Council overturns sunshine training veto

By Treena Shapiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

Vision team members and members of city boards and commissions will have to attend mandatory sunshine law training, the City Council decided yesterday.

The council unanimously passed the law in September, but Mayor Jeremy Harris vetoed it last week. The council members overturned the veto, 6-3.

"I believe what the administration is doing is to block efforts to let the sunshine in," said Councilman Donovan Dela Cruz, who introduced the bill.

Several council members pointed out that the administration had not objected to the bill when it passed through three council meetings and two committee meetings.

Eric Crispin, director of the city Department of Planning and Permitting, said that the mayor supported the intent of the bill, but argued it would have dire consequences on vision teams, which allow anyone in Honolulu to participate.

Crispin said with more than 1,000 vision team participants and at least a dozen members on each of the 33 neighborhood boards, the cost to oversee compliance would be substantial. Trying to keep track of which vision team participants completed the mandatory training would be a huge task that could deter people from attending meetings, he said.

"We are in support of the intent of the law, which is to have open participation, open government, and to prevent any backroom dealings," Crispin said.

However, he said, "on the balance, we feel that the bill does essentially more damage than good."

Les Kondo, director of the Office of Information Practices, which oversees the state's open meetings law, said the office would commit to training boards and commissions at least once or twice a year, and more if it had the resources.

Under the bill, anyone attending at least three vision team meetings would be required to have training under the state's sunshine law, which calls for open meetings and public access to information.

Unlike other city boards and commissions, vision team participants are not elected or appointed. However, the Office of Information Practices has ruled the teams are subject to the requirements of the sunshine law. City Corporation Counsel David Arakawa contends that they should be exempt.

Each of the city's 19 vision teams comprises residents and city employees who have been able to prioritize how the administration spends $1 million or $2 million of its construction budget.

But after this year, money for the teams' projects will no longer be guaranteed.

It was unclear at the meeting yesterday whether the vision teams would still be required to comply with the sunshine law if they did not dictate spending.

Reach Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.