About Public Records

Our website includes a lot of publicly available information

We encourage you to search our website for records we already offer online including government financial data, as well as audits of all of Washington's local governments, state agencies and schools. Here are some helpful links: 

• Learn about the types of audits SAO conducts

• Search audits online by audit type or government type
  This includes accountability and financial audits, performance audits, whistleblower and fraud reports.

• Explore government financial data with our Financial Intelligence Tool (FIT)

• Learn what types of records we hold by reviewing our Public Records Category Index

Other public records available via Public Records Request 

If you're unable to find what you're looking for on our website, you can submit a public records request to our Office. We recommend that you first consult our Public Records Category Index, which lists the types of records we hold. Referring to these categories helps make your request as precise as possible. You can also read the State Auditor's “Access to Public Records” Washington Administrative Code (WAC).

• Responses to recent public records requests

Before you proceed, please be aware of the following commonly requested records we do not hold and cannot provide:

• Birth, death, marriage and divorce records. For those, please visit the State Department of Health.
• Information about property transactions and deeds. Those can be obtained from the county where the property is located. A list of counties is available at the Municipal Research & Services Center of Washington.
• Audit reports released before 2005 are available from the Washington State Archives. You can request a report from the State Archives by emailing research@sos.wa.gov.

How to make a public records request

If the information you're looking for is not on our website, and it appears to belong to a category or categories of records outlined in our Public Records Category Index, you can file a public records request with SAO in one of three ways:

• Submit an online public records request form.

Public Records Request Form

• Email your request to PublicRecords@sao.wa.gov.
• Mail your request to SAO:
  • Attn: Public Records Officer
    State Auditor's Office
    PO Box 40031
    Olympia, WA 98504-0031

Please include as much detail as possible about the record you are requesting. Our goal is to fulfill requests expeditiously. 

If you have any questions, please email publicrecords@sao.wa.gov.