Opinion Letter Summary

Opinion Letter No. 93-20
October 21, 1993
Membership List of Citizens’ Group Confidential

Public disclosure by the County of Hawaii Planning Department of a list of the names and addresses of
members of The Citizens for Protection of the North Kohala Coastline (CPNKC) would constitute a
"clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy" under the UIPA. CPNKC had submitted its
membership list to the Department in connection with its request to the County of Hawaii Planning
Commission to conduct a contested case hearing concerning applications submitted by a developer for
permits to build a resort in North Kohala. The Commission denied CPNKC’s request, and CPNKC
appealed to the Circuit Court.

The OIP found that individuals have a "significant" privacy interest in information that reveals their associations, exposing their beliefs and ideas, which are not outweighed by the public interest in disclosure. In this opinion, the OIP did not address either a discovery request for the issuance of a subpoena for the production of records by a party in a contested case hearing, or any discovery practices pursuant to court rules.

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