Office of Information Practices

S Memo 14-2
July 9, 2013
Notice and Subcommittee Meetings  

Requester asked for an investigation into whether the Kahana Planning Council (Council) violated the Sunshine Law by failing to correctly notice its meetings, by doing business through subcommittees whose meetings were not open to the public, and by Council members having other discussions of board business outside Council meetings.

OIP found that the Council’s subcommittees regularly failed to provide the public notice required by the Sunshine Law; however, OIP noted that the Council has made assurances that it now understands this requirement and will follow it in the future.  OIP also found that the Council did not meet the Sunshine Law’s requirement that it file a copy of its notice in its office.  However, the Council, which does not have a dedicated office or staff, attempted to meet the requirement by posting the notice on bulletin boards at its usual meeting place where they would be most accessible to those interested in the Council, so although the failure to keep an additional copy at the DLNR office offering administrative support was a technical violation, OIP does not find that it caused any actual public harm.

OIP could not conclude, from the facts presented, that the Council’s meetings failed to meet any of the Sunshine Law’s other notice requirements, or that its members discussed Council business outside of Council meetings other than in the context of the committees previously referenced.