Aloha,
The front page article of the 'Kohala Mountain News' January 29, 2011 issue, entitled "CDP Action Committee Announces First Community Meeting" prompts me to address the Hawaii State law dealing with ...
"The Sunshine Law is Hawaii’s open meetings law. It governs the manner in which all state and county boards must conduct their official business.
The Sunshine Law is codified at part I of chapter 92, Hawaii Revised Statutes." Ref. http://www.state.hi.us/oip/sunshinelaw.html
The following quotations were taken from:
http://www.state.hi.us/oip/6aug08%20Sunshine%20GUIDE%20complete.pdf
"The Sunshine Law is Hawaii’s open meetings law. It governs
the manner in which all state and county boards must conduct
their business. The law is codified at part I of chapter 92,
Hawaii Revised Statutes (“HRS”)."
"The intent of the Sunshine Law is to open up governmental
processes to public scrutiny and participation by requiring
state and county boards to conduct their business as openly as
possible. The Legislature expressly declared that “it is the
policy of this State that the formation and conduct of public
policy - the discussions, deliberations, decisions, and actions
of government agencies - shall be conducted as openly as
possible.”
"In implementing this policy, the Legislature directed that the
provisions in the Sunshine Law requiring open meetings be
liberally construed and the provisions providing for exceptions
to open meeting requirements be strictly construed against
closed meetings. Thus, with certain specific exceptions, all
discussions, deliberations, decisions and actions of a board relating
to the official business of the board must be conducted
in a public meeting."
"In other words, absent a specific statutory exception, board
business cannot be discussed in secret, without public notice,
without public access to the board’s discussions, deliberations
and decisions, without the keeping of minutes, or without the
opportunity for public testimony."
"... As a general statement, all state and county boards, commissions, authorities,
task forces and committees that have supervision, control,
jurisdiction or advisory power over a specific matter and
are created by the State Constitution, statute, county charter,
rule, executive order or some similar official act are subject to
the Sunshine Law."
"A committee or other subgroup of a board
that is subject to the Sunshine Law is also considered to be a
“board” for purposes of the Sunshine Law and must comply
with the statute’s requirements."
"Yes. ... The open meeting requirement also applies to the meetings of a board’s committees or subgroups."
"In 1998, the administration of the law was transferred to OIP.
OIP also oversees the Uniform Information Practices Act
(Modified) (“UIPA”), chapter 92F, HRS. The UIPA is Hawaii’s
freedom of information act."
It appears, this rule of law existed in 1998, and perhaps sooner. The CDP Action Committee announces, in the 'Kohala Mountain News', first community meeting to be held Saturday February 19, 2011, about 12 years after the law applied. And, no sooner was this meeting announced in the paper, when we also learn that "on December 30, [2010], Chairman Bob Martin and AC member Joe Carvalho met with County Planning Director Bobby Jean Leithead-Todd, Amy Self from the corporate Counsel's office, and Pete Hoffmann to discuss whether the AC should consider transitioning to a community association not under the jurisdiction of the county code and therefore not subject to the restrictions of the Sunshine Law." This so called 'County Code', is actually State Law, and therefore is not subject to revision by the county, I understand.
If a public organization has nothing to hide, why would it be against open meetings? Why would they seek ways to avoid open meetings? In fact, had 'WasteStream' complied with existing law, I doubt very much that we would be in the situation we are in because of their unilateral bad choice for a waste treatment facility near Ainakea homes, made in secrecy. Residents of our area would have had early input, thus avoiding what was to follow.
"§92-9 Minutes.
(a) The board shall keep written minutes of all meetings. Unless otherwise
required by law, neither a full transcript nor a recording of the meeting is
required, but the written minutes shall give a true reflection of the matters
discussed at the meeting and the views of the participants. The minutes
shall include, but need not be limited to:
(1) The date, time and place of the meeting;
(2) The members of the board recorded as either present or absent;
(3) The substance of all matters proposed, discussed, or decided; and a
record, by individual member, of any votes taken; and
(4) Any other information that any member of the board requests be
included or reflected in the minutes.
(b) The minutes shall be public records and shall be available within thirty
days after the meeting, except where such disclosure would be inconsistent
with section 92-5; provided that minutes of executive meetings may
be withheld so long as their publication would defeat the lawful purpose
of the executive meeting, but no longer.
(c) All or any part of a meeting, of a board may be recorded by any person in
attendance by means of a tape recorder or any other means of sonic
reproduction, except when a meeting is closed pursuant to section 92-4;
provided the recording does not actively interfere with the conduct of the
meeting. [L 1975, c 166, pt of §1]
"§92-13 Penalties. Any person who wilfully violates any provisions of this part
shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction, may be summarily
removed from the board unless otherwise provided by law. [L 1975, c 166,
pt of §1]" Ref. part I of chapter 92, Hawaii Revised Statutes.
