 42.56.070(8), if the
2 employee:
3     (A) Has provided a sworn statement, signed under penalty of
4 perjury and verified by the director of the employing agency or
5 director's designee, that the employee or a dependent of the employee
6 is a survivor of domestic violence as defined in RCW 10.99.020 or
7 7.105.010, sexual assault as defined in RCW 70.125.030 or sexual
8 abuse as defined in RCW 7.105.010, stalking as described in RCW
9 9A.46.110 or defined in RCW 7.105.010, a hate crime as described in
10 RCW 9A.36.080 or defined in RCW 49.76.020, or harassment as described
11 in RCW 9A.46.020 or defined in RCW 7.105.010, and notifying the
12 agency as to why the employee has a reasonable basis to believe that
13 the risk of domestic violence, sexual assault, sexual abuse,
14 stalking, hate crime, or harassment continues to exist. A sworn
15 statement under this subsection expires after two years, but may be
16 subsequently renewed by providing a new sworn statement to the
17 employee's employing agency; or
18     (B) ((Proof [Provides proof])) Provides proof to the employing
19 agency of the employee's participation or the participation of a
20 dependent in the address confidentiality program under chapter 40.24
21 RCW.
22     (ii) Any documentation maintained by an agency to administer this
23 subsection (1)(i) is exempt from disclosure under this chapter and is
24 confidential and may not be disclosed without consent of the employee
25 who submitted the documentation. Agencies may provide information to
26 their employees on how to submit a request to anonymize their work
27 email address.
28     (iii) For purposes of this subsection (1)(i), "verified" means
29 that the director of the employing agency or director's designee
30 confirmed that the sworn statement identifies the alleged perpetrator
31 or perpetrators by name and, if possible, image or likeness, or that
32 the director or designee obtained from the employee a police report,
33 protection order petition, or other documentation of allegations
34 related to the domestic violence, sexual assault or abuse, stalking,
35 hate crime, or harassment.
36     (iv) The exemption in this subsection (1)(i) does not apply to
37 public records requests from the news media as defined in RCW
38 5.68.010(5);
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1     (j) The global positioning system data that would indicate the
2 location of the residence of a public employee or volunteer using the
3 global positioning system recording device;
4     (k) Information relating to a future voter, as provided in RCW
5 29A.08.725;
6     (l) Voluntarily submitted information collected and maintained by
7 a state agency or higher education institution that identifies an
8 individual state employee's personal demographic details. "Personal
9 demographic details" means race or ethnicity, sexual orientation as
10 defined by RCW 49.60.040, immigration status, national origin, or
11 status as a person with a disability. This exemption does not prevent
12 the release of state employee demographic information in a
13 deidentified, anonymized, or ((aggregate)) aggregated format, as
14 those terms are defined in (o) of this subsection;
15     (m) Benefit enrollment information collected and maintained by
16 the health care authority through its authority as director of the
17 public employees' benefits board and school employees' benefits board
18 programs as authorized by chapter 41.05 RCW. This subsection (1)(m)
19 does not prevent the release of benefit enrollment information in a
20 deidentified or aggregate format. "Benefit enrollment information"
21 means:
22     (i) Information listed in (d) of this subsection;
23     (ii) Personal demographic details as defined in (l) of this
24 subsection;
25     (iii) Benefit elections;
26     (iv) Date of birth;
27     (v) Documents provided for verification of dependency, such as
28 tax returns or marriage or birth certificates;
29     (vi) Marital status;
30     (vii) Primary language spoken;
31     (viii) Tobacco use status; and
32     (ix) Tribal affiliation; ((and))
33     (n) Information contributed by the department of licensing to the
34 data system or shared with the cosmetology licensure compact
35 commission, or member states described in the cosmetology licensure
36 compact pursuant to RCW 18.16.400; and
37     (o)(i) All individual survey responses voluntarily provided by a
38 state employee, vendor, or contractor in response to a voluntary
39 survey administered by or on behalf of a public agency for the
40 purposes of engagement and improving state government. This exemption
  p. 9  SSB 6049
1 does not prevent the release of survey information that is
2 deidentified, anonymized, or aggregated.
3     (ii) For purposes of this subsection (1)(o):
4     (A) "Aggregated" means data combined from many individuals and
5 reported in summary form such that individual-level information is
6 not disclosed.
7     (B) "Anonymized" means data processed so that an individual can
8 no longer be identified directly or indirectly by any party making
9 reidentification effectively impossible.
10     (C) "Deidentified" means data that has been stripped of personal
11 identifiers or redacted so that it cannot reasonably be linked to a
12 specific individual.
13     (2) Upon receipt of a request for information located exclusively
14 in an employee's personnel, payroll, supervisor, or training file,
15 the agency must provide notice to the employee, to any union
16 representing the employee, and to the requestor. The notice must
17 state:
18     (a) The date of the request;
19     (b) The nature of the requested record relating to the employee;
20     (c) That the agency will release any information in the record
21 which is not exempt from the disclosure requirements of this chapter
22 at least ten days from the date the notice is made; and
23     (d) That the employee may seek to enjoin release of the records
24 under RCW 42.56.540.
25     Sec. 3.   RCW 42.56.320 and 2009 c 191 s 1 are each amended to
26 read as follows:
27     The following educational information is exempt from disclosure
28 under this chapter:
29     (1) Financial disclosures filed by private vocational schools
30 under chapters 28B.85 and 28C.10 RCW;
31     (2) Financial and commercial information supplied by or on behalf
32 of a person, firm, corporation, or entity under chapter 28B.95 RCW
33 relating to the purchase or sale of tuition units and contracts for
34 the purchase of multiple tuition units;
35     (3) Individually identifiable information received by the
36 workforce training and education coordinating board for research or
37 evaluation purposes;
38     (4) Except for public records as defined in RCW 40.14.010, any
39 records or documents obtained by a state college, university,
  p. 10  SSB 6049
1 library, or archive through or concerning any gift, grant,
2 conveyance, bequest, or devise, the terms of which restrict or
3 regulate public access to those records or documents; ((and))
4     (5) The annual declaration of intent filed by parents under RCW
5 28A.200.010 for a child to receive home-based instruction; and
6     (6) Records containing individual student responses to the
7 healthy youth survey administered by the health care authority under
8 RCW 69.50.540(3)(b)(i).
9     NEW SECTION.    Sec. 4.     Section 1 of this act expires June 1,
10 2028.
11     NEW SECTION.   Sec. 5.    Section 2 of this act takes effect June 1,
12 2028.
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