When Hawai‘i’s open government office told the Kaua‘i County Council to reveal what it talked about behind closed doors in a January 2005 meeting, the council refused.

Now the case is stuck in court because the Office of Information Practices, which interprets the state’s openness laws, doesn’t have any enforcement power.

Government bodies throughout the state — from neighborhood boards to city committees — at times conduct business in private and fail to notify the public about what they’re doing, according to records compiled by the Office of Information Practices.

Usually these government agencies comply with opinions requiring more openness, but when they don’t, the only recourse is for a member of the public to go to court.

read more …

(Story Source: Kauai Garden Island News)