Bill Text: HI HB1730 | 2018 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating To Government Transparency.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 5-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-01-17 - Referred to FIN, referral sheet 3 [HB1730 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2018-HB1730-Introduced.html
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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
H.B. NO. |
1730 |
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TWENTY-NINTH LEGISLATURE, 2018 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
Relating to government transparenCY.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. The legislature finds that government transparency is the foundation of our republic. Our system of government holds officials accountable by entrusting the people with the ultimate decision-making power. The public interest is best protected when government operations are open to public scrutiny.
To that end, Hawaii's Uniform Information Practices Act states that "the formation and conduct of public policy--the discussions, deliberations, decisions, and action of government agencies--shall be conducted as openly as possible." In other words, officials should be held accountable for not only their decisions, but also the discussions and deliberations that lead to those decisions. The decision-making process itself should be transparent to the people.
Too often, however, reality has not lived up to these ideals, and the process of government has been hidden from the people. The Uniform Information Practices Act allows for five narrow exceptions to public disclosure, including for government records that must be confidential in order for the government to function. Unfortunately, some officials have twisted this exemption and the related "deliberative process privilege" into an excuse to withhold vast numbers of documents from disclosure. This goes against the original intent of the Uniform Information Practices Act, and must end.
The legislature further finds that transparency in the budgetary process is of the utmost importance. Yet some of the most egregious examples of resistance to public disclosure have occurred in budgeting. For example, the City and County of Honolulu recently used the aforementioned exemptions to justify hiding its departmental budget requests from the public.
Taxpayers and the people of Hawaii expect officials to steward public funds in a responsible manner for the public good. The public should know if a department's needs are going overfunded or unfunded. The voters are this state's ultimate policymakers, and deserve to know not only how public money is actually being spent, but how government officials have proposed to spend it.
The purpose of this Act, therefore, is to ensure that the public has access to budget-related documents from all government agencies. The Act accomplishes this by specifying that one of the purposes of the Uniform Information Practices Act is to ensure that budgeting happens as openly as possible; by specifying that agencies shall release all budget and budget-related documents; and by clarifying that the narrow exceptions to disclosure under section 92F-13 shall not apply to budget or budget-related documents in the absence of a legitimate public safety justification for nondisclosure.
SECTION 2. Section 92F-2, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:
"[[]§92F-2[]]
Purposes; rules of construction.
In a democracy, the people are vested with the ultimate decision-making
power. Government agencies exist to aid
the people in the formation and conduct of public policy. Opening up the government processes to public
scrutiny and participation is the only viable and reasonable method of
protecting the public's interest.
Therefore the legislature declares that it is the policy of this State
that the formation and conduct of public policy--the discussions, deliberations,
decisions, budgeting, and action of government agencies--shall be
conducted as openly as possible.
The policy of conducting government business as openly as possible must be tempered by a recognition of the right of the people to privacy, as embodied in section 6 and section 7 of article I of the constitution of the state of Hawaii.
This chapter shall be applied and construed to promote its underlying purposes and policies, which are to:
(1) Promote the public interest in disclosure;
(2) Provide for accurate, relevant, timely, and complete government records;
(3) Enhance governmental accountability through a general policy of access to government records;
(4) Make government accountable to individuals in the collection, use, and dissemination of information relating to them; and
(5) Balance the individual privacy interest and the public access interest, allowing access unless it would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy."
SECTION 3. Section 92F-12, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:
"§92F-12 Disclosure required. (a) Any other provision in this chapter to the contrary notwithstanding, each agency shall make available for public inspection and duplication during regular business hours:
(1) Rules of procedure, substantive rules of general applicability, statements of general policy, and interpretations of general applicability adopted by the agency;
(2) Final opinions, including concurring and dissenting opinions, as well as orders made in the adjudication of cases, except to the extent protected by section 92F-13(1);
(3) Government purchasing information, including all bid results, except to the extent prohibited by section 92F-13;
(4) Pardons and commutations, as well as directory information concerning an individual's presence at any correctional facility;
(5) Land ownership, transfer, and lien records, including real property tax information and leases of state land;
(6) Results of environmental tests;
(7) Minutes of all agency meetings required by law to be public;
(8) Name, address, and occupation of any person borrowing funds from a state or county loan program, and the amount, purpose, and current status of the loan;
(9) Certified payroll records on public works contracts except social security numbers and home addresses;
(10) Regarding contract hires and consultants employed by agencies:
(A) The contract itself, the amount of compensation;
(B) The duration of the contract; and
(C) The objectives of the contract,
except social security numbers and home addresses;
(11) Building permit information within the control of the agency;
(12) Water service consumption data maintained by the boards of water supply;
(13) Rosters of persons holding licenses or permits granted by an agency that may include name, business address, type of license held, and status of the license;
(14) The name, compensation (but only the salary range for employees covered by or included in chapter 76, and sections 302A-602 to 302A-639, and 302A‑701, or bargaining unit (8)), job title, business address, business telephone number, job description, education and training background, previous work experience, dates of first and last employment, position number, type of appointment, service computation date, occupational group or class code, bargaining unit code, employing agency name and code, department, division, branch, office, section, unit, and island of employment, of present or former officers or employees of the agency; provided that this paragraph shall not require the creation of a roster of employees; and provided further that this paragraph shall not apply to information regarding present or former employees involved in an undercover capacity in a law enforcement agency;
(15) Information
collected and maintained for the purpose of making information available to the
general public; [and]
(16) Information
contained in or compiled from a transcript, minutes, report, or summary of a
proceeding open to the public[.]; and
(17) Budget and
budget-related documents, including but not limited to agency budget requests;
provided that this paragraph shall not require the disclosure of information
regarding undercover activities of law enforcement agencies.
SECTION 4. Section 92F-13, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:
"§92F-13 Government records; exceptions to general rule. This part shall not require disclosure of:
(1) Government records which, if disclosed, would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy;
(2) Government records pertaining to the prosecution or defense of any judicial or quasi-judicial action to which the State or any county is or may be a party, to the extent that such records would not be discoverable;
(3) Government records
that, by their nature, must be confidential in order for the government to
avoid the frustration of a legitimate government function; provided that
this paragraph shall not apply to budget or budget-related documents unless the
agency can show a legitimate public safety justification for nondisclosure;
(4) Government records which, pursuant to state or federal law including an order of any state or federal court, are protected from disclosure; and
(5) Inchoate and draft working papers of legislative committees including budget worksheets and unfiled committee reports; work product; records or transcripts of an investigating committee of the legislature which are closed by rules adopted pursuant to section 21-4 and the personal files of members of the legislature."
SECTION 5. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.
SECTION 6. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
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INTRODUCED BY: |
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Report Title:
Government transparency; Budgeting; Uniform Information Practices Act
Description:
The summary description
of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.
