Office of Information Practices

S Memo 25-01
July 22, 2024
Amendment of Notice
Posted on Board Website

A requester asked for an opinion as to whether the State of Hawaii Board of Education (BOE) violated the Sunshine Law by editing a copy of the notice for a meeting posted on BOE’s website to add a notification that additional meeting materials had been posted on BOE’s website less than six days before the meeting.

The Sunshine Law requires that meeting notices be filed on a State or county calendar, and they cannot be changed by adding agenda items thereto less than six days before the meeting.  The Sunshine Law does not require that notices be posted on a board’s website.  OIP found that the note that additional meeting materials had been posted on BOE’s website was the only part of the meeting notice that was changed on the version of the notice posted to the BOE website, and that BOE did not attempt to add a new item to the agenda.  OIP concluded that the addition of the note did not constitute a change in the agenda for the meeting, and therefore BOE did not violate the Sunshine Law.  OIP cautioned BOE to avoid editing copies of notices for meetings posted on its website to add such notes in the future, because even though doing so may not violate the Sunshine Law it may confuse members of the public.