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Secret police: The Honolulu Police Commission is in hot water again, this time with the state Office of Information Practices for repeatedly violating the Sunshine Law because it doesn’t let the public know what it’s going to be discussing in executive session. That’s a problem, OIP says, because it doesn’t give people a chance to tell the commission what they think about an issue or an event before the commissioners duck out.

Hawai‘i’s open meetings law is very clear: If a public board is going to go behind closed doors for secret chit-chats on important public issues it at least needs to tell people what — exactly — it’s going to be chit-chatting about.

But for years, the Honolulu Police Commission has just included vague generic language on its agendas regarding topics to be taken up in executive session.

“Legal Update by Deputy Corporation Counsel, if necessary” is one regular agenda item.

“Chief of Police Report: Report on departmental activities including but not limited to crime, traffic, upcoming departmental events, and/or other issues related to the Honolulu Police Department,” is another.

And The Sunshine Blog’s favorite: “Executive Officer’s confidential report on matters that must be kept confidential.”

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In 2021, Brian Black of the asked OIP for an opinion on whether this practice met the Sunshine Law smell test.

About two weeks ago, OIP finally got back to him with an unequivocal no, it does not. The detailed 20-page opinion also took the police commission to task for a couple other things it’s been doing wrong that Black hadn’t even asked about, including the minutes it is supposed to be keeping of executive session discussions.

Black asked OIP to review about six months worth of commission hearings in which the members retired to executive session to discuss police matters based on what Black and OIP referred to as the “catch all” agenda notices.

OIP, which unlike you and The Blog, was able to review the executive session minutes (such as they were, as it turns out), was able to figure out that the commissioners were talking about all sorts of things the public had a deep interest in, including the shooting of Iremamber Sykap (the 16-year-old killed as he was fleeing a police pursuit) and the shooting of Lindani Myeni, who was killed after fighting with police outside a residence in Nu‘uanu.

Other matters of import the public had no idea were being talked out included the hiring of a new police chief after Susan Ballard bailed, HPD training and what apparently had been a lot of crime around a particular church and how HPD was responding to it.

“The Commission should have listed these topics as part of its agenda, rather than relying on its catch-all Chief of Police Report language to cover those and whatever other issues the Commission chose to discuss,” OIP said.

Even discussions with the commission’s legal counsel are not exempt from the requirement that the public be told what those discussions are about. “Although the public does not have the right to be present to hear discussions held in executive session the public does have the right to testify on agenda items discussed in executive session. OIP finds there is no way the public could provide meaningful testimony in the absence of any information about what actual events, litigations, claims or other legal issues will be reported and considered by the commission. Thus OIP concludes that the commission’s discussion of any issues raised under the legal update agenda item violated the Sunshine Law,” OIP said.

The Blog was also delighted to see OIP chastise the commission for the crappy minutes it keeps of executive sessions. We’ve always thought it was that way because commissioners don’t really want people to ever be able to find out what they’re up to (case in point: the $250,000 payoff to former Chief Louis Kealoha).

“OIP notes that the executive session minutes in particular generally fail to meet the Sunshine Law’s requirements for written minutes because they do not give a true reflection of the matters discussed at the meeting and the views of the participants … In many instances it is not possible to determine whether discussion strayed beyond an authorized purpose because the discussion is simply not recorded.”

So you’re telling The Blog neither former attorney general Doug Chin or University of Hawai‘i general counsel Carrie Okinaga knows the rules for how to write an agenda?

In a footnote, OIP noted that during this review the police commission asked OIP for guidance on how agenda items should be stated. To which a seemingly exasperated OIP pointed out that it’s already laid out all this stuff, not only in its readily available published guidance on all things Sunshine Law but specifically in a 2006 opinion on another case.

The Blog finds the fact that the commission was basically pleading ignorance stunning, to say the least. Two of the commissioners — who have been on the panel for years — are attorneys with deep experience in public policy and, yes, the Sunshine Law. Commission Chair Doug Chin is a former state attorney general and former managing director of the city of Honolulu. Commissioner Carrie Okinaga is a former Honolulu Corporation Counsel under three different mayors, a former Honolulu rail board chair, and is currently the chief counsel for the University of Hawai‘i. So you’re telling The Blog neither of those two knows the rules for how to write an agenda?

Before issuing this opinion, OIP dutifully checked a recent agenda — for the Dec. 4 police commission meeting — and discovered that the commission is still using the same “catch-all” agenda phrasing despite the OIP review that has been unfolding for the past three years. And yet, as OIP pointed out, there’s nothing to be done about it now unless someone wants to file a lawsuit. Here’s hoping things change going forward. .

And one last thing to consider: Why did it take OIP more than three years to write this opinion especially if the law has been lurking in plain sight — forever? The Blog doesn’t even want to think about all the issues the public was kept in the dark on because OIP is, and has long been, slow as molasses to resolve these things.

Happy new year: Long ago and far away — that would be the 2023 legislative session — lawmakers passed a couple of things aimed at ensuring more transparency by lobbyists and lawmakers. That was the year the House Commission on Standards of Conduct came up with a pretty good wish list of legislative reforms, some of which actually managed to pass and be signed into law.

On Wednesday, at least two measures of note are finally kicking in. One is the former now known as Act 8. This long-overdue requirement means lobbyists will need to include much more detail on their reports about who was lobbied and for what purpose.

In addition to laying out how much is being spent for lobbyist compensation, media and advertising, gifts, entertainment and meals (among other things), lobbyists will now have to specify the bill number or identify the administrative action they are lobbying on.

Seems like a no-brainer, right? But in Hawai‘i that had never been a requirement making it very hard to track the politics of money and power.

The Blog is eagerly awaiting the new round of financial disclosures that lawmakers are required to file annually. That’s because as of Wednesday lawmakers will need to reveal the names of lobbyists with whom they have a relationship. The law would apply to spouses, business partners, employers and officers and directors of the employer. Also covered are lobbyist clients of legislators that paid the lawmaker at least $5,000.

This measure started life as and is now known as Act 123, for those who want more details.

Also taking effect Wednesday is Act 12, which was known as as it moved successfully through the 2024 Legislature.

It requires that notices for public meetings explain to the public how to provide remote oral testimony in a way that makes the testifier visible to board members and others tuning in via Zoom or similar platforms.

The new law, which came from House Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs Committee Chair David Tarnas, had the backing of the Public First Law Center and ACLU of Hawai‘i.

“This ensures that members of the public have the opportunity to fully express their views and promotes civil discourse,” the center’s Ben Creps testified during session.

“People who live on the neighbor islands, in rural communities, those who lack transportation or childcare and those with disabilities or illness who are unable to attend hearings in person would have an opportunity to be heard and seen, as communication includes words and body language,” testified the ACLU’s Carrie Ann Shirota.

Act 12 has as an added bonus the requirement that a board has the authority to remove and block individuals who disrupt meetings. Perhaps the State Elections Commission can make good use of this one.

Just charge it: State legislators are given annual allowances of $16,350 to spend on things such as office supplies, postage, lei, snacks and the like. Now that the year is over, The Blog took a gander at the latest round of expenditure reports — through Dec. 2 — and flagged a couple for attention.

We’d love to be able to tell you the latest , but they have not been updated since June. The Blog left a message with the Senate clerk’s office asking what’s up. Stay tuned.

Over in the House, Rep. was among the biggest spenders, charging more than $3,300 in October and November to attend the . The conference, a Portland newspaper reported, explored opportunities for industry stakeholders “to engage with the Maine space ecosystem” and the ways in which “is facilitating and supporting industry growth across the value chain.”

Souza, of the House lower and higher education, public safety and water and land committees, also chairs the Aviation and Space Caucus at the Legislature. Formed just two sessions ago, the caucus, which is bipartisan and bicameral, aims to diversify HawaiÊ»i’s economy.

“The space sector is estimated to be a $1.8 trillion industry by 2035,” Souza told The Blog. “I am looking to Maine, which has a public-private partnership in space operations, to see if it could be a model to bolster that industry in HawaiÊ»i. The trip was legit.”

Rep. , meantime, spent nearly $3,000 in allowance to travel for a Japan Sister State visit and the Tokyo Gift Show in September.

Other allowance spending of note: Rep. (the new majority floor leader) used $160 to pay for a U.S. and Hawaiʻi flag to present to the visiting president of Taiwan, (the new majority leader) picked up a wireless keyboard and wireless intercom for $96 and Rep. (the new speaker) took a legislative trip to Haneda, Japan, at a cost of $2,361. A site visit to the Big Island and a lunch meeting with Hawai‘i Business Roundtable were also part of that expense.