[CHAPTER 634F

CITIZEN PARTICIPATION IN GOVERNMENT]

Section

   634F-1 Definitions

   634F-2 Required procedures; motion

   634F-3 Relationship to other laws

   634F-4 Rule of construction

Law Journals and Reviews

  Hawai‘i's Response to Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation and the Protection of Citizens' Right to Petition the Government.  24 UH L. Rev. 411 (2001).

Case Notes

  Given the allegations in plaintiff's complaint, the filing of the office of disciplinary counsel (ODC) complaint by defendant against plaintiff did not constitute "public participation" before a governmental body, as defined in §634F-1, because the ODC complaint did not involve "oral or written testimony" but rather set forth allegations and was a request to the ODC for an investigation.  Based on the plain meaning of "testimony", even when liberally construed, the ODC complaint and allegations contained therein were not "testimony" and were not protected under this chapter; legislative history of chapter discussed.  129 H. 95 (App.), 294 P.3d 1081 (2013).

  With respect to plaintiff's claims based on defendant siblings' communications with the mayor, the mayor's assistant, and members of the county council, the communications did not constitute "testimony" submitted or provided "during the course of a governmental proceeding" and did not constitute a strategic lawsuit against public participation.  Even under a liberal construction of §634F-1, nothing in this chapter suggests that an individual's unsolicited and informal communication with a government official, when there is no formal process or procedure in progress, constitutes "testimony submitted or provided to a governmental body during the course of a governmental proceeding"; legislative history of chapter discussed.  129 H. 95 (App.), 294 P.3d 1081 (2013).