Washington lawmakers reinstate policy to auto-delete of emails, raising transparency concerns

A new policy quietly enacted in the Washington State House last week allows lawmakers to automatically delete most emails within 30 days, reversing transparency reforms that were put in place during a years-long legal battle over public records access.

An internal email obtained by The Seattle Times reveals that both Democratic and Republican members were informed of the change one week before it took effect on July 30. The policy permits emails to be deleted “immediately” in most cases, with a few limited exceptions — a move open-government advocates say could significantly undermine public insight into the legislative process.

Under the directive, only lawmakers who are the prime sponsors of legislation are required to retain emails related to those bills. All other correspondence, including internal legislative discussions and messages from lobbyists, may be classified as "transitory" and deleted as soon as the lawmaker decides they are no longer needed.

This means communications that inform how laws are crafted, negotiated, or influenced could be permanently erased just 30 days after being sent or received, provided the legislator is not the primary sponsor.

The updated guidelines allow lawmakers and their aides to sort messages into folders set to auto-delete after 30 days, a practice explicitly discouraged for state agencies. Washington’s administrative rules warn that “indiscriminate automatic deletion” of records may prevent agencies from meeting legal retention requirements and complying with the state’s Public Records Act.

The policy sets a markedly different standard for lawmakers than for most other branches of state government, where records retention is far stricter. The change comes amid a broader, years-long clash over Washington lawmakers’ efforts to shield themselves from the state’s public records law.

In 2017, a coalition of media outlets, including The Seattle Times and The Associated Press, sued the Legislature for failing to release emails, calendars, and other records. The lawsuit culminated in a major win for transparency advocates when the Washington Supreme Court ruled that lawmakers are indeed subject to the Public Records Act.

Amid public outcry and legal pressure, legislators suspended automatic email deletions in 2018 and paused their ability to delete emails altogether. They were also required to undergo records retention training.

Now, those constraints have been rolled back. Lawmakers can once again delete emails, and with the return of auto-deletion, those messages may vanish before the public ever learns they existed.

The policy shift comes as concerns grow about government transparency across platforms. Governor Bob Ferguson previously suspended automatic deletions in Microsoft Teams for six months after Washington paid $225,000 to settle a public records lawsuit for doing so.

Records indicate the use of auto-deleting chat functions in Teams likely resulted in the destruction of thousands of public records over the years, with minimal oversight.

Brionna Aho, spokesperson for Ferguson’s office, declined to comment on the advice provided by the Attorney General’s Office, but said the governor’s office will address the issue in August.