EDITORIAL
Access to government data must be improved

Today is officially Freedom of Information Day. Pegged to the birthday of James Madison, one of the key authors of the Bill of Rights and the fourth president of the United States, Freedom of Information Day is being observed across the country through a variety of forums and workshops designed to focus on the importance of the public's right to government information — a basic premise of democracy.

In Hawai'i, we still have much work to do when it comes to public access to information.

As is often the case with private corporations, leadership defines the "culture" or environment. In the public arena, Gov. Linda Lingle has a key role to play in setting the tone for open government. Requiring her administration to make a special effort to ensure we are abiding by open-government laws would be a solid start.

But indeed, it's just a start.

A bill giving the Office of Information Practices, the public watchdog agency that deals with access to information, the power to enforce open-government policies passed through several Senate committees and is now in the House. What's needed now is a bipartisan effort and some political courage.

There should be clear lines of authority established for the OIP, giving it the enforcement tools it needs. That toolkit should include fines for those who violate open-government laws. Unfortunately, sometimes that "financial incentive" is what it takes to get people to comply and not simply regard these laws as an inconvenience.

And as a policy matter, the fees charged for public information must be kept to a minimum. Information also must be provided in a timely manner. Too often unnecessary delays result in the information becoming outdated and irrelevant. And fees charged for obtaining the information can be too prohibitive for the average person, often amounting to thousands of dollars.

These are reasonable solutions — particularly on the enforcement end. Yet a lack of enforcement was a key reason our state ranked 28th in a nationwide survey of open-records statutes conducted in 2002 by the Better Government Association, a nonprofit Chicago-based civic watchdog group.

Clearly we can do better. All it takes now is the political will.