REPORT TITLE:
Government Records Disclosure


DESCRIPTION:
Relieves the State and county agencies of the time and expenses
of retrieving, reviewing, and making information, that the agency
maintains but did not originate, available to the public under
chapter 92F.

 
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THE SENATE                              S.B. NO.           
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________


                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO THE DISCLOSURE OF GOVERNMENT RECORDS.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  Under current provisions of chapter 92F, Hawaii
 
 2 Revised Statutes, Hawaii's Uniform Information Practices Act
 
 3 (Modified), absent extenuating circumstances, state and county
 
 4 agencies must respond to requests for information they maintain
 
 5 in written, auditory, visual, electronic, or other physical form
 
 6 within ten business days of receiving the request.  Information
 
 7 must be available and accessible for inspection and copying, as
 
 8 long as access to the requested information is not restricted by
 
 9 law.  Agencies must provide the information promptly,
 
10 irrespective of whether the requested information furthers the
 
11 public's understanding of how the agency performs its statutory
 
12 duties and responsibilities, facilitates scrutiny of the agency's
 
13 conduct of the public's business, and fosters agency
 
14 accountability.
 
15      With increasing frequency, it appears as though requests for
 
16 information are made not for purposes of understanding or
 
17 scrutinizing how government and public officials are performing
 
18 the public's work.  They appear to be made, instead, to secure
 
19 information for private purposes.  Private litigants have
 

 
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 1 submitted requests for information maintained by state agencies
 
 2 to get around discovery deadlines that preclude them from
 
 3 securing the same information from each other or from a non-
 
 4 governmental originating source who was required to provide the
 
 5 information to a government agency.  Litigants ask administrative
 
 6 agencies that conduct quasi-judicial adjudicatory proceedings for
 
 7 copies of transcripts from proceedings in which they
 
 8 participated, to minimize their litigation costs, understanding
 
 9 that fees for copying government records are significantly less
 
10 than the fees court reporters charge for transcripts of judicial
 
11 or administrative proceedings.  Businesses request agencies to
 
12 retrieve and copy documents submitted by their competitors for
 
13 procurement purposes, not to monitor the State's execution of the
 
14 public procurement laws, but rather to secure a competitive
 
15 advantage over their competitors.  Persons request access to
 
16 agency studies and analyses to use in furtherance of their own
 
17 personal research projects or to sell to third parties for a
 
18 profit.
 
19      As a matter of present public policy and administrative
 
20 rules, priority must be given to responding to each request, even
 
21 though the request may be made simply to further personal
 
22 interests wholly unrelated to the operations of government.
 
23 These kinds of requests undermine the credibility and
 

 
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 1 effectiveness of the Uniform Information Practices Act and its
 
 2 underlying purposes and objectives.
 
 3      This Act reiterates the importance of open government,
 
 4 facilitating the public's understanding of how the public's
 
 5 business is conducted, and fostering agency accountability.
 
 6 Affording access to government records that an agency neither
 
 7 generates nor receives in the performance of its duties and
 
 8 responsibilities does nothing to further these objectives, and
 
 9 this Act revises the Uniform Information Practices Act to make
 
10 clear that agencies need not respond to these kinds of requests.
 
11 It recognizes that state and county agencies should not have to
 
12 respond to requests from members of the public who abuse the
 
13 right of access chapter 92F confers, and revises the chapter to
 
14 specify that agencies only need to disclose information that they
 
15 create or require persons to file.
 
16      SECTION 2.  Section 92F-12, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
17 amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:
 
18      "(a)  [Any other law to the contrary notwithstanding, each
 
19 agency shall make available for public inspection and duplication
 
20 during regular business hours:]  Unless prohibited by section
 
21 92F-13, each agency is required to disclose the following
 
22 government records:
 
23      (1)  Rules of procedure, substantive rules of general
 

 
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 1           applicability, statements of general policy, and
 
 2           interpretations of general applicability [adopted by
 
 3           the agency;] it adopts;
 
 4      (2)  [Final] The final opinions, including concurring and
 
 5           dissenting opinions, [as well as orders made in the
 
 6           adjudication of cases;] and the orders rendered or
 
 7           entered in adjudications it conducts;
 
 8      (3)  [Government purchasing information,] Records relating
 
 9           to its procurements and procurement-related activities,
 
10           including all bid results[, except to the extent
 
11           prohibited by section 92F-13];
 
12     [(4)  Pardons and commutations, as well as directory
 
13           information concerning an individual's presence at any
 
14           correctional facility;
 
15      (5)  Land ownership,] (4) Ownership, transfer, and lien
 
16           records, including real property tax information and
 
17           leases [of state land;] for all land it owns, uses, or
 
18           manages;
 
19     [(6)] (5)   Results of environmental tests[;] it conducted or
 
20           directed others to perform;
 
21     [(7)] (6)  Minutes of all [agency] meetings it is required by
 
22           law to [be] open to the public;
 
23     [(8)] (7)  [Name,] The name, address, and occupation of any
 

 
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 1           person borrowing funds from a [state or county] loan
 
 2           program it administers, and the amount, purpose, and
 
 3           current status of the person's loan;
 
 4     [(9)] (8)  Certified payroll records [on] for its public
 
 5           works contracts;
 
 6    [(10)  Regarding contract hires and consultants employed by
 
 7           agencies:  the contract itself, the amount of
 
 8           compensation, the duration of the contract and the
 
 9           objectives of the contract;]
 
10      (9)  Its employment contracts;
 
11    [(11)] (10)  Building [permit information within the control
 
12           of the agency;] permits and information relating to
 
13           permits which it issues or obtains, or requires persons
 
14           to submit to it;
 
15   [(12)   Water service consumption data maintained by the boards
 
16           of water supply;
 
17     (13)  Rosters of persons holding licenses or permits granted
 
18           by an agency that may include name, business address,
 
19           type of license held, and status of the license;]
 
20     (11)  The rosters of persons it licenses, including the name,
 
21           business address, type, and status of the license it
 
22           issued;
 
23    [(14)] (12)  The name, compensation (but only the salary range
 

 
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 1           for employees covered by or included in chapters 76 and
 
 2           77, and sections 302A-602 to 302-640, and 302A-701, or
 
 3           bargaining unit (8)), job title, business address,
 
 4           business telephone number, job description, education
 
 5           and training background, previous work experience,
 
 6           dates of first and last employment, position number,
 
 7           type of appointment, service computation date,
 
 8           occupational group or class code, bargaining unit code,
 
 9           employing agency name and code, department, division,
 
10           branch, office, section, unit, and island of
 
11           employment, of its present or former officers or
 
12           employees [of the agency]; provided that this paragraph
 
13           shall not require the creation of a roster of
 
14           employees; and provided further that this paragraph
 
15           shall not apply to information regarding present or
 
16           former employees involved in an undercover capacity in
 
17           a law enforcement agency;
 
18    [(15)] (13)  Information [collected and maintained] it
 
19           collects and maintains for the purpose of making
 
20           information available to the general public; and
 
21    [(16)  Information contained in or compiled from a transcript,
 
22           minutes, report, or summary of a proceeding]
 
23     (14)  Transcripts of proceedings it conducts that are
 

 
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 1           required by law to be open to the public."
 
 2      SECTION 3.  Section 92F-13, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
 3 amended to read as follows:
 
 4      "§92F-13  Government records; exceptions to general rule.
 
 5 This part shall not require disclosure of:
 
 6      (1)  Government records which, if disclosed, would
 
 7           constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal
 
 8           privacy;
 
 9      (2)  Government records pertaining to the prosecution or
 
10           defense of any judicial or quasi-judicial action to
 
11           which the State or any county is or may be a party, to
 
12           the extent that such records would not be discoverable;
 
13      (3)  Government records that, by their nature, must be
 
14           confidential in order for the government to avoid the
 
15           frustration of a legitimate government function;
 
16      (4)  Government records which, pursuant to state or federal
 
17           law including an order of any state or federal court,
 
18           are protected from disclosure; [and]
 
19      (5)  Inchoate and draft working papers of legislative
 
20           committees including budget worksheets and unfiled
 
21           committee reports; work product; records or transcripts
 
22           of an investigating committee of the legislature which
 
23           are closed by rules adopted pursuant to section 21-4
 

 
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 1           and the personal files of members of the
 
 2           legislature[.]; and
 
 3      (6)  Government records that an agency maintains but did not
 
 4           originate, by either creating the record or requesting
 
 5           that the record be submitted or filed."
 
 6      SECTION 4.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed.
 
 7 New statutory material is underscored.
 
 8      SECTION 5.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
 
 9 
 
10                       INTRODUCED BY:  ___________________________
 

 
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