Office of Information Practices

The Hawaii State Legislature will be voting tomorrow on bills that will cross back to the originating body.  At this critical juncture, the state Office of Information Practices (OIP) provides the following update of the most important bills affecting the UIPA or Sunshine Law that it has been monitoring:

Limited meetings for county councils:  S.B. 2121, S.D. 1, H.D. 1 has crossed over from the House in a form that could possibly be agreed to by the Senate.  The bill eliminates the sunset date for Act 221, SLH 2014 and retains strict limitations over councilmembers’ attendance at another board or community group’s meeting.  The bill adds a requirement for the County Councils to provide annual updates on their use of this type of limited meeting.  The House removed a defective date to make the bill effective upon approval.

Establish a reasonable duty of care to maintain government records:  S.B. 2294, S.D. 1 passed the Senate with OIP’s suggested amendments and was amended by the House Judiciary Committee, but did not make it out of the House Finance Committee.  Although S.B. 2294, S.D. 1, H.D. 1 has not crossed back to the Senate, it could still be considered if a similar measure from last session, S.B. 140, H.D. 2, is revived in conference.

Electronic notice and board packets for public meetings:  Both S.B. 2293, S.D. 1 and H.B. 369, H.D. 1 have not crossed back to their originating bodies, but a similar measure, S.B. 475, S.B. 1, H.D.2, remains in conference from 2015 and could possibly be revived.

OIP has also been closely following other bills that do not directly involve the UIPA or Sunshine Law, such as S.B. 2411, S.D. 1 providing funds to the counties for police body cameras, which will cross back to the Senate.  S.B. 2318, S.D. 1, H.D. 1 providing address confidentiality for domestic violence victims did not make it out of the House.

For copies of the bills, committee reports, testimony, committee referrals, status, and other information, please go to the Legislature’s website at capitol.hawaii.gov.