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View Point

By Moya T.D. Gray

Saturday, November 13, 1999

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OIP advocates for
openness in government

THE Star-Bulletin's Oct. 28 story, "State info agency gambles for its life," implies that the state Office of Information Practices no longer challenges government secrecy. The implication is false. In truth, OIP challenges government secrecy every single day.

Here are three examples:

Legislative efforts. OIP is at the Legislature every session speaking out against secrecy and protecting privacy. This past year, we monitored 294 pieces of legislation that dealt with information practices. Without this effort, our public records law would be like Swiss cheese -- with lots of holes.

But even with that effort, we missed a last-minute legislative attempt to permit the Hawaii Tourism Authority to withhold documents from the public. Once we learned of the bill when it was passed out of conference committee, we vigorously sought a veto. Governor Cayetano did the right thing and vetoed it.

As for the upcoming legislative session, I'm hopeful that the administration will adopt as part of its package the OIP's proposal to stop these midnight attempts to keep more information secret from the voters.

Investigating government. We investigate government agencies. This past year, an agency destroyed a record that had been requested by a member of the public. This person complained to OIP and we conducted a review of the agency's rules, policies and procedures.

We found that the agency's rules did NOT follow the public records law. OIP made a strong recommendation that the agency correct the situation as soon as possible, and advised the requester of his right to sue the government agency.

Citizen help. Your own paper has highlighted OIP's most recent role in opening up government to Hawaii's people. The Honolulu Liquor Commission had not permitted members of the public to testify at a public hearing. These people, neighbors of the Gloria Bridal Chapel in Kapahulu, opposed the chapel's application for a liquor license. These neighbors came to the OIP for assistance.

After hearing both sides, we advised the Liquor Commission to let the neighbors testify at its public hearings. In the end, the Liquor Commission allowed them to do so. This case resolved a major impediment to public participation in government processes.

THIS past year alone, my reduced office staff fielded over 700 calls for legal assistance about open government, 46 percent of those from individual citizens.

Of the written requests we've received, two-thirds were from individuals, not government agencies. And we managed to adopt rules that the voters can use to hold government accountable. All this, despite a nearly 60 percent cut in budget.

Voters know that they have a right to be heard and a right to get information from government. Voters want to hold government accountable for their actions, but cannot afford to go to court, unless they turn to OIP for help.

But voters also want a lean government. How do we do that? By being effective and solving problems. OIP does this with limited resources.

Because electronic access to government can save resources, we encourage and support efforts to bring interactive government to our people. Therefore, we have created a Web site where people can find the law, the rules, guidance, opinions, model forms and our monthly publication, Openline.

We invite your readers to visit us at the Web site, located at http://www.state.hi.us/oip.

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Moya T.D. Gray is director of the state Office of Information Practices.