Office of Information Practices

On December 21, 2018, a three-member majority of the Hawaii Supreme Court, over a vigorous dissent by two other Justices, reversed the Circuit Court and rejected nearly 30 years of OIP’s opinions recognizing the “deliberative process privilege” (DPP) as a limited form of one of the UIPA’s statutory exceptions.  In Peer News LLC v. City and County of Honolulu, __ Haw. __ (December 21, 2018) (No. SCAP-16-0000114, 2018 WL 675464) (Peer News), the majority held that government agencies could no longer use the DPP to justify withholding certain internal records and that “decision-making” was not a government function that fell within the frustration exception to disclosure under HRS § 92F-13(3).  Consequently, OIP has been advising agencies to no longer use the DPP or the decision-making function to justify nondisclosure under the frustration exception.

OIP has prepared a detailed analysis of the majority and dissenting opinions in Peer News, which can be found at the top of the Opinions page at oip.hawaii. gov.

For the latest open government news, please check for What’s New articles that are archived on OIP’s website or emailed to you upon request.  To be added to OIP’s email list, please email [email protected].  Also, if you would like to receive What’s New articles or attachments in a different format, please contact OIP at (808) 586-1400 or [email protected].