Requires DCCA director to include requirements for public access to records and meetings of PEG access organizations in organization contracts.

A BILL FOR AN ACT

SECTION 1. In 2002, the state office of information practices (OIP) found that the public, educational, and governmental (PEG) access organizations, `Olelo and Ho`ike, are corporations owned, operated, or managed by or on behalf of the State as set forth under section 92F-3 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS), and, therefore, are required to follow the Uniform Information Practices Act (UIPA), which governs public access to government records and information. In Opinion Letter No. 02-08, OIP found that the PEG organizations were originally created by the department of commerce and consumer affairs (DCCA), notwithstanding their current corporate form, and are funded almost entirely through funds allocated pursuant to chapter 440G, Hawaii Revised Statutes, and collected from cable customers. In September 2004, the Pacific Business News reported that last year `Olelo received $5,300,000 in fees from cable franchisee Oceanic Time Warner Cable.

OIP further found that although the DCCA has not exercised close control over the administration of the PEG access channels, the department has significant and direct control over `Olelo and Ho`ike through its appointment and authority to remove the majority of appointees on the corporations' boards, and exercises indirect control over the existence of the organizations through contractual agreements that select the corporations as the director’s designees and terminate their corporate existence when that designee status ends. OIP concluded that DCCA performs a government function by providing for PEG access channels, and that the administration of these channels is a government function performed by `Olelo and Ho`ike by or on behalf of DCCA.

In 2004, `Olelo filed a lawsuit against OIP in state circuit court seeking a declaration that the corporation is not owned, operated, or managed by the State under the UIPA and is not a state agency. If the corporation prevails, the public will be unable to hold the PEG access organizations accountable for the millions of dollars received by them annually in state-mandated funds.

The purpose of this Act is to clarify the legislature's intent that PEG access organizations be subject to public scrutiny by requiring that DCCA's contract with access organizations contain requirements for public access to the organizations' meetings and records.

SECTION 2. Chapter 440G, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§440G-   Access organization meetings and records. The director shall establish minimum requirements for public access to the meetings and records of access organizations and include the requirements in access organization contracts."

SECTION 3. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.