HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

150

TWENTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE, 2015

H.D. 1

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

 

RELATING TO SUNSHINE LAW.

 

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 


PART I

     SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that board members would benefit from having broad access to relevant information in order to make decisions in the best interest of the public they serve.  Under existing law, while special interest groups are allowed to freely distribute information advocating their position to board members, board members themselves are prohibited from sharing even government records amongst each other.  The purpose of this Act is to create an exception to the sunshine law to allow board members to disseminate government records to other board members for informational purposes.

     SECTION 2.  Section 92-2.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

     "§92-2.5  Permitted interactions of members.  (a)  Two members of a board may discuss between themselves matters relating to official board business to enable them to perform their duties faithfully, as long as no commitment to vote is made or sought and the two members do not constitute a quorum of their board.

     (b)  Two or more members of a board, but less than the number of members which would constitute a quorum for the board, may be assigned to:

     (1)  Investigate a matter relating to the official business of their board; provided that:

         (A)  The scope of the investigation and the scope of each member's authority are defined at a meeting of the board;

         (B)  All resulting findings and recommendations are presented to the board at a meeting of the board; and

         (C)  Deliberation and decisionmaking on the matter investigated, if any, occurs only at a duly noticed meeting of the board held subsequent to the meeting at which the findings and recommendations of the investigation were presented to the board; or

     (2)  Present, discuss, or negotiate any position which the board has adopted at a meeting of the board; provided that the assignment is made and the scope of each member's authority is defined at a meeting of the board prior to the presentation, discussion, or negotiation.

     (c)  Discussions between two or more members of a board, but less than the number of members which would constitute a quorum for the board, concerning the selection of the board's officers may be conducted in private without limitation or subsequent reporting.

     (d)  Board members present at a meeting that must be canceled for lack of quorum or terminated pursuant to section 92-3.5(c) may nonetheless receive testimony and presentations on items on the agenda and question the testifiers or presenters; provided that:

     (1)  Deliberation or decisionmaking on any item, for which testimony or presentations are received, occurs only at a duly noticed meeting of the board held subsequent to the meeting at which the testimony and presentations were received;

     (2)  The members present shall create a record of the oral testimony or presentations in the same manner as would be required by section 92-9 for testimony or presentations heard during a meeting of the board; and

     (3)  Before its deliberation or decisionmaking at a subsequent meeting, the board shall:

         (A)  Provide copies of the testimony and presentations received at the canceled meeting to all members of the board; and

         (B)  Receive a report by the members who were present at the canceled or terminated meeting about the testimony and presentations received.

     (e)  Two or more members of a board, but less than the number of members which would constitute a quorum for the board, may attend an informational meeting or presentation on matters relating to official board business, including a meeting of another entity, legislative hearing, convention, seminar, or community meeting; provided that the meeting or presentation is not specifically and exclusively organized for or directed toward members of the board.  The board members in attendance may participate in discussions, including discussions among themselves; provided that the discussions occur during and as part of the informational meeting or presentation; and provided further that no commitment relating to a vote on the matter is made or sought.

     At the next duly noticed meeting of the board, the board members shall report their attendance and the matters presented and discussed that related to official board business at the informational meeting or presentation.

    (f)  Discussions between the governor and one or more members of a board may be conducted in private without limitation or subsequent reporting; provided that the discussion does not relate to a matter over which a board is exercising its adjudicatory function.

    (g)  Discussions between two or more members of a board and the head of a department to which the board is administratively assigned may be conducted in private without limitation; provided that the discussion is limited to matters specified in section 26-35.

     (h)  A member of a board may transmit to another member of the board, any government record that would be subject to disclosure pursuant to section 92F-12; provided that the transmittal may not seek a commitment relating to a vote on a matter to be considered by the board.

     [(h)] (i)  Communications, interactions, discussions, investigations, and presentations described in this section are not meetings for purposes of this part."

PART II

     SECTION 3.  Section 92-3.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (c) to read as follows:

     "(c)  A meeting held by interactive conference technology shall be terminated when audio communication cannot be maintained with all locations where the meeting by interactive conference technology is being held, even if a quorum of the board is physically present in one location[.]; provided that a member present by interactive conference technology may waive the termination of the meeting by written waiver delivered to the board before the meeting.  A waiver of the termination of a meeting shall not apply to meetings where the member present by interactive conference technology and presenting the waiver is needed for quorum purposes or in any meeting where a vote is taken.  If copies of visual aids required by, or brought to the meeting by board members or members of the public, are not available to all meeting participants, at all locations where audio-only interactive conference technology is being used, within fifteen minutes after audio-only communication is used, those agenda items for which visual aids are not available for all participants at all meeting locations cannot be acted upon at the meeting."

     SECTION 4.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 5.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2112.


 


 

Report Title:

Sunshine Law; Transmittal of Government Records by Board Members

 

Description:

Allows board members to transmit certain government records to each other provided that no commitment to vote is made.  Authorizes a board member present by interactive conference technology to waive the termination of a meeting because of technical problems under certain circumstances.  (HB150 HD1)

 

 

 

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