§92-7  Notice.  (a)  The board shall give written public notice of any regular, special, emergency, or rescheduled meeting, or any executive meeting when anticipated in advance.  The notice shall include an agenda that lists all of the items to be considered at the forthcoming meeting; the date, time, and place of the meeting; the board's electronic and postal contact information for submission of testimony before the meeting; instructions on how to request an auxiliary aid or service or an accommodation due to a disability, including a response deadline, if one is provided, that is reasonable; and in the case of an executive meeting, the purpose shall be stated.  If an item to be considered is the proposed adoption, amendment, or repeal of administrative rules, an agenda meets the requirements for public notice pursuant to this section if it contains a statement on the topic of the proposed rules or a general description of the subjects involved, as described in section 91-3(a)(1)(A), and a statement of when and where the proposed rules may be viewed in person and on the Internet as provided in section 91-2.6.  The means specified by this section shall be the only means required for giving notice under this part notwithstanding any law to the contrary.

     (b)  No less than six calendar days prior to the meeting, the board shall post the notice on an electronic calendar on a website maintained by the State or the appropriate county and post a notice in the board's office for public inspection.  The notice shall also be posted at the site of the meeting whenever feasible.  The board shall file a copy of the notice with the office of the lieutenant governor or the appropriate county clerk's office and retain a copy of proof of filing the notice, and the office of the lieutenant governor or the appropriate clerk's office shall timely post paper or electronic copies of all meeting notices in a central location in a public building; provided that a failure to do so by the board, the office of the lieutenant governor, or the appropriate county clerk's office shall not require cancellation of the meeting.  The copy of the notice to be provided to the office of the lieutenant governor or the appropriate county clerk's office may be provided via electronic mail to an electronic mail address designated by the office of the lieutenant governor or the appropriate county clerk's office, as applicable.

     (c)  If the written public notice is electronically posted on an electronic calendar less than six calendar days before the meeting, the meeting shall be canceled as a matter of law and shall not be held.  The chairperson or the director shall ensure that a notice canceling the meeting is posted at the place of the meeting.  If there is a dispute as to whether a notice was timely posted on an electronic calendar maintained by the State or appropriate county, a printout of the electronic time-stamped agenda shall be conclusive evidence of the electronic posting date.  The board shall provide a copy of the time-stamped record upon request.

     (d)  No board shall change the agenda, less than six calendar days prior to the meeting, by adding items thereto without a two-thirds recorded vote of all members to which the board is entitled; provided that no item shall be added to the agenda if it is of reasonably major importance and action thereon by the board will affect a significant number of persons.  Items of reasonably major importance not decided at a scheduled meeting shall be considered only at a meeting continued to a reasonable day and time.

     (e)  The board shall maintain a list of names and postal or electronic mail addresses of persons who request notification of meetings and shall mail or electronically mail a copy of the notice to the persons by the means chosen by the persons at their last recorded postal or electronic mail address no later than the time the agenda is required to be electronically posted under subsection (b). [L 1975, c 166, pt of §1; am L 1976, c 212, §2; am L 1984, c 271, §1; am L 1985, c 278, §4; am L 1995, c 13, §2; am L 2012, c 177, §2; am L 2014, c 68, §1; am L 2017, c 64, §2; am L 2018, c 63, §1; am L 2019, c 244, §2; am L 2021, c 220, §5]

Attorney General Opinions

  This section and sections 92-1 and 92-9 require commission to specify subject matter of items on public meeting agenda.  Not sufficient to list broad categories of items.  Att. Gen. Op. 85-2.

  Filing deadline should be established by using day, rather than hour increments.  Att. Gen. Op. 92-06.

Law Journals and Reviews

  Hawai`i's Sunshine Law Compliance Criteria.  26 UH L. Rev. 21.

Case Notes

  Based on the office of information practices' construction of the sunshine law as well as the legislative history of subsection (d), the land use commission and Maui county council did not violate the sunshine law by continuing and reconvening meetings beyond a single continuance without requiring a new agenda and additional public testimony to be accepted at every continued meeting.  However, while the legislature did not expressly limit the number of continuances permissible under subsection (d), the legislative history and text of the sunshine law demonstrates that boards are constrained at all times by the spirit of and purpose of the sunshine law, as stated in §92-1.  130 H. 228, 307 P.3d 1174 (2013).