Education (Government Transparency)

HB 1949 exempts certain scholarly communications from Washington's public records law to protect academic confidentiality. It directly affects faculty, researchers, and students at public universities by shielding: (1) peer review materials for manuscripts or research proposals, (2) human subject identities when confidentiality was promised in consent forms, and (3) unpublished research data, code, or draft manuscripts until they are published, patented, or publicly shared. The bill ensures these materials remain confidential during the academic review and development process, aligning with existing federal research standards. This change applies only to records where confidentiality was explicitly promised or required by academic practices.