Formal Opinions

Opinion Letter No. F17-03 April 24, 2017 Email Messages Protected by Attorney-Client Privilege Under Part III of the UIPA, Requester challenged the partial denial by the Planning Department, County of Hawaii (PLAN-H) of his request to access to email messages...

Opinion Letter No. F17-02 December 8, 2016 Public Utility Commission Applicant Records Requester asked OIP whether the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) properly denied her request under the Uniform Information Practices Act (UIPA) for a submittal filed in PUC Docket No....

Opinion Letter No. F17-01 October 12, 2016 Collectively Bargained Workers’ Compensation Agreement/Basic Trades Requester, who was the prior Plan Administrator of a Collectively Bargained Workers’ Compensation (CBWC) program approved by the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations (DLIR), asked OIP...

Opinion Letter No. 16-05 June 30, 2016 Description of Meeting Location In OIP Op. Ltr. No. F16-05, OIP concluded that while the Sunshine Law does not necessarily require a meeting notice to provide a street address for a meeting location, the...

Opinion Letter No. F16-04 May 26, 2016 Visitor Permits for the Kalaupapa Settlement Requester asked the Department of Health (DOH) to publicly disclose each visitor permit authorizing persons to visit on specified dates the Kalaupapa Settlement (KS) on Molokai, Hawaii,...

Opinion Letter No. F16-03 May 6, 2016 No Duty to Search for Records that Do Not Exist An individual made a request to the Hawaii Health Systems Corporation’s (HHSC) West Hawaii Regional Board (WHRB) Chair for copies of or to inspect...

Opinion Letter No. F16-02 March 23, 2016 Notice of Public Meetings Required Requester asked whether the Hawaii Public Housing Authority Resident Advisory Board (Board) violated the Sunshine Law by holding its August 9, 2013 meeting (Meeting) without first filing its...

Opinion Letter No. F16-01 July 24, 2015 Councilmember Attendance at Kula Community Association Meeting Boards are required to conduct their board business in open meetings under the Sunshine Law, subject to a few exceptions.  A member of the public (Requester)...

Opinion Letter No. F15-04 June 26, 2015 Names of Officers Terminated for Failed Drug Test Requester asked whether the Honolulu Police Department (HPD) properly denied its request under Part II of the UIPA for the names of two officers discharged...

Opinion Letter No. F15-03 June 2, 2015 Transcript and Diploma Denied A graduate of the University of Hawaii (UH) asked whether UH properly denied his request, which was made under the Uniform Information Practices (Modified) (UIPA), for (1) a certified...