Posted on: Thursday, February 20, 2003

EDITORIAL
State sunshine law should apply to all

State lawmakers are being asked to give to the four county councils the same exemption from the state "Sunshine Law" they have granted to themselves.

They should forget about the idea.

If anything, it is time to end the exemption legislators gave themselves, rather than extend the courtesy to the county legislative bodies.

A bill moving in the state Senate would exempt county councils from statewide open-meetings and -records laws. It is the same exemption enjoyed by the Legislature.

There's no doubt that having strict rules on access to information, posting of meeting notices and the like is a headache to legislators. The business of making laws for the rest of us would undoubtedly go more smoothly if legislators did not have to stop regularly to wait for the public to catch up.

But that is precisely the point of a strong, focused Sunshine Law. Yes, it slows the process of lawmaking, but it makes that process transparent to the folks who will be the most affected.

State legislators point out that while they are exempt from the overall state Sunshine Law, they have imposed their own rules and regulations on open meetings, posting of notice, access to bills and information and the like.

That's true. And in recent years, innovations such as the Public Access Room at the Legislature, computer-driven access to legislative information and other changes have made the process much more accessible to the average citizen.

In many ways, the Legislature has done a good job on this front.

But the point is that any access the public now enjoys is at the sufferance of the legislators who hold office. What they open, they can close.

Honolulu City Council Vice Chairwoman Anne Kobayashi said they are asking for the exemption not in pursuit of secrecy, but rather of efficiency. We're sure that's the motivation. The folks who sit on our councils today are far from the back-room deal-makers we might have known in the past.

But why open the door for a return to the old days? The Legislature should kill the proposal that would exempt the councils. And then the councils should turn around and lobby the Legislature to include itself in the statewide law.

The public is best served when the same rules apply to everyone.