Formal Opinions

Opinion Letter No. 98-01 January 16, 1998 Honolulu Ethics Commission Advisory Opinions The Honolulu Ethics Commission ("Commission") is not required to provide a copy of an Advisory Opinion pursuant to a public request for an Advisory Opinion about a specifically named...

Opinion Letter No. 97-10 December 30, 1997 Experience Certificates of Applicants for Contractors Licenses Prior to a Contractors License Board decision on an application for a contractors license, experience certificates submitted as part of the application are exempt from disclosure under...

Opinion Letter No. 97-09 December 17, 1997 Geographic Information System Database as Confidential Commercial Information The Hawaii Natural Heritage Program ("HINHP") database provided by The Nature Conservancy to the Office of Planning and incorporated into the State geographic information system ("State...

Opinion Letter No. 97-08 September 9, 1997 Requests for Government Records That Do Not Exist Section 92F-3, Hawaii Revised Statutes, provides that a government record is information maintained by an agency in any physical form. The requester in this case sought...

Opinion Letter No. 97-07 July 18, 1997 Required Disclosure of Certified Payroll Records [NOTE:  Section 92F-12(a)(9), the statute at issue in this opinion, was amended in 2005 and 2007, which may materially affect the conclusion reached in similar future opinions.] The...

Opinion Letter No. 97-06 June 23, 1997 Disclosure of Audio Cassette Tape Recordings of Public Meetings The Department of Health’s ("DOH") audio cassette recordings of its public meetings are government records that are public under the UIPA. The DOH must provide...

Opinion Letter No. 97-05 June 10, 1997 Access to Arrest History Information Under section 92F-13(4), an agency is not required to disclose government records made confidential under State or federal law. The Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center ("HCJDC") maintains a database of...

Opinion Letter No. 97-04 April 22, 1997 Nordic/PCL's Subcontracts for the Convention Center Are Confidential The costs set forth in the subcontracts for the design and construction of the Hawaii Convention Center are not required to be disclosed because the disclosure...

Opinion Letter No. 97-03 April 17, 1997 Private Donor Records of the UH Foundation It has not been determined whether the U. H. Foundation is a "government agency" under the UIPA, however, for the purposes of this opinion letter only, the...

Opinion Letter No. 97-02 March 11, 1997 Photograph of Deceased is a Public Record A government employee’s employment identification photograph, taken approximately ten years before the employee’s death, is a public record. Only living individuals have significant privacy interests; therefore, disclosing a...