Bill Text: HI SCR107 | 2019 | Regular Session | Introduced

Hawaii Senate Concurrent Resolution 107 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Requesting The Office Of Information Practices To Explore A Trial Preliminary Inclination Process For Incoming Public Appeals.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-03-27 - Report adopted, referred to JDC/WAM. [SCR107 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2019-SCR107-Introduced.html

THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	107
THIRTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2019
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

requesting the office of information practices to EXPLORE A TRIAL PRELIMINARY INCLINATION PROCESS FOR INCOMING PUBLIC APPEALS.

WHEREAS, the Office of Information Practices is able to informally resolve most public questions, complaints, and appeals under the Uniform Information Practices Act and Sunshine Law without the Office issuing a formal enforceable ruling; and

WHEREAS, some public appeals to the Office of Information Practices under the Uniform Information Practices Act and Sunshine Law cannot be resolved without the Office issuing a formal enforceable ruling; and

WHEREAS, when public appeals cannot be resolved without formal enforceable rulings by the Office of Information Practices, the Office normally prepares enforceable rulings on a first-come first-served basis; and

WHEREAS, the preparation of formal enforceable rulings by the Office of Information Practices is time-consuming and expensive; and

WHEREAS, unless additional resources are provided to the Office of Information Practices or the Office experiments and finds an effective way to modify its procedures, the Office of Information Practices will be unable to quickly resolve those incoming public appeals that require a formal enforceable ruling by the Office of Information Practices; and

WHEREAS, experimenting with trial processes, new procedures, or revised practices can be a source of useful information, which can provide guidance for later changes or action; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirtieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2019, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Office of Information Practices is requested to explore a trial preliminary inclination process for incoming public appeals under the Uniform Information Practices Act and Sunshine Law; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that for each appeal submitted between July 1, 2019, and December 1, 2019, the Office of Information Practices is requested to evaluate the relative merits of the appeal within four weeks of receiving the appeal; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that for not less than ten appeals submitted during that period, the Office of Information Practices is requested to prepare a short preliminary inclination regarding the appeal, within six weeks of receiving the appeal; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that when a preliminary inclination is provided to the parties, the Office of Information Practices is requested to provide the person who submitted the appeal with a copy of the agency's response to the appeal, not including any documents submitted for in camera review, if the person does not already have a copy; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that for each preliminary inclination prepared by the Office of Information Practices, the Office is also requested to provide an enforceable and appealable final decision at a future time, to be determined by the Office's usual policies, if the preliminary inclination does not resolve the appeal; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Office of Information Practices is requested to publish the preliminary inclinations on the Internet for public access; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Office of Information Practices is requested to submit a report of its findings and recommendations, including specific recommendations concerning future trial processes, practices, or procedures that could improve the time to resolve appeals with the existing budget and staffing to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2020; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that if the Office of Information Practices finds the trial preliminary inclination process or some aspect of the trial process has the potential to improve the time it takes for the Office to resolve appeals, the Office of Information Practices is requested to expand the trial process to other appeals and continue to study the effects of the process on the time frame for appeals resolution and its impacts on staff workload; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Director of the Office of Information Practices, President of the Senate, and Speaker of the House of Representatives.