Posted 10/09/2012
Despite the fact that it has not met the legal notification requirements, the state Forest Stewardship Advisory Panel is still planning to hold a meeting tomorrow, October 12.
Environment Hawai’i, which has requested to receive notice of all meetings, as provided for in the state Sunshine Law, did not learn of the scheduled meeting until yesterday morning, less than 48 hours before the meeting was set to begin. Melissa Sprecher, one of the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ staff who works with the committee, telephoned our office to provide notice. She acknowledged that it was late (state law requires notices to be mailed as soon as the agency sends the agenda to the lieutenant governor’s office, at least six days in advance of the scheduled meeting).
The FSAC has a poor history of compliance with public notice requirements. In 2007, when the committee’s director, Sheri Mann, insisted that the committee did not need to comply with the Sunshine Law, Environment Hawai’i sought an opinion from the Office of Information Practices. In July 2011, the OIP issued a memorandum opinion, determining that indeed the committee is required to give the public notice of its meetings, as prescribed by law.
When the OIP was informed of the FSAC’s intentions to go ahead and hold the meeting, it called Sprecher to let her know that if the committee met, it would be at risk of being found in violation of the Sunshine Law if anyone challenged the decision in court.
For more information, see the OIP website: http://www.state.hi.us/oip and click on the “Laws, Rules, and Opinions” link.
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