In 1972 the State of Washington adopted Initiative 276, which requires that most records maintained by state, county, and city governments be made available to the public. Our office is responsible for meeting the statutory requirements with Chapter 42.56 RCW - Washington State Public Records Act.

Mission

We are responsible for the management, disposal, and disclosure of agency information in adhering to both the Public Records Act and records management statutes.

Vision

The Public Records Unit is recognized as a leader in state government for preserving and providing transparency to the insurance industry and the general public.

To obtain public records from the OIC, please fill out the public disclosure request form.

In order to fulfill your request in a timely matter, please provide specific information to assist us in identifying the records you are requesting.

Within five business days of receipt of the request, the Public Record’s Office will do one or more of the following:

Provide the requested documents; or

When the requested documents are available online, a link or location will be provided. Charges for hard copies are $3.50 for the first ten pages and .17¢ a page thereafter. An invoice will be sent and payment will be required prior to receiving documents. A request will be considered abandoned if payment is not made within 30 days from the invoice date and the request will be closed. There is no cost for electronic documents.

Make the records available for inspection or copying; or

Arrangements must be made in advance with our office to inspect documents. You must claim or review the assembled records within thirty days of the OIC’s notification that the records are available for inspection or copying. If you or your representative fail to claim or review the records within the thirty-day period or make other arrangements, the OIC may close the request and re-file the assembled records. No member of the public may remove a document from the viewing area or disassemble or alter any document.

Provide a reasonable estimate of when records will be available; or

The estimated response time will be based on the current volume of requests being processed by the Public Records Office and the amount of documents involved. In some circumstances, it may be necessary to release the documents in installments. You will be notified if this process is required.

If the request is unclear or does not sufficiently identify the requested records, request clarification from the requestor; or

The Public Records Office will provide its fullest assistance to you in determining what documents are available. It may be necessary to revise the estimate of when records will be available.

Deny the request.

The request will be denied if the OIC does not maintain or collect the requested information. The Public Records Office will make every effort to refer the requestor to a resource that may be able to assist.

Protecting rights of others: In the event that the requested records contain information that may affect the rights of others and may be exempt from disclosure, the Public Record’s Office may, prior to providing the records, give notice to such others whose rights may be affected by the disclosure. Such notice should be given so as to make it possible for those other persons to, if necessary, seek an order from a court to prevent or limit the disclosure. The notice to the affected persons will include a copy of the request.

Records exempt from disclosure: Some records are exempt from disclosure, in whole or in part. If the OIC believes that a record is exempt from disclosure and should be withheld, the Public Record’s Office will state the specific exemption and provide a brief explanation of why the record or a portion of the record is being withheld. If only a portion of a record is exempt from disclosure, but the remainder is not exempt, the Public Record’s Office will redact the exempt portions, provide the nonexempt portions, and indicate to the requestor why portions of the record are being redacted.

Later discovered documents: If, after the Office of the Insurance Commissioner has informed the requestor that it has provided all available records, and becomes aware of additional responsive documents exist at the time of the request, it will promptly inform the requestor of the additional documents and provide them on an expedited basis.

Appeal Process: If the requestor has reason to believe that the OIC denied the request in error or did not provide full disclosure, then the requestor may request a review. This request must be made in writing. Refer to the written exemption or reason for denial. Address the appeal review request to the Public Records Office. Within 2 business days of receiving the appeal, the Insurance Commissioner will either affirm or reverse the denial.

Laws/Rules

Chapter 42.56 RCW - Public records act

Chapter 44-14 WAC - Public records-model rules

Chapter 284-03 WAC - Public records

Chapter 48.19.040(5) - Rates

Chapter 48.02.120 - Records

Chapter 48.02.065 - Confidentiality of documents

OIC's public disclosure and records management Policies

Additional Sources:

Open Government - WA State Attorney General's Office

Municipal research and services center of Washington

National Association of Insurance Commissioners

Insurance Information Institute

Insurance Institute for Highway Safety

FEMA

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