2025

Opinion Ltr. 25-07 June 30, 2025 Sufficiency of Minutes A member of the public asked whether the Maui County Planning Commission’s (Commission) written summary accompanying its recorded minutes violated the Sunshine Law by failing to record all votes made by...

U Memo 25-21 June 25, 2025 Roster of Graduate Assistants Requester made a record request to the University of Hawaii (UH) for a roster of graduate assistants.  UH partially granted the request but withheld information that would make it possible...

Governor Josh Green signed three bills into law affecting the Sunshine Law.  The Governor also signed into law a bill allowing access to closing police reports by a deceased person’s family members after a set time period.  All the new...

The Office of Information Practices recently issued six informal opinions under the Uniform Information Practices Act, chapter 92F, Hawaii Revised Statutes (UIPA), and Sunshine Law, part I of chapter 92, HRS.  The summaries of the opinions can be found on...

S Memo 25-06 June 5, 2025 Anonymous Testimony OIP found that based on (1) the Council’s prior interactions with Requester, (2) Requester’s lack of objection to being identified by his real name in previous meetings while using the same screen...

U Memo 25-20 June 4, 2025 Personal Records; Stalking Allegations  In 2022, the director (Director) of the Hawaii County Department of Parks and Recreation (Parks) appeared before the Hawaii County Board of Ethics and, according to Requester, “spewed about an...

U Memo 25-19 May 16, 2025 Request for Recording No Longer Maintained Requester asked whether the Aloha Stadium Authority Board (Authority) properly denied his request for recordings of a presentation made in executive session.  OIP found that the Authority no...

S Memo 25-05 May 13, 2025 Sufficiency of Agenda Requester asked whether the State Public Charter School Commission (PCSC) violated the Sunshine Law by discussing topics not listed on the agenda for PCSC’s meetings on May 26, 2022, and June...

U Memo 25-18 May 7, 2025 Sensitive Location Data The Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), sought an opinion on whether it may withhold “sensitive location data” under part II of the UIPA.  DLNR explained that it was developing...

U Memo 25-17 April 23, 2025 Records Related to BWC Recordings Maui Police Department Requester asked whether the Maui Police Department (MPD) properly redacted two police officers’ body worn camera (BWC) recordings from an investigation of another MPD officer’s (Officer)...