1. (a) All government records are open to public inspection unless access is restricted or closed by law.
2. (b) Except as provided in section 92F-13, each agency upon request by any person shall make government records available for inspection and copying during regular business hours.
3. (c) Unless the information is readily retrievable by the agency in the form in which it is requested, an agency shall not be required to prepare a compilation or summary of its records.
4. (d) Each agency shall assure reasonable access to facilities for duplicating records and for making memoranda or abstracts.
5. (e) The office of information practices may adopt rules, pursuant to chapter 91, to protect agency records from theft, loss, defacement, alteration, or deterioration and to prevent manifestly excessive interference with the discharge of agencies' other lawful responsibilities and functions.

[L 1988, c 262, pt of §1; am L 2010, c 100, §§1, 3; am L 2017, c 165, §1]

Cross References

Department of Hawaiian home lands records, see chapter 92J.

Case Notes

Chapter 92F applies prospectively, requiring disclosure of records maintained by state agencies regardless of when the records came into existence. 83 H. 378, 927 P.2d 386.

Where trial court determined that any unaccepted engineering reports were returned to the developer and there was a lack of evidence suggesting that the city planning and permitting department "maintained" any reports or copies of the reports that were unaccepted by the department, trial court properly determined that, pursuant to this chapter, the reports submitted to the department in connection with the developer's subdivision application did not constitute "government records" prior to their acceptance by the department. 119 H. 90, 194 P.3d 531.

Cited: 134 H. 181, 339 P.3d 679 (2014).

Mentioned: 74 H. 365, 846 P.2d 882.