Hawaii State Office of Information Practices

From dKosopedia

Category: Hawaii State Agencies and Departments

The Office of Information Practices, OIP, administers Hawaii's open records law, the Uniform Information Practices Act (Modified), chapter 92F, Hawaii Revised Statutes ("UIPA").

The OIP also advises, and accepts complaints, regarding Part I of chapter 92, Hawaii Revised Statutes (open meetings or "Sunshine Law").

According to a Honolulu Advertiser article dated 3/14/06, the OIP Director, Les Kondo, feels the Office needs more enforcement powers:

Les Kondo, the Office of Information Practices' director, agrees that his agency's powers need strengthening. During the past several years, Kondo's office has faced challenges to its opinions from government entities, prompting his office to introduce several bills in this year's Legislature. One of those proposals would have given the Office of Information Practices the authority to compel an agency to hand over public records. Another would have empowered the state agency to sue in Circuit Court to enforce the open records and open meetings laws. The Senate Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs Committee voted 4-1 to kill the bills last month. "There's still too many barriers to public access," said state Sen. Les Ihara, D-9th (Kapahulu, Kaimuki, Palolo), an open records advocate and the only member of the judiciary committee to vote in favor of the bills. State Sen. Colleen Hanabusa, committee chairwoman, said the OIP bills were held because the previous Senate committee that heard the bills, the Transportation and Government Operations Committee, didn't list the measures as high-priority. Hanabusa, D-21st (Nanakuli, Makaha) also noted that the OIP did not ask her to schedule a hearing on the bills when it became apparent her committee had not scheduled one by a March 3 deadline. OIP's Kondo said he spoke with Hanabusa and members of the House leadership early in the session about the importance of the bills. Kondo said he left a message with Hanabusa's office about a week before the March 3 deadline to set up a meeting. He said Hanabusa did not get back to him.

External Links

• Office of Information Practices State of Hawaii.
• Record seekers find process frustrating By Rick Daysog. The Honolulu Advertiser, March 14, 2006.
• Hawaii's Board of Education and Attorney General: Partners in crime? Disappeared News, December 18, 2006.