The Sunshine Blog: Free The Public’s Public Records Requests in Hawaii
By The Sunshine Editorial Board, February 28, 2023
Making public records easier for the public to access: The House Finance Committee on Tuesday unanimously approved a measure to limit the amount of money state and local government agencies can charge when documents are requested in the public interest. The bill now goes to the full House for consideration.
To recap: This is the measure that the Hawaii Legislature approved unanimously last year but was vetoed by Gov. David Ige after much handwringing by several state agencies who insisted that not being able to squeeze exorbitant fees out of the public would put a huge burden on them.
This year the bill, House Bill 719, was put forward by the special Commission to Improve Standards of Conduct created by House leadership to come up with anti-corruption proposals and government accountability improvements. Gov. Josh Green has said he will sign the bill if it makes it to his desk.
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