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, dating back to 2009, 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.

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
S Memo 10-5	Serial Discussion of Board Leadership	Hawaii County Council
2010
Op Ltr No	Subject	Board
S Memo 10-6	Appropriateness of Executive Session	Hawaii Historic Places Review Board
S Memo 10-7	Discussion of County Office Renovation	Kauai County Council
S Memo 11-1	Sufficiency of Notice, Agenda and Minutes; Executive Meetings	Neighborhood Commission, City & County of Honolulu
S Memo 11-2	Adequacy of Notice	Kauai County Council
S Memo 11-3	Board Member's Correspondence Concerning Chairman Selection	Hawaii Historic Places Review Board
S Memo 11-4	Statewide Health Coordinating Council Plan Development Committee	Statewide Health Coordinating Council
S Memo 11-5	Sufficiency of Agenda	Board of Land and Natural Resources
2011
Op Ltr No	Subject	Board
S Memo 11-6	Board Discussion Outside of Meeting	Kauai County Council
S Memo 11-7	Restriction on Board Member Discussion	Kauai County Council
S Memo 11-8	Internal Working Group Status as Board	Honolulu Fire Department and Honolulu Emergency Services Department
S Memo 11-9	Notice of Cancellation of Meeting	Hawaii Service Area Board
S Memo 11-10	Discussion Outside of a Meeting	Neighborhood Commission, City & County of Honolulu
S Memo 11-11	Permitted Interaction Group Procedures	Neighborhood Board
S Memo 11-12	Amendment of Agenda	Honolulu City Council
S Memo 12-1	Application of Sunshine Law to 2011 Reapportionment Commission	2011 Reapportionment Commission
S Memo 12-2	Application of Sunshine Law to Hawaii Forest Stewardship Advisory Committee	Hawaii Forest Stewardship Advisory Committee
S Memo 12-3	Closed Meeting of Board of Ethics	Kauai Board of Ethics
S Memo 12-4	Written Testimony Submitted by E-Mail	Kauai County Council
S Memo 12-5	Determination Whether WasteStream Kohala Is a Board Subject to the Sunshine Law	WasteStream Kohala
S Memo 12-6	Adequacy of Agendas; Permitted Interaction Group	Reapportionment Commission
S Memo 12-7	Amendment of Agendas	Ala Moana-Kakaako Neighborhood Board
S Memo 12-8	Council Selection of Successor Councilmember	Kauai County Council
S Memo 12-9	Whether the Maui Master Gardener Advisory Board Is a Board Subject to the Sunshine Law	Maui Master Gardener Advisory Board

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
U Memo 10-3	Settlement Terms Pending Execution of Agreement	Department of the Attorney General
U Memo 10-4	Vacation Credit Liabilities	Office of the Governor; Office of the Lieutenant Governor
2010
Op Ltr No	Subject	Agency
U Memo 10-5	Hawaii Access to Justice Commission Subject to UIPA	Hawaii Access to Justice Commission
U Memo 10-6	Unemployment Insurance Benefits Hearing Transcript	Employment Security Appeals Referees' Office
U Memo 10-7	Request for Personal Records at University of Hawaii	University of Hawaii
U Memo 10-8	Police Policies - Revised G.O. 602	Hawaii County Police Department
U Memo 10-9	Grade Distribution Data	University of Hawaii
U Memo 10-10	Request for General Records, Definition of “Date filed by” and “Date accepted by” Registrar	Department of Health
U Memo 11-1	Unemployment Insurance Benefits Records	Department of Labor and Industrial Relations
U Memo 11-2	Procurement Documents	Department of Public Safety
U Memo 11-3	Disclosure of Employee Names, Titles and Salaries	City and County of Honolulu
U Memo 11-4	Rules Projects and Records Between DOTAX and Legislature	Department of Taxation
U Memo 11-5	Microorganism Names	Department of Agriculture
U Memo 11-6	Grant of Easement	Kauai County - Office of the County Attorney
U Memo 11-7	Vital Records	Department of Health
U Memo 11-8	Personnel Records	Department of Human Resources Development
U Memo 11-9	OHA Employee Salary Information	Office of Hawaiian Affairs
2011
Op Ltr No	Subject	Agency
U Memo 11-10	AG Opinion Issued to BLNR	Department of the Attorney General
U Memo 11-11	Permittee Passenger Count Information	Department of Land & Natural Resources
U Memo 11-12	Condominium Association Complaints	Regulated Industries Complaints Office (RICO)
U Memo 11-13	Detailed Implementation Plans	Charter School Review Panel
U Memo 11-14	Complaint Files	Office of the Ombudsman
U Memo 11-15	Attorneys’ Invoices	University of Hawaii
U Memo 11-16	Unable to Locate Records	Office of the Mayor, County of Hawaii
U Memo 12-1	Reasonableness of Fees and Costs	State Ethics Commission
U Memo 12-2	Mortgage Loan Originator Licensure Records	Dept of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Division of Financial Institutions
2012
Op Ltr No	Subject	Agency
U Memo 12-3	Mayor's Public Schedule	City and County of Honolulu
U Memo 12-4	Identifying Numbers Assigned to Individuals on the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System & Registry (NMLS)	Dept of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Division of Financial Institutions

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 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