Office of Information Practices

The state Office of Information Practices is pleased to release the attached report based on information posted by 174 agencies on the Master UIPA Record Request Year-End Log for FY 2014 (Master Log), at data.hawaii.gov.  Overall, the data shows that the typical record request was granted in whole or in part and was completed within seven days, and the typical requester paid nothing for fees and costs.

Data from 173 agencies showed that they received 1,713 formal written requests requiring a response under the Uniform Information Practices Act (UIPA), of which 99% were completed in FY 2014.  Of the 1,694 completed cases, 77% were granted in full or in part, and 5% were denied in full.  In 18% of the cases, the agency was unable to respond to the request or the requester withdrew, abandoned, or failed to pay for the request.

The average number of search, review and segregation (SRS) hours for a typical record request was 1.12, as compared to 9.94 hours for a complex record request.  Although the 121 complex record requests constituted only 7% of all requests, they accounted for 41.6% ($34,743) of the total gross fees and costs incurred by agencies ($83,428) and 16% ($7,163) of the total amount recovered from all requesters ($44,098).

Agencies recovered $44,098 in total fees and costs from 273 requesters, which is approximately 53% of the $83,428 incurred by agencies in gross fees and costs.  While 16% of requesters in completed cases paid something, just two commercial entities accounted for 56% of the total amount paid by all requesters; these two entities were charged for costs only and each paid $12,420.47.  In contrast, 84% (1,421) of all requesters in completed cases paid nothing for their record requests.

For the full report and accompanying data, please go to the reports page at oip.hawaii.gov.

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