Office of Information Practices

February 7, 2012

The state Office of Information Practices (OIP) is pleased to report that the Senate Judiciary and Labor Committee (JDL), chaired by Senator Clayton Hee, voted today to advance SB 2858, SD 1, which establishes a clear, new appeals process for government agencies to judicially challenge OIP’s decisions. At the request of the League of Women Voters, JDL amended the bill to include a 30-day time limit for agencies to file an appeal from an OIP decision, and a deliberately defective effective date was also added to ensure that the bill will go into conference.

In order to work out some logistics with another Senate committee, JDL deferred decision making on OIP’s other bill, SB 2859 relating to Sunshine Law revisions, until Thursday, February 9, 2012, at 9:30 a.m. in conference room 016. OIP remains hopeful, however, that JDL will ultimately pass out SB 2859, with revisions.

This Friday, February 10, 2012, at 2:00 p.m., the House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Representative Gilbert Keith-Agaran, will be hearing OIP’s companion bills, HB 2596(appeals bill) and HB 2597 (Sunshine bill).

OIP would like to thank all of the government departments, agencies, and boards along with the public interest groups and private sector organizations that testified in support of OIP’s bills in the Senate, and we hope that you will do the same in the House this Friday. By pulling together as a team, we can improve Hawaii’s open government laws to enhance government efficiency and cost savings while effectively protecting the public’s right to transparency and increasing public participation in government. MAHALO!