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Opinion Letter No. 02-09
September 24, 2002
Actions on Bills and Resolutions Without Notice
A committee of the County Council for the County
of Maui ("Maui County Council"), may not act on
a proposed bill or resolution that is not specifically mentioned
in the meeting agenda. Chapter 92,
Hawaii Revised Statutes ("Sunshine Law") requires that
notices and agendas be posted six days prior
to meeting dates, and that such agendas list, among other things,
all items to be considered at the
meeting. Haw. Rev. Stat. § 92-7(a) (Supp. 2001). Accordingly,
items that are not listed on agendas
should not be discussed at meetings.
The OIP acknowledges, however, that there may be unforeseen
circumstances in which a discussion at a meeting results in the
decision to draft a bill or resolution to
address an agenda item. So long as there is a sufficient nexus between
what was noticed and what the
discussed resulted in, there would be no violation of the Sunshine
Law. This must be determined on a
case-by-case inquiry. This nexus should be reflected in the meeting
minutes, and voting on such a bill
or resolution should take place at a future meeting that is properly
noticed.
An existing or proposed bill or resolution that is already drafted,
and which is not specifically listed in
an agenda but is discussed at a meeting, would likely violate the
Sunshine Law if it could have been
foreseen that discussed on the bill or resolution would be had.
It is possible that discussed of an
existing bill or resolution may be unforeseen prior to the meeting
yet still be a natural consequence of
the committee's discussion on a listed agenda item.
Thus, it is possible in some circumstances that the
Sunshine Law would not be violated by an unforeseen discussion of
an existing bill or resolution, so long as there was a sufficient
nexus to what was listed on the agenda. Such a determination must
be made on a case-by-case inquiry.
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