SEATTLE — The Archdiocese of Seattle is refusing to turn over documents showing how it handled child sexual abuse allegations by church leaders, Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson said in a news conference Thursday.

The archdiocese is citing a legal exemption for religious organizations that shields the records from public disclosure, said Ferguson, who has asked a King County Superior Court judge to force the church to comply with the office’s subpoenas and turn over the documents. Ferguson has requested a May 22 hearing.

Ferguson’s motion comes months after his office issued subpoenas to the state’s three dioceses — Seattle, Spokane and Yakima — as part of an investigation into allegations that they misused charitable funds to cover up decades of sexual abuse by church leaders. The investigation also seeks to identify accused priests and determine the church’s role in how it had kept those in positions of power, Ferguson said.

Ferguson is among nearly two dozen state attorneys general in the country investigating alleged abuse by church leaders, he said at a news conference Thursday in Seattle.

He said states such as Illinois have found hundreds more “substantiated child sex abusers” compared to what Catholic officials have disclosed.

“This investigation is not about second guessing the church’s use of funds for legitimate religious or charitable purposes,” said Ferguson, who is running for governor. “Abuse of children is obviously not a religious or charitable purpose — that exemption does not apply to them.”

His office will file similar motions for the Yakima and Spokane dioceses if they refuse to cooperate with the investigation, Ferguson said.

Ferguson said the Attorney General’s office made a round of subpoenas to all three dioceses last summer and this spring.

In a statement Thursday, the Archdiocese of Seattle said it had cooperated with the Attorney General’s Office for the last 10 months and had already turned over some of the information requested in an April subpoena, including offering to share with the office this week a series of “private deposition documents.”

The archdiocese also referenced a list it made public in 2016 of all 83 clergy members in the archdiocese who had been credibly accused of sexual abuse of a minor, and said it had received no new reports since 2007.

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