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Strong “sunshine laws” are crucial to assuring government accountability and transparency. In Washington State, those laws provide for open public records and open public meetings.

Open government is the governing doctrine which maintains that citizens have the right to access the documents and proceedings of the government to allow for effective public oversight.

Washington law (Chapter 42.56 RCW) requires that identifiable public records be made available to members of the public for inspection and copying upon request. Only records that are exempt by law may be withheld from disclosure. The Act also requires that the public records requested are "identifiable".

Anyone can request records and a statement of purpose is not required, nor are there restrictions placed on the use of records. The Washington Public Records Act allows 5 days for records responses. Exempt: Personal student or patient information; employee files; and some investigative records.

State sunshine laws are the laws in each state that govern public access to governmental records. These laws are sometimes known as open records laws or public records laws, and are also collectively referred to as FOIA laws, after the federal Freedom of Information Act.

One of the more upbeat terms for public records regulations is the Sunshine Law, which is used in Florida, Missouri, South Dakota, and Wyoming. Response times vary among these four states – Missouri agencies must respond within 3 days and Wyoming allows up to 30 days for a response.