Office of Information Practices

The state Office of Information Practices would like to thank the Legislature for its vote of confidence in our office by providing OIP with money, not unfunded mandates.  Today, the Legislature passed the budget (H.B. 1900, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, C.D. 1), which provides OIP with $100,000 in supplemental funding for FY 2019 that starts on July 1, 2018.  Although OIP did not receive authorization or funding to add personnel, the $100,000 appropriation is a big morale booster for OIP’s current legal and administrative staff, and it will help provide salary parity to retain their expertise and services at OIP.

As an update, OIP is still awaiting completion of the Attorney General’s Office’s review of the proposed administrative rules before OIP can finalize them for public hearing.  OIP no longer expects to be able to complete the rulemaking process before the start of the next fiscal year in July 2018.

While training on the new rules will necessarily be delayed until new rules are adopted, OIP is preparing updated training materials for the Sunshine Law revisions that will go into effect on July 1, 2018, which will require, among other things, the electronic posting of board notices on State and County calendars, emailing of notices to people on a board’s notification list, the public’s ability to inspect board packets before meetings, and the posting of meeting  minutes on the board’s website.  Keep an eye out for future What’s New articles that will soon announce the availability of new training materials.

For the latest in open government news, please check for archived copies of What’s New articles that are posted here or can be e-mailed upon request.  To be added to OIP’s e-mail list, please e-mail [email protected].  Also, if you would like to receive What’s New articles or attachments in a Word format, please contact OIP at (808) 586-1400 or [email protected].