Council members seek Sunshine Law exemption
by Tiffany Edwards
West Hawaii Today
tedwards@westhawaiitoday.com
Friday, October 28, 2005 10:07 AM HST
HILO -- Hawaii County council members have joined other councils in the state seeking to exempt themselves from following open-government requirements stipulated by the state's Sunshine Law.West Hawaii Today
tedwards@westhawaiitoday.com
Friday, October 28, 2005 10:07 AM HST
The intent of the Sunshine Law is to open up governmental processes to public scrutiny and participation by requiring state and county boards to conduct their business as openly as possible, usually through public meetings, according to the Office of Information Practices (OIP).
Council members plan to discuss at their Nov. 9 regular meeting a 2006 Hawaii State Association of Counties (HSAC) legislative package that includes a pitch for all council members in the state to be exempted from the Sunshine Law.
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Council members in all four counties will have to approve the proposal to exempt themselves from the open-meetings law before it is passed to state legislators. Legislators exempted themselves from the open-meetings law when it was first approved in 1975.
The Legislature in 2003 considered a similar proposal to extend the Sunshine Law exemption to county councils, but the bill died because of public opposition.
Like the Hawaii County council members, Honolulu councilors will vote on the proposal Nov. 9.
Those Honolulu council members in support of the exemption reportedly claimed the OIP is interpreting the Sunshine Law so strictly that it is making government less efficient.
Les Kondo, director of the state OIP, which oversees rules specified in the Sunshine Law, believes council members have brought forth such legislation because they do not understand the Sunshine Law and OIP's opinions construing the state statute.
Offering an example of their misinterpretation of the law, Kondo said, "It doesn't prohibit them from having Christmas parties. It goes to the discussion at the Christmas parties."
"I acknowledge that the statute can make business a little less efficient. It may take a little more time. It may be a little more difficult than they like but, as government board members and, in this case, an elected council, they have to do the public's business in public," Kondo said. "And that may mean it takes a little longer to do business. It may mean an additional meeting, no discussions via telephone or in the back room."
Kondo said if such legislation passed, this would be the only state in the country where local leaders are exempted from an open meeting statute.
"The Honolulu guys in their resolution specifically put in a provision that they are going to implement their own rules to protect the public's rights," he said.
"I'm not saying this present council either here or any other island would do anything to monkey with the public's right to know, but you basically have the fox guarding the hen house," Kondo said. "They could have the ability to limit and restrict what you and I get to hear. Our form of government was formed on openness and participation, and this is what the Sunshine Law is designed to protect."
North Kona Councilman Angel Pilago, HSAC's vice president, passed HSAC's legislative package to his colleagues this week. He said Thursday he supports the Sunshine Law and doesn't support council members being exempted from adhering to it. He said he is concerned with -- and he wants OIP to address -- "block voting" and "(serial) communications," meaning one council member talks to another who talks to another and so on to relay a particular vote.
Incidentally, on Nov. 9, after the proposed Sunshine Law exemption is taken up, Corporation Counsel head Lincoln Ashida has requested to meet with council members to discuss serial communications and "the county's involvement in pending or upcoming litigation regarding this issue."
On the Net
- http://www.state.hi.us/oip/sunshinelaw.html
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