Posted on: Thursday, May 5, 2005
'The records are public, they're just not accessible'
| • | Audit criticizes child support agency |
By Jim Dooley
Advertiser Staff Writer
Collection orders that the Child Support Enforcement Agency files publicly at the Hawai'i Bureau of Conveyances against parents who aren't paying child support are confidential records that the CSEA won't disclose to the public, according to the attorney general's office.
That opinion, which was upheld this week by the state Office of Information Practices, was issued after The Advertiser asked CSEA for copies of collection "enforcement orders" filed by the agency against 42 parents who owe more than $20,000 each in delinquent child support.
The 42 cases were among nearly 5,000 delinquent accounts the CSEA stopped trying to collect last year because the state either has lost track of the parents who are owed the money or the parents said they no longer wanted state help in collecting the debts.
Last year, CSEA gave The Advertiser a list of the 5,000 dormant accounts that included the amounts owed but excluded the names of the individuals who owed the money, saying that the identities were confidential under state law.
Last month, The Advertiser asked the agency for copies of the enforcement orders filed publicly against the 42 parents who owe between $20,000 and $80,000 in delinquent child support.
The orders list the names and Social Security numbers or state and federal tax identification numbers of the individuals who owe the money and are used by the state to seize property owned by the delinquent parents.
Attorney General Mark Bennett acknowledged that members of the public can look up the records at the Bureau of Conveyances but only if they know the names of delinquent parents, which CSEA won't release.
Office of Information Practices attorney Lorna Aratani issued an opinion April 29, released to The Advertiser Tuesday, upholding the CSEA position that records in its files, even if they are copies of public records, are protected by state confidentiality laws.
"The records are public, they're just not accessible," Aratani said yesterday.
University of Hawai'i professor Gerald Kato, chairman of the department of communications, called the situation "a classic Catch-22 in which the state is saying they have public records in their possession but they're not going to release them because they're confidential."
Kato said the state's position "would be amusing except that it's denying public access to important public records."
Reach Jim Dooley at jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2447.
