Personal Financial Disclosure FAQ

Yes. Personal Financial Affairs Reporting Instructions

• List each reportable investment, stock, mutual fund, 401K profit sharing plan, etc. that you owned at any time during the reporting period.
• Furthermore, itemize the holdings of investment accounts, such as IRAs, 401K plans, deferred compensation accounts, etc., if you made the buy and sell decisions for the account.
• Never include account numbers.
• Indicate the Commission has granted you a reporting modification or you are eligible for the principal residence exemption if neither apply. F-1 statements that attest to either will be flagged for review by PDC staff.

Not entirely. The Public Disclosure Commission may modify the reporting requirements to exempt you from completing a particular section(s) of the report, if it decides that the law works a "manifestly unreasonable hardship on the filer" and the "modification will not frustrate the purposes" of the disclosure law. Requests for modification typically come from filers who have a personal safety concern and want to exclude their primary residence's location, or filers who are partners in or owners of a business who would face a competitive disadvantage by disclosing the names of their business customers.

Answers to common questions about modifications are available here. Filers also should consult the reporting modification standards and our guide to selecting the correct reporting modification application.

Yes. As of May 2019, state law requires electronic filing when the PDC has made an efiling option available.

If your modification exempts you from reporting ALL clients of the business or other organization, answer "no" to the question "Did (your business or organization) receive any reportable payments of $12,000 or more between January 1, 2019, and December 31, 2019, from a business customer?" If you are required to list SOME of the clients, answer "yes" and complete the information for those clients for whom the modification applies. If your modification also exempts you from reporting other governmental customers, you will follow the same reporting method described above for business customers.

F-1 filers are required in most cases to disclose properties owned by themselves or their immediate family members, however, there are some exceptions. If a filer or their immediate family member is a participant in the Washington Secretary of State’s Address Confidentiality Program, or is a  judge, prosecutor or sheriff, the law allows reporting a city or town and type of residence in lieu of the address of a principal residence.

Filers who do not fit into those categories may request a reporting modification on a case-by-case basis from the Public Disclosure Commission.

Washington's disclosure laws, including the F-1 filing requirement, were enacted by voters through the initiative process. The F-1 basically serves as a conflict of interest statement. Completing it allows you the chance to review your assets and property holdings each year so that you might be aware when conflicts arise. It also allows the public an opportunity to review whether officials might appear to have conflicts.

If you are a candidate, your reporting period is the previous 12 months from the date you are filing the F-1. If you are newly appointed to an elected office or state appointive office, your reporting period is the previous 12 months from your effective appointment date. If you are an annual filer, your reporting period is the previous calendar year. The electronic filing application will determine the correct filing period for you based on your answers to the initial questions.

• Candidates file within two weeks of becoming a candidate.

• An individual appointed to position required to file must file the initial report within two weeks of the appointment.

• Office holders file annually, by April 15, for as long as the person holds office. A final report is filed once the person leaves office.

All filers submit their reports to the PDC.

Some counties and the City of Seattle have enacted and enforce local filing requirements. Check with those jurisdictions to be sure.

• A candidate running for an office in a jurisdiction with at least 2,000 registered voters (candidates in jurisdictions with fewer voters file if they raise or expect to raise at least $7,000)
• Elected officials and individuals appointed to fill unexpired terms in jurisdictions with at least 2,000 registered voters
• State agency directors
• Members of certain state boards & commissions as set forth in RCW 42.17A.705(4)
• Legislative and gubernatorial professional staff
• State 4-year university & college presidents, regents, and trustees
• Community college district & campus presidents and trustees
• Technical college trustees
• Charter school directors

Yes. F-1s filed after Dec. 31, 2019, are available on the PDC website. Older F-1s are provided upon request.