Office of Information Practices

A big MAHALO to all those people who made the effort to attend, and those who provided assistance to make possible, OIP’s September informational briefings in all counties regarding the draft rules for processing UIPA record requests as well as the Act 64 changes to the Sunshine Law.  Thank you, too, to those people who have already responded to OIP’s online survey on the draft rules.

For people who were unable to attend the briefings in person, the briefing materials are available online on OIP’s Rules or Training pages at oip.hawaii.gov.  The briefing materials include the draft rules; the video, complete transcript and slides of the PowerPoint presentation summarizing the draft rules; online survey of the rules; Act 64; and the outline and script of the Sunshine Law update.  Also, in response to questions received at the live briefings, OIP has added a clarification of the draft rules regarding fee waivers and personal .

Moreover, the entire September 6 briefing in Honolulu, including the question and answer periods, was recorded by ‘Olelo and is available online at https://olelo.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=19&clip_id=62788.  After OIP’s Director’s opening remarks and the PowerPoint presentation, the video shows the question and answer period beginning at 59:43, and the Sunshine Law presentation starting at 1:04:43, with additional questions and answers at the end.

The September 6 briefing will also be televised on ‘Olelo channel 49 on the following dates and times:

September 27 (Wednesday)          6:00 p.m.
September 29 (Friday)                   8:00 a.m.
September 30 (Saturday)              10:00 p.m.

Please review the draft rules and complete the online survey at oip.hawaii.gov.  OIP looks forward to getting your completed survey and comments by the end of September 2017, so that it can make appropriate changes to the draft rules and prepare the rules that it intends to propose for a public hearing by the end of this year.  Subject to the Governor’s approval of new rules, OIP plans to revise the UIPA Record Request Log and create new training materials by May 2018, so that all state and county agencies can be trained after the legislative session and will be prepared to comply when new rules go into effect, which will hopefully be July 1, 2018.

July 1, 2018 is the same effective date for the Sunshine Law changes of Act 64, SLH 2017.  As OIP advised during the briefings, agencies may want to begin implementing most of the changes before July, so that they can work out any problems early and be in compliance when the law goes into effect.

OIP will keep you updated on the rulemaking process through What’s New emails, so please look for them in your inbox or check OIP’s What’s New archives.  To be added to OIP’s What’s New 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].