SR97

WHEREAS, the Office of Information Practices is responsible for ensuring that state and county agencies comply with public records and open meetings laws; and

WHEREAS, the Office of Information Practices may informally resolve public questions, complaints, and appeals under the Uniform Information Practices Act and Sunshine Law in less than six months; and

WHEREAS, some public appeals require a formal, enforceable ruling, which are generally prepared on a first‑come, first-served basis, and, due to the Office of Information Practices' backlog, can take up to two years or more to complete; and

WHEREAS, H.R. No. 104, Regular Session of 2019 (H.R. No. 104), requested that the Office of Information Practices conduct an alternative appeal resolution pilot program to determine if it can resolve some of the formal cases more quickly; and

WHEREAS, in response to H.R. No. 104, the Office of Information Practices conducted a five-month alternative appeal resolution pilot program in which it prepared "short, informal, unenforceable guidance" within two weeks of receiving the agency's final response for the files randomly assigned to the alternative appeal resolution track; and

WHEREAS, the Office of Information Practices reported to the Legislature certain cases that were appropriate for preliminary inclination; and

WHEREAS, the report noted that the experimental approach was most effective for appeals that did not present complex facts or raise any novel legal issues and that nearly one‑third of cases were resolved through preliminary inclination; and

WHEREAS, in the remaining two-thirds of appeals the parties declined to accept preliminary inclinations and instead requested formal opinions; however, most of the parties did not provide additional documents, information, or facts to support an alternative conclusion; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirtieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2020, that the Office of Information Practices is requested to conduct a three-year modified resolution pilot project to target and select incoming public appeals under the Uniform Information Practices Act and the Sunshine Law that do not present novel issues of law or complex facts and are therefore best suited for expedited processing; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Office of Information Practices is requested to handle informal and formal cases in a traditional manner and issue preliminary inclinations for cases where the facts are not complex and the legal issues have previously been decided or have similarities to other decisions, albeit no direct precedent; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Office of Information Practices is requested to provide that when a party declines to accept a preliminary inclination, the party may request a formal opinion, but shall be required to provide additional documentation, written facts, or information or written response to the preliminary inclination within thirty days of the request, and if the party fails to provide information that would materially change the Office of Information Practice's analysis, the preliminary inclination shall be issued as an abbreviated final, formal resolution; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the party requesting a formal opinion should retain their right under existing law to appeal the decision to the court; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Office of Information Practices is requested to submit a report of its findings and recommendations to the Legislature, including the number of cases resolved informally, formally, and by preliminary inclination, and the overall impact on its case load, no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2021; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Governor and Director of Information Practices.

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title:

OIP; Modified Appeal Resolution Pilot Project

THE SENATE	S.R. NO.	97
THIRTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2020
STATE OF HAWAII