Washington
Public Records Act
RCW 42.56 (PRA)
Public records law for Washington. Covers state agencies, counties, municipalities, school districts, and special districts.
The clock
5 business days
5 business days to respond (produce/acknowledge/deny/estimate).
Statutory: 5 business days to respond (produce/acknowledge/deny/estimate).. Actual medians vary widely by agency and request complexity; simple requests often 7-30 days, complex 60-300+.
Reading the statute itself
The text of this one is not reproduced here. The United States Code carries no copyright, so federal FOIA is printed on this site in full; the fifty state codes are published by fifty legislatures under their own claims of compilation copyright, so they are linked instead. Everything on this page — the deadline, the appeal path, the fee-waiver standard — is Aletheca’s summary of that text, and the official source is one click away.
If they refuse
- Appeal deadline
- Not specified
- Appeal route
- No admin appeal; superior court; AG consultation; penalties $5-$100/day for bad denial.
- Litigation
- Not specified
Fees and expedition
Quirks worth knowing
Strongest penalties in nation; 5-day acknowledgment strictly enforced.