Sunshine Week 2026 shines new light on access issues

Every year, Sunshine Week promotes awareness of access issues such as public records, open meetings and responsive government. This year, the Federal Freedom of Information Act turns 60; it was signed into law on July 4, 1966 to ensure access to records from federal agencies. Individual states have their own laws; Washington’s Public Records Act was enacted by ballot initiative in 1972.

WashCOG words:

WashCOG president Mike Fancher shared WashCOG’s recent concerns about transparency trends in a column published by numerous local news sources:

• The fight for government transparency must continue in WA — Kitsap Sun

• Protecting people’s right to know is getting harder — Salish Current

• Mike Fancher: State government is becoming less transparent, but resistance works — The Spokesman-Review

• Transparency battles are getting more difficult in WA — Washington State Standard

• Op-Ed: fighting for transparency in Washington government — The Center Square

• Protecting your right to now is getting harder — The Star, Grand Coulee

• State transparency is getting worse — Wenatchee World

Sunshine Month

Among the celebrants who strive to inform the public of the importance and impact of Sunshine Week in Washington is Tom Layson, host of Northwest Now and managing editor of KBTC, who for years has hosted advocates of public records and meetings on his public affairs program. Layson received the 2025 James A. Andersen Award for his work.

This year, Layson stretched Sunshine Week across the month of March, featuring WashCOG representatives as well as records researchers and Washington’s new public records ombuds.

Layson interviewed Morgan Damerow, Chief Transparency Counsel for Washington, on March 6, 2026. Attorney General Nick Brown reinstituted the position of public records ombuds, intended to help agencies be transparent and Washingtonians to obtain information.

Longtime public records advocate Arthur West joined Northwest Now on March 20. West draws a mix of cheers and frustration with his many records requests of local and state agencies. He is also a plaintiff in one of two lawsuits challenging the state legislature’s attempt to create a new access exclusion called “legislative privilege.”

Journalist and author Miranda Spivack, who was WashCOG’s keynote speaker at the annual Sunshine Breakfast, is on Northwest Now on March 27.