State of Hawaii - Office of Information Practices

Due to recent interest, OIP is adding to its website a list of its informal opinions along with summaries of those opinions. Most of these summaries have appeared in OIP’s annual reports to the Governor and the Legislature, which may be accessed on OIP’s website under Reports.

OIP issues formal opinions that are published and widely distributed. These opinions offer legal guidance to the public and government agencies by fully setting forth OIP’s interpretations of provisions of the UIPA and the Sunshine Law. These opinions are chosen because of their discussion of general concepts under these laws and their broad applicability to similar factual situations. They are relied upon as precedent by OIP in the issuance of its opinions.

OIP issues informal opinions generally in instances where the legal questions raised by a dispute have been previously resolved and discussed in a formal opinion, and where the legal opinion is based upon specific facts that limit the opinion’s usefulness for general guidance purposes. These opinions are often abbreviated in form and refer the reader to OIP’s formal opinions for a full discussion of the legal concepts applied. OIP does not maintain a subject index for the informal opinions.

The informal opinion letter summaries may be accessed below. They are grouped into three categories:

(1) Sunshine Law Opinions. These are advisory opinions rendered in response to a request for a legal opinion concerning the Sunshine Law, a request for an investigation into a possible violation of the Sunshine Law, or a complaint filed against an action taken (or not taken) by a government board.

(2) UIPA Opinions. These are advisory opinions rendered in response to a request for a legal opinion concerning the UIPA.

(3) UIPA Decisions on Appeal. These are OIP determinations made in response to an appeal to OIP filed by a member of the public from a government agency’s denial of access to a government record.

Summaries of the informal opinions in calendar 2009 will be added first, and past years will be added later. Opinions are numbered by fiscal year for reporting purposes in OIP’s annual report, but will appear here by calendar year.

To view a summary, click on the opinion letter number.

OIP Informal Opinions
Sunshine Law Opinions
2009
Op Ltr No	Subject	Board
S Memo 09-9	Sufficiency of Agenda and Circulation of Proposed Amendments to Bill	Kauai County Council
S Memo 09-10	Amended Agenda and Adequate Notice	State Procurement Policy Board
S Memo 09-11	Testimony Limitation, Executive Meeting for Attorney Consultation, and Minutes	Maui County - Cost of Government Commission
S Memo 09-12	Whether the Act 213 Charter Schools Work Group Is Subject to the Sunshine Law	Department of Education - Board of Education
S Memo 09-13	Board of Education Executive Session Notice and Procedures	Department of Education - Board of Education
S Memo 09-14	Meeting Without Quorum	Procurement Policy Board
S Memo 10-1	Minutes of Neighborhood Boards Committee Meetings	City & County of Honolulu - Neighborhood Boards
S Memo 10-2	Permitted Interaction Group	City & County of Honolulu - Neighborhood Commission
S Memo 10-3	Sufficiency of Notice	Maui County Council - Land Use Committee
S Memo 10-4	Sufficiency of Agenda	Hawaii County Council

UIPA Opinions
2009
Op Ltr No	Subject	Agency
U Memo 09-5	Inmate Inspection of Records Before Payment of Copying Fees	Department of Public Safety
U Memo 09-6	Candidate's Financial Disclosure Statement	Maui County - Board of Ethics
U Memo 09-7	Police Chief's Evaluation	Honolulu Police Commission
U Memo 10-1	Judges' Financial Disclosure Statements	Judiciary
U Memo 10-2	Request for Parolees' Files by Their Attorneys	Hawaii Paroling Authority

UIPA Decisions on Appeal
2009
Op Ltr No	Subject	Agency
Memo Decision 09-13	Hawaii Superferry Records	Office of the Governor
Memo Decision 09-14	Payroll Records	Department of Education
Memo Decision 09-15	Laser Speed Detection Records	Honolulu Police Department
Memo Decision 10-1	Investigative Records of Gounding of USS Port Royal	Department of Land and Natural Resources
Memo Decision 10-2	Investigation Reports	Department of Education, Civil Rights Compliance Office