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IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF HAWAI#I

---o0o---

 

PEER NEWS LLC dba CIVIL BEAT,

Plaintiff-Appellee,

vs.

CITY & COUNTY OF HONOLULU and HONOLULU POLICE DEPARTMENT,

Defendants-Appellees,

and

STATE OF HAWAI#I ORGANIZATION OF POLICE OFFICERS,

Intervenor-Defendant-Appellant.

 

SCAP-14-0000889

APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE FIRST CIRCUIT

(CAAP-14-0000889; CIV. NO. 13-1-2981-11)

JUNE 9, 2016

RECKTENWALD, C.J., NAKAYAMA, AND WILSON, JJ.,

CIRCUIT JUDGE CRABTREE, IN PLACE OF McKENNA, J., RECUSED, 

WITH POLLACK, J., CONCURRING SEPARATELY

OPINION OF THE COURT BY RECKTENWALD, C.J.

This case arises out of Civil Beat’s request for the

disciplinary records of twelve Honolulu Police Department (HPD)

Electronically Filed

Supreme Court

SCAP-14-0000889

09-JUN-2016

08:35 AM
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officers who were suspended for at least twenty days for various

types of misconduct. HPD denied the request, and Civil Beat

filed suit. The State of Hawai#i Organization of Police Officers

(SHOPO) intervened as a defendant. The circuit court found in 1

favor of Civil Beat, ordering HPD to disclose the records, and

SHOPO appealed.

The circuit court based its conclusion on this court’s

1996 decision, State of Hawai#i Organization of Police Officers

v. Soc’y of Professional Journalists - University of Hawai#i

Chapter, 83 Hawai#i 378, 927 P.2d 386 (1996) (hereinafter SHOPO

v. SPJ), and on Office of Information Practices (OIP) Opinion

Letter No. 97-01 (Feb. 21, 1997). In SHOPO v. SPJ, this court

held that under a prior version of Hawaii’s Uniform Information

Practices Act (UIPA), police officers had no privacy interest in

their disciplinary suspension records, and thus HPD must disclose

the records upon request. The OIP, in Opinion Letter No. 97-01,

ruled that even though the legislature amended the UIPA in Act

242 to recognize a “significant privacy interest” in police

officers’ disciplinary suspension records, SHOPO v. SPJ still

mandated disclosure of such records. Thus, the circuit court

concluded that police officers have a “non-existent” privacy

interest in their disciplinary suspension records.

The Honorable Karl K. Sakamoto presided. 1

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We hold that SHOPO v. SPJ is not controlling. The

legislature’s amendments to the UIPA in Act 242, the plain

language of the UIPA, and its legislative history demonstrate

that police officers have a significant privacy interest in their

disciplinary suspension records. Disclosure of the records is

appropriate only when the public interest in access to the

records outweighs this privacy interest. 

The records requested by Civil Beat here involve cases

of serious misconduct that reasonably could call into question

the police officers’ trustworthiness or fitness to perform their

public duties. However, we cannot determine whether disclosure

is appropriate given the limited factual record in this case. We

therefore vacate the circuit court’s judgment and remand to that

court so it can review the records to determine whether the

public interest outweighs the officers’ significant privacy

interests.

I. Background

A. Civil Beat’s request for information

On October 4, 2013, Civil Beat sent a letter to the HPD

Custodian of Records requesting records of disciplinary actions

of twelve different police officers who were suspended for

misconduct between 2003 and 2012. All of these disciplinary

actions resulted in employee suspensions of at least twenty days. 

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The suspensions involved the following types of misconduct:

1. Violation of HPD’s electric gun policy and utilized

malicious force (twenty day suspension);

2. Was untruthful during an investigation. Failed to

maintain the confidentiality of the investigation

(twenty day suspension);

3. Falsified a police report and was untruthful during the

investigation (seventy-seven day suspension);

4. Hindered a federal investigation (six hundred twentysix day suspension);

5. Pled guilty to criminal charges (twenty day

suspension);

6. Fled the scene of a motor vehicle collision, failed to

report the collision, and provided false information on

the police report (twenty day suspension);

7. Falsified information in a motor vehicle collision. 

Failed to remain impartial during a motor vehicle

collision investigation. Was untruthful during an

administrative investigation (twenty day suspension);

8. Submitted a falsified report and fabricated the facts

regarding the probable cause to conduct a traffic stop

(twenty day suspension);

9. Willfully used physical force against another employee

causing injury (twenty day suspension);

10. Involved in a motor vehicle collision while under the

influence of alcohol. Fled the scene and falsely

reported the vehicle stolen. Failed to update personal

information (twenty day suspension);

11. Falsified police reports and expense vouchers. 

Misappropriated expense funds. Failed to submit

evidence. Participated in illegal gambling. Was

untruthful (thirty day suspension);

12. Assaulted another person and harassed the officer who

was investigating the incident (twenty day

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suspension).2

The information regarding the incidents of misconduct Civil Beat 2

listed in the letter was taken from “HPD’s annual disclosure of misconduct to

the State legislature in accordance with HRS § 52D-3.5.” This information is

available to the public but includes no more detail than the brief summary of

the misconduct listed here.

HRS § 52D-3.5 (2014) provides, in relevant part:

(a) The chief of each county police department shall

submit to the legislature no later than January 31 of

each year an annual report of misconduct incidents

that resulted in suspension or discharge of a police

officer.

. . . .

(b) The report shall:

(1) Summarize the facts and the nature of the

misconduct for each incident;

(2) Specify the disciplinary action imposed for

each incident;

(3) Identify any other incident in the annual

report committed by the same police officer; and

(4) State whether the highest nonjudicial

grievance adjustment procedure timely invoked by

the police officer or the police officer's

representative has concluded:

(A) If the highest nonjudicial grievance

adjustment procedure has concluded, the

report shall state:

(i) Whether the incident concerns

conduct punishable as a crime, and

if so, describe the county police

department’s findings of fact and

conclusions of law concerning the

criminal conduct; and

(ii) Whether the county police

department notified the respective

county prosecuting attorney of the

incident; or

(B) If the highest nonjudicial grievance

adjustment procedure has not concluded,

the report shall state the current stage

of the nonjudicial grievance adjustment

procedure as of the end of the reporting

period.

. . . .

(e) For any misconduct incident reported pursuant to

(continued...)

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Civil Beat requested the following information for each

instance of misconduct resulting in a suspension:

For each incident, if the highest non-judicial

grievance adjustment procedure timely invoked by the

employee or the employee’s representative has

concluded and thirty days has elapsed following a

written decision sustaining the suspension after that

procedure, [Civil Beat] specifically requests a

document or documents sufficient to provide the

following information:

• The employee’s name;

• The nature of the employment-related misconduct;

• HPD’s summary of the allegations of misconduct;

• Findings of fact and conclusions of law; and

• The disciplinary action taken by the agency.

For all other incidents, [Civil Beat] specifically

requests a document or documents sufficient to show

the date(s) that the employee or the employee’s

representative invoked each step in the non-judicial

grievance adjustment procedure. In addition, if

the non-judicial adjustment procedure terminated for a

reason other than a decision sustaining the

suspension, [Civil Beat] specifically requests a

document or documents sufficient to summarize the

reason that the procedure concluded and to show the

date that the procedure concluded. For documents

responsive to this paragraph, [Civil Beat] agrees that

HPD may redact the employee’s name and other

information that would disclose the employee’s

identity.

(...continued) 2

this section and subject to subsection (b)(4)(B), the

chief of each county police department shall provide

updated information in each successive annual report,

until the highest nonjudicial grievance adjustment

procedure timely invoked by the police officer has

concluded. In each successive annual report, the

updated information shall reference where the incident

appeared in the prior annual report. For any incident

resolved without disciplinary action after the

conclusion of the nonjudicial grievance adjustment

procedure, the chief of each county police department

shall summarize the basis for not imposing

disciplinary action.

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Thus, for cases where the highest grievance procedure

timely invoked by the employee has concluded, and thirty days has

passed following a written decision sustaining the employees’

suspensions, Civil Beat requested information that included the

employees’ names. For all other cases, Civil Beat did not

request the employees’ names.

HPD denied Civil Beat’s request in its entirety. To

justify its denial, HPD cited to HRS § 92F-13(1) and HRS § 92F- 3

14, and stated that Civil Beat’s request was an “[u]nwarranted 4

HRS § 92F-13 provides: “This part shall not require disclosure 3

of: (1) Government records which, if disclosed, would constitute a clearly

unwarranted invasion of personal privacy[.]”

The version of HRS § 92F-14 as amended by Act 242, which was in 4

effect at the time Civil Beat made its request provided, in pertinent part:

(a) Disclosure of a government record shall not

constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal

privacy if the public interest in disclosure outweighs

the privacy interest of the individual.

(b) The following are examples of information in which

the individual has a significant privacy interest:

. . . .

(4) Information in an agency’s personnel file, or

applications, nominations, recommendations, or

proposals for public employment or appointment to a

governmental position, except:

. . .

(B) The following information related to

employment misconduct that results in an

employee’s suspension or discharge:

(i) The name of the employee;

(ii) The nature of the employment related

(continued...)

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invasion of privacy,” and that the “[i]ncidents did not result in

discharge.” 

B. Prior proceedings

On November 7, 2013, Civil Beat filed a complaint in

the circuit court seeking an order directing HPD to disclose all

of the information Civil Beat sought in its October 4, 2013

letter. Civil Beat filed a motion for summary judgment (MSJ),

arguing that after this court’s decision in SHOPO v. SPJ, police

officers have no constitutional privacy interest in their

disciplinary records where the officers were suspended but not

discharged. Civil Beat further argued that UIPA permits

(...continued)

misconduct;

(iii) The agency’s summary of the

allegations of misconduct;

(iv) Findings of fact and conclusions of

law; and

(v) The disciplinary action taken by the

agency;

when the following has occurred: the highest

nonjudicial grievance adjustment procedure

timely invoked by the employee or the employee’s

representative has concluded; a written decision

sustaining the suspension or discharge has been

issued after this procedure; and thirty calendar

days have elapsed following the issuance of the

decision; provided that this subparagraph shall

not apply to a county police department officer

except in a case which results in the discharge

of the officer[.]

HRS § 92F-14 (Supp. 1996).

HRS § 92F-14 was amended in 2004 and 2014, but these subsequent

amendments are not relevant to this appeal. See 2004 Haw Sess. Laws Act 92, §

4 at 368; 2014 Haw. Sess. Laws Act 121, § 2 at 334-35.

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withholding government records on the grounds of personal privacy

only if the individual has a constitutionally protected right of

privacy. Thus, according to Civil Beat, HPD police officers have

no privacy interest in their records of disciplinary suspensions. 

Civil Beat also relied on a formal opinion of the OIP,

Opinion Letter No. 97-01. In OIP Opinion Letter No. 97-01, the

OIP first concluded that when the legislature amended the UIPA by

enacting Act 242 in 1995, it intended “to balance the competing

privacy and public interests in favor of keeping confidential

information about suspended officers.” Id. at 6. The OIP went

on, however, to conclude that this court’s decision in SHOPO v.

SPJ “erodes the significant weight assigned by the Legislature to

the suspended officer’s privacy interest, as set out in Act 242”

such that “only a ‘scintilla’ of public interest is enough to

overcome this privacy interest in the balancing test.” Id. at 8. 

The OIP also noted that arguably, the legislature was free to

create a significant privacy interest in police officers’ records

of disciplinary suspensions, even if no constitutional privacy

right existed, but that even if this were true, the interests

still need to be weighed, and this court’s ruling in SHOPO v. SPJ

“tips the balance heavily toward finding that the public has a

strong countervailing interest about suspended police officers.” 

Id. at 8-9. The OIP therefore concluded:

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Whether one finds that SHOPO eliminates the

Legislature’s finding of a significant privacy

interest or whether the Legislature has the power to

create the right, the result is the same-–disclosure

of information about suspended police officers cannot

be found to constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion

of personal privacy under the UIPA.

Id. at 9.

In its MSJ, Civil Beat argued that OIP’s analysis was

correct based on a plain reading of the UIPA, and that even if

the UIPA is ambiguous, OIP’s conclusion is entitled to deference. 

In the alternative, Civil Beat argued that even if the

UIPA does recognize a broader right of privacy than the

constitution, the public interest in disclosure nevertheless

outweighs the individual privacy interest. Civil Beat argued

that the public has an overwhelming interest in the disclosure of

disciplinary records regarding egregious misconduct by police

officers because: 

Instances of misconduct of a police officer while on

the job are not private, intimate, personal details of

the officer’s life . . . . They are matters with

which the public has a right to concern

itself. . . . If the off duty acts of a police

officer bear upon his or her fitness to perform public

duty or if the activities reported in the records

involve the performance of a public duty, then the

interest of the individual in “personal privacy” is to

be given slight weight in the balancing test and the

appropriate concern of the public as to the proper

performance of public duty is to be given great

weight. In such situations privacy considerations are

overwhelmed by public accountability.

(Quoting Cowles Publ’g v. State Patrol, 748 P.2d 597, 605 (Wash.

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1988)).5

Thus, according to Civil Beat, even if police officers

have a “significant privacy interest” in their disciplinary

suspension records, this interest must nonetheless be weighed

against the public interest in disclosure, and in this case, this

public interest outweighs the officers’ privacy interest. 

On January 9, 2014, the circuit court granted SHOPO’s

motion to intervene as a defendant. HPD and SHOPO each filed a

memorandum in opposition to Civil Beat’s MSJ. 

HPD argued that the plain language of HRS § 92F-14(b),

as amended by Act 242, indicated that an HPD officer has a

significant privacy interest in records related to employment

misconduct where the officer was suspended, but not discharged. 

HPD asserted that the “legislative history of Act 242 shows that

the legislature intended to conduct the balancing itself and

conclude “as a matter of public policy that the privacy of the

individual outweighs the public interest in disclosure with

respect to the information sought by [Civil Beat] in this case.” 

In SHOPO’s memorandum in opposition to Civil Beat’s

MSJ, SHOPO made similar arguments to HPD’s. SHOPO argued that

because HRS § 92F-14 recognizes a “significant privacy interest”

This same language was also quoted approvingly by this court in 5

SHOPO. 83 Hawai#i at 399, 927 P.2d at 407.

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in information related to police officer misconduct not resulting

in discharge, it “plainly and unambiguously exempts from

disclosure the disciplinary records of county police officers who

have not been discharged.” 

The circuit court granted Civil Beat’s MSJ, finding as

follows:

Article I, Section 6 of the Hawai#i Constitution

does not recognize a protected privacy interest in

police misconduct resulting in suspension or

discharge. The court interpreted Article I, Section 6

in light of the Supreme Court of Hawaii’s decision [in

SHOPO]. The Supreme Court of Hawai#i determined that

police officers do not have a protected privacy

interest in records of police misconduct that lead to

suspension or discharge. 

. . . .

The supreme court also stated that “information

regarding charges of misconduct by police officers, in

their capacities as such, that have been sustained

after investigation and that have resulted in

suspension or discharge is not ‘highly personal and

intimate information’ and, therefore, is not within

the protection of Hawai#i’s constitutional right of

privacy.” The court also went on to state: “The

information that must be disclosed pursuant [to] HRS

§ 92F-14(b)(4)(B) regarding a public employee’s

employment-related misconduct and resulting

discipline, is not ‘highly personal and intimate

information’ and is, therefore, not within the scope

of Hawai#i’s constitutional right of privacy.”

The UIPA cannot recognize a protected privacy

interest in police officer misconduct because to do so

would be to directly contravene the provision it

implements, which is Article I, Section 6. Under

Article I, Section 6, police officers have no

protected privacy interest regarding on-duty

misconduct that results in suspension or discharge,

and the UIPA implements Article I, Section 6, as given

in the SHOPO decision, which states “[t]he UIPA, and

the challenged amendment by Act 191, implements

article I, section 6 of the Hawai#i

Constitution . . . .” Thus, reading that language,

the court concludes under SHOPO as [sic] there is no

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protected privacy interests regarding on-duty

misconduct by police officers, therefore, public

access interest would outweigh non-existent privacy

interests in on-duty police misconduct.

The court believes that this is supported in

part on three grounds:

1. Looking at the purpose of the UIPA, which is

geared towards disclosure;

2. That the Hawai#i Supreme Court certainly

recognized that Act 242 would require only

limited disclosure to those police officers that

were discharged;

3. That the court finds that the State of Hawai#i

[OIP] decision, Opinion Letter No. 97-1, was not

erroneous.

. . . .

[L]ooking at the SHOPO decision, it again

appears to recognize that, there, Act 242 was about to

limit disclosure of records just to discharged

officers. The SHOPO court did begin its analysis

centered specifically at Act 191, but then the supreme

court went further in the analysis to consider,

moreover, the history of Article I, Section 6 of the

Hawai#i Constitution and went in-depth in a

constitutional analysis of police misconduct.

Accordingly, the Supreme Court of Hawai#i recognized

the impact of Act 242 and chose to additionally and

separately address its shortcomings under Article I,

Section 6.

. . . .

Based on the record and the analysis set forth

above, Plaintiff’s [MSJ] is GRANTED. Defendants are

hereby ORDERED to open public inspection and copying

by Plaintiff the requested records of twelve police

officers identified in the October 4, 2013 letter.

(Internal citation omitted). 

SHOPO filed a notice of appeal, and on February 10,

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2015, this court granted Civil Beat’s application for transfer.6

In its opening brief, SHOPO presents three points of

error:

1. Whether the Circuit Court erred when it granted

Plaintiff-Appellee Civil Beat’s [MSJ] by ruling

that Defendant-Appellee City was required to

disclose the disciplinary information of the 12

police officers who were not discharged.

2. Whether the Circuit Court erred when it found

that police officers that had not been

discharged from their employment had no privacy

interests in their disciplinary records in

reliance of SHOPO v. SPJ, 83 Haw. 378, 927 P.2d

386 (1996).

3. Whether the Circuit Court erred when it found

that OIP Op. 97-1 was not palpably erroneous.

II. Standards of Review

A. Summary judgment

“On appeal, the grant or denial of summary judgment is

reviewed de novo.” Lales v. Wholesale Motors Co., 133 Hawai#i

332, 343, 328 P.3d 341, 352 (2014) (citing First Ins. Co. of Haw.

v. A & B Props., Inc., 126 Hawai#i 406, 413, 271 P.3d 1165, 1172

(2012)). Furthermore,

summary judgment is appropriate if the pleadings,

depositions, answers to interrogatories and admissions

on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show

that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact

and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a

matter of law. A fact is material if proof of that

fact would have the effect of establishing or refuting

one of the essential elements of a cause of action or

defense asserted by the parties. The evidence must be

The City and County of Honolulu and HPD filed a notice stating 6

that neither party was taking a position in the appeal.

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viewed in the light most favorable to the non-moving

party. In other words, we must view all of the

evidence and inferences drawn therefrom in the light

most favorable to the party opposing the motion.

Id. (citing First Ins. Co. of Haw., 126 Hawai#i at 413-14, 271

P.3d at 1172-73).

B. Statutory interpretation

The interpretation of a statute is a question of

law reviewable de novo. When construing a statute,

this court’s foremost obligation is to be obtained

primarily from the language contained in the statute

itself. Where the statutory language is plain and

unambiguous, this court’s sole duty is to give effect

to its plain and obvious meaning.

Implicit in the task of statutory construction

is our foremost obligation to ascertain and give

effect to the intention of the legislature, which is

to be obtained primarily from the language contained

in the statute itself; however, when there is doubt,

doubleness of meaning, or indistinctiveness or

uncertainty of an expression used in a statute, an

ambiguity exists.

McLaren v. Paradise Inn Hawai#i LLC, 132 Hawai#i 320, 327-28, 321

P.3d 671, 678-79 (2014) (citations omitted). 

Further, this court has stated that an appellate court

generally reviews questions of statutory

interpretation de novo, but, in the case of . . .

ambiguous statutory language, the applicable standard

of review regarding an agency’s interpretation of its

own governing statute requires this court to defer to

the agency’s expertise and to follow the agency’s

construction of the statute unless that construction

is palpably erroneous[.]

Gillan v. Gov’t Emps. Ins. Co., 119 Hawai#i 109, 114, 194 P.3d

1071, 1076 (2008) (citing Vail v. Employees’ Ret. Sys., 75 Haw.

42, 66, 856 P.2d 1227, 1240 (1993)) (citation, quotation marks,

and brackets omitted).

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III. Discussion

As explained below, the circuit court incorrectly

concluded that police officers have a “non-existent” privacy

interest in their disciplinary suspension records. SHOPO is

correct that SHOPO v. SPJ is not dispositive because in Act 242,

the legislature recognized a privacy interest in police officers’

disciplinary records that was not applicable in SHOPO v. SPJ. 

Thus, Civil Beat cannot rely on the balancing conducted by this

court in SHOPO v. SPJ. However, the language and legislative

history of Act 242 indicate that even after a significant privacy

interest is found, that interest must be weighed against the

public interest in disclosure. Therefore, this case must be

remanded to the circuit court to balance the public and privacy

interests at stake to determine whether disclosure is

appropriate. 

A. Act 242 created a “significant” personal privacy interest in

records of disciplinary suspension, which is broader than

the right of privacy recognized in SHOPO v. SPJ

SHOPO first argues that the circuit court erred in

finding that police officers had a “‘non-existent privacy

interest’ in their disciplinary records,” because this finding is

contrary to the language of Act 242. Specifically, SHOPO asserts

that HRS § 92F-14(b)(4)(B)(v) explicitly provides that police

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officers have a “‘significant privacy interest’ in their

disciplinary records that do not involve a discharge from their

employment.” 

SHOPO further argues that SHOPO v. SPJ is not

controlling in this case because this court’s analysis in SHOPO

v. SPJ was limited to an analysis of a prior version of the UIPA,

before Act 242 became effective. SHOPO also maintains that the

SHOPO v. SPJ court recognized that, under article I, section 6 of

the Hawai#i Constitution, the legislature has the authority to

define the scope of the protected right of privacy, and that when

the legislature enacted Act 242, it broadened the protections of

the right of privacy to encompass police officers’ disciplinary

suspension records. 

Civil Beat does not dispute that UIPA recognizes a

significant privacy interest in disciplinary information in

police officers’ personnel files unless the officer is

discharged, but argues that this “does not mean police officers

have a right to insist that HPD withhold all such files.” 

According to Civil Beat, even these “significant privacy

interests” must be balanced against the public interest in

disclosure. 

Civil Beat further argues that this court and the OIP

have already weighed those interests and determined that the

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public interest in disclosure outweighs the police officers’

privacy concerns. Essentially, Civil Beat argues that because

the UIPA implements the constitutional right of privacy, the

privacy interest in disciplinary suspension records recognized by

UIPA is equivalent to the constitutional right of privacy under

article I, section 6. Thus, according to Civil Beat, even though

this court in SHOPO v. SPJ was applying a prior version of the

UIPA, when the court balanced the constitutional privacy interest

in disciplinary suspension records against the public interest in

disclosure, this balancing also applies to the current version of

the UIPA. 

On this point, SHOPO is correct. Although UIPA does,

as Civil Beat contends, implement article I, section 6, the plain

language of Act 242 clearly indicates that the legislature

recognized a “significant privacy interest” in police officers’

disciplinary suspension records in HRS § 92F-14(b). Because this

court in SHOPO v. SPJ stated that there was no privacy interest

in disciplinary suspension records protected by article I,

section 6, the “significant privacy interest” recognized in Act

242 is clearly broader than the non-existent right of privacy

recognized by this court in SHOPO v. SPJ. 

This court’s analysis in SHOPO v. SPJ was based on a

prior version of the UIPA, before the legislature recognized a

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significant privacy interest in police officers’ disciplinary

suspension records. Furthermore, Civil Beat has not provided any

authority to show that the legislature is without power to

broaden the definition of the right of privacy to recognize a

significant privacy interest in police officers’ disciplinary

suspension records, as it did in Act 242. The circuit court thus

erred in finding that police officers have a “non-existent

privacy interest” in their disciplinary suspension records.

1. Article I, section 6, UIPA, and Act 242

Article I, section 6 of the Hawai#i Constitution

provides: “The right of the people to privacy is recognized and

shall not be infringed without the showing of a compelling state

interest. The legislature shall take affirmative steps to

implement this right.” Thus, article I, section 6 recognizes a

general right of privacy and tasks the Hawai#i Legislature with

implementing that right.

The Hawai#i Legislature has implemented this right to

privacy in the UIPA. See HRS § 92F-2 (“The policy of conducting

government business as openly as possible must be tempered by a

recognition of the right of the people to privacy, as embodied in

section 6 and section 7 of article I of the constitution of the

state of Hawai#i.”). Codified in HRS chapter 92F, UIPA was

enacted in 1988 for the following purposes:

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(1) Promot[ing] the public interest in disclosure;

(2) Provid[ing] for accurate, relevant, timely, and

complete government records;

(3) Enhanc[ing] governmental accountability through a

general policy of access to government records;

(4) Mak[ing] government accountable to individuals in

the collection, use, and dissemination of information

relating to them; and

(5) Balanc[ing] the individual privacy interest and

the public access interest, allowing access unless it

would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of

personal privacy.

HRS § 92F-2 (2012).

The UIPA establishes the general rule of disclosure

that “[e]xcept as provided in section 92F-13, each agency upon

request by any person shall make government records available for

inspection and copying during regular business hours.” HRS

§ 92F-11(b) (Supp. 2014); see also SHOPO, 83 Hawai#i at 383, 927

P.2d at 391. The UIPA also provides for certain types of

government records that must be disclosed (HRS § 92F-12), and

certain types of records that are exempted from the general

disclosure requirement (HRS § 92F-13). The current version of

HRS § 92F-13, which excludes certain records from disclosure

requirements, is substantively identical to the original version

enacted in 1988, and provides:

This part shall not require disclosure of:

(1) Government records which, if disclosed, would

constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal

privacy;

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(2) Government records pertaining to the prosecution

or defense of any judicial or quasi-judicial action to

which the State or any county is or may be a party, to

the extent that such records would not be

discoverable;

(3) Government records that, by their nature, must be

confidential in order for the government to avoid the

frustration of a legitimate government function;

(4) Government records which, pursuant to state or

federal law including an order of any state or federal

court, are protected from disclosure; and

(5) Inchoate and draft working papers of legislative

committees including budget worksheets and unfiled

committee reports; work product; records or

transcripts of an investigating committee of the

legislature which are closed by rules adopted pursuant

to section 21-4 and the personal files of members of

the legislature.

HRS § 92F-13 (2012) (emphasis added).

Thus, although the general rule is that government

agencies must disclose records upon request, section 92F-13

exempts from disclosure any record that, if disclosed, would

constitute a “clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.”

HRS § 92F-14 currently states, as it did in 1988, that

“[d]isclosure of a government record shall not constitute a

clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy if the public

interest in disclosure outweighs the privacy interest of the

individual.” HRS § 92F-14(a). Section 92F-14 then goes on, in

subsection (b), to list a number of examples of the types of

information in which an individual has a “significant privacy

interest.” Relevant to the present appeal, the legislature has

made significant changes to section 92F-14(b) on two occasions

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since 1988. As originally enacted, UIPA recognized that

individual employees had a significant privacy interest in the

following relevant information:

(b) The following are examples of information in

which the individual has a significant privacy

interest:

. . . .

(4) Information in an agency’s personnel file, or

applications, nominations, recommendations, or

proposals for public employment or appointment

to a governmental position, except information

relating to the status of any formal charges

against the employee and disciplinary action

taken or information disclosed under section

92F-12(a)(14).[7]

HRS § 92F-14 (Supp. 1991) (emphasis added).

The 1988 version of UIPA thus provided that although

individuals had significant privacy interests in their personnel

file generally, there was no significant privacy interest in any

In 1988, HRS § 92F-12(a)(14) provided that agencies were required 7

to make the following information available for public inspection:

The name, compensation (but only the salary range for

employees covered by chapters 76, 77, 297 or 304), job

title, business address, business telephone number,

job description, education and training background,

previous work experience, dates of first and last

employment, position number, type of appointment,

service computation date, occupational group or class

code, bargaining unit code, employee agency name and

code, department, division, branch, office, section,

unit, and island of employment, of present or former

officers or employees of the same agency, provided

that this provision shall not require the creation of

a roster of employees; except that this provision

shall not apply to information regarding present or

former employees involved in an undercover capacity in

a law enforcement agency.

HRS § 92F-12(a)(14) (Supp. 1991).

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disciplinary action taken against the employee. 

In 1993, the legislature enacted Act 191, which amended

HRS § 92F-14(b) to read as follows:

(b) The following are examples of information in

which the individual has a significant privacy

interest:

. . . .

(4) Information in an agency’s personnel file,

or applications, nominations,

recommendations, or proposals for public

employment or appointment to a

governmental position, except:

(A) Information disclosed under section

92F-12(a)(14); and

(B) The following information related to

employment misconduct that results

in an employee’s suspension or

discharge:

(i) The name of the employee;

(ii) The nature of the employmentrelated misconduct;

(iii) The agency’s summary of the

allegations of misconduct;

(iv) Findings of fact and

conclusions of law; and

(v) The disciplinary action taken

by the agency;

when the following has occurred: 

the highest non-judicial grievance

adjustment procedure timely invoked

by the employee or the employee’s

representative has concluded; a

written decision sustaining the

suspension or discharge has been

issued after this procedure; and

thirty calender days have elapsed

following the issuance of the

decision; provided that this

subparagraph shall not apply to a

county police department officer

with respect to misconduct that

occurs while the police officer is

not acting in the capacity of a

police officer[.]

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HRS § 92F-14 (1993) (emphases added).

Thus, Act 191 amended section 92F-14 such that UIPA

recognized no significant privacy interest in information

relating to police officer misconduct if the misconduct occurred

while the police officer was acting in the capacity of a police

officer, thirty days had passed since the highest timely invoked

grievance procedure, and the suspension or discharge was

sustained in writing. 

In 1995, the legislature again amended section 92F-14,

when it enacted Act 242. Act 242 amended section 92F-14 to read

as follows:

(b) The following are examples of information in

which the individual has a significant privacy

interest:

. . . .

(4) Information in an agency’s personnel file, or

applications, nominations, recommendations, or

proposals for public employment or appointment

to a governmental position, except:

(A) Information disclosed under section

92F-12(a)(14); and

(B) The following information related to

employment misconduct that results

in an employee’s suspension or

discharge:

(i) The name of the employee;

(ii) The nature of the employmentrelated misconduct;

(iii) The agency’s summary of the

allegations of misconduct;

(iv) Findings of fact and

conclusions of law; and

(v) The disciplinary action taken

by the agency;

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when the following has occurred: 

the highest non-judicial grievance

adjustment procedure timely invoked

by the employee or the employee’s

representative has concluded; a

written decision sustaining the

suspension or discharge has been

issued after this procedure; and

thirty calender days have elapsed

following the issuance of the

decision; provided that this

subparagraph shall not apply to a

county police department officer

except in a case which results in

the discharge of the officer.

HRS § 92F-14 (2012) (emphases added).

Thus, under Act 242, the UIPA recognizes a significant

privacy interest in information in employees’ personnel files,

creates an exception from this significant privacy interest for

information relating to employee misconduct that results in

suspension or discharge, and then creates another exception to

this exception for police officers, unless the misconduct

resulted in the discharge of the officer. In other words, HRS

§ 92F-14 now recognizes a significant privacy interest in all

information relating to police officer misconduct unless that

misconduct resulted in the officer’s discharge (in which case,

there is no privacy interest).8

Based on the plain language of HRS § 92F-14(b), there

The relevant portion of HRS § 92F-14 was amended again in 2014, 8

when the legislature clarified that “this subparagraph” referred to

subparagraph (B) and increased the number of days that must elapse following

the written decision from thirty to ninety. See 2014 Haw. Sess. Laws Act 121,

§ 2 at 334-35.

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is thus no question that the UIPA, as modified by Act 242,

recognizes a “significant privacy interest” in personnel

information relating to disciplinary action for police officer

misconduct where that discipline resulted in the suspension of

the police officer.

2. SHOPO v. SPJ

Although this court decided SHOPO v. SPJ on

November 15, 1996--after the July 6, 1995 effective date of Act

242--SHOPO v. SPJ interpreted the prior version of UIPA, as

amended by Act 191, because the proceedings in that case began

before Act 242’s effective date. See SHOPO v. SPJ, 83 Hawai#i at

391, 927 P.2d at 399 (“The instant proceedings were begun well

before the July 6, 1995 effective date and are, therefore, not

affected by Act 242. Accordingly, we hold that Act 242 does not

moot this litigation.”).

In SHOPO v. SPJ, the Society of Professional

Journalists, University of Hawai#i Chapter (SPJ), requested from

HPD the names and titles of all HPD employees “who, from

January 1, 1998 to [August 30, 1993], were either suspended or

discharged as a result of disciplinary action against them.” 

SHOPO v. SPJ, 83 Hawai#i at 384, 927 P.2d at 392. SPJ also

requested “information that explains the nature of the

employment-related misconduct, any findings of fact and

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conclusions of law, and the type of disciplinary action taken by

your department.” Id. Although HPD did not outright deny SPJ

access to these records, a dispute arose regarding SPJ’s

obligation to pay for the records. Id. at 384-86, 927 P.2d at

392-94.

Before this dispute was resolved, SHOPO filed a lawsuit

against HPD, seeking a declaratory judgment that, inter alia,

“HRS Chapter 92F is unconstitutional and, therefore, void;

and . . . HPD may not release the type of information sought by

SPJ under Chapter 92F.” Id. at 386, 927 P.2d at 394. The

circuit court granted SHOPO’s request for a temporary restraining

order (TRO), enjoining HPD from disclosing the information

pending the outcome of the lawsuit. Id.

SPJ also filed suit, and requested that the circuit

court order HPD to produce all the relevant records in response

to its request. Id. SPJ and OIP both intervened as defendants

in the lawsuit filed by SHOPO. Id. at 387, 927 P.2d at 395. The

circuit court granted SPJ’s MSJ and ordered HPD to disclose the

relevant records. Id. at 387-88, 927 P.2d at 395-96. 

On appeal, this court noted that “[a]t the heart of the

City’s appeal is its contention that disclosure of police

disciplinary records, pursuant to HRS § 92F-14(b)(4)(B),

constitutes an unconstitutional invasion of police officers’

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right of privacy in violation of article I, section 6 of the

Hawai#i Constitution . . . .” Id. at 396, 927 P.2d at 404. In

response to the City’s argument, this court held:

[I]n adopting Act 191, the Legislature balanced the

competing interests of individual privacy and public

access and concluded, as a matter of public policy,

that after a public employee has exhausted any

nonjudicial grievance procedures available to him or

her and charges of employment-related misconduct have

been sustained, resulting in suspension or discharge,

the public interest in disclosure of that person’s

name and information regarding the misconduct

outweighs the employee’s privacy interest. The City

has failed to overcome the presumption that the

Legislature has achieved this balance in accordance

with the mandate of article I, section 6 of the

Hawai#i Constitution.

Moreover, considering the history of article 1,

section 6 of the Hawai#i Constitution, our prior

interpretation of that section, and the great weight

of authority from other jurisdictions, we hold that

information regarding a police officer’s misconduct in

the course of his or her duties as a police officer is

not within the protection of Hawai#i’s constitutional

right to privacy.

Id. at 396-97, 927 P.2d at 404-05.

Thus, this court held that the UIPA, as amended by Act

191, did not violate article I, section 6 of the Hawai#i

Constitution by requiring disclosure of police disciplinary

suspension records. In undertaking this constitutional analysis,

this court stated that: 

Under the holding in Painting Industry, the privacy

right protected by the “informational privacy” prong

of article I, section 6 is the right to keep

confidential information which is “highly personal and

intimate.” The issue, therefore, is whether the

identities and disciplinary records of police officers

who have engaged in such misconduct in the course of

their public duties . . . is “highly personal and

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intimate information.” The legislature, having

determined as a matter of public policy that public

employees who have been suspended or discharged for

employment-related misconduct do not have a

significant privacy interest in information about that

misconduct, obviously answered in the negative. So

too have those jurisdictions that have considered the

issue.

Id. at 398, 927 P.2d at 406 (emphasis added).

This court ultimately held that:

HRS § 92F-14(b)(4)(B) does not implicate the right of

privacy protected by article I, section 6 of the

Hawai#i Constitution. The information that must be

disclosed pursuant to HRS § 92F-14(b)(4)(B) regarding

a public employee’s employment-related misconduct and

resulting discipline, is not “highly personal and

intimate information” and is, therefore, not within

the scope of Hawai#i’s constitutional right to

privacy.

Id. at 400, 927 P.2d at 408.

This court in SHOPO v. SPJ therefore limited its

analysis to whether application of the UIPA, as amended by Act

191, violated the right to privacy in article I, section 6 of the

Hawai#i Constitution. This court did not, however, determine

whether disclosure of the police officers’ disciplinary

suspension records violated UIPA as amended by Act 242 because,

even though Act 242 had already become effective, Act 242 was not

applicable to the request for records in that case. 

Thus, contrary to the circuit court’s finding in the

present case, this court in SHOPO v. SPJ did not choose to

“additionally and separately address [Act 242’s] shortcomings”;

instead, the SHOPO v. SPJ court’s analysis of Act 242 was limited

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to a determination that Act 242 was not applicable to the facts

of the case, and that as a result, Act 242 did not render the

case moot. In this case, unlike in SHOPO v. SPJ, SHOPO does not

ask us to determine whether disclosure of the police officers’

disciplinary suspension records would violate article I, section

6, but asks us to determine whether such disclosure would violate

the police officers’ privacy interests under the UIPA, as amended

by Act 242. The court in SHOPO v. SPJ did not answer this

question, so SHOPO v. SPJ is not controlling in this regard.

Similarly, Civil Beat’s reliance on Painting Industry

is also misplaced. Civil Beat relies on a single statement in

Painting Industry that, because the UIPA implements the

constitutional right of privacy, “the scope of information

protected must be consistent with that right.” (Quoting Painting

Industry, 69 Haw. at 453, 746 P.2d at 81-82). Civil Beat argues

that this means that the scope of the privacy interest in the

UIPA, as amended by Act 242, is identical to the constitutional

right discussed in SHOPO v. SPJ. 

First, the court’s conclusion in Painting Industry is

not dispositive because it was interpreting the statutory right

of privacy as it stood before the UIPA was enacted. Second,

although the court in Painting Industry looked to the scope of

the privacy protection in article I, section 6 of the Hawai#i

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Constitution to help determine the scope of the statutory right

of privacy, the court’s statement that the statutory right “must

be consistent with” the constitutional right means simply that

the legislature may not limit the scope of privacy protected so

as to allow disclosure of records that are protected by the

constitution. Put another way, article I, section 6 establishes

a floor for protection of privacy rights, but does not preclude

the legislature from providing greater protection. Thus,

contrary to Civil Beat’s argument, Painting Industry does not

stand for the proposition that the legislature is powerless to

amend the statutory right to privacy to provide protections

beyond what was discussed in SHOPO v. SPJ. 

SHOPO also asserts that part of the SHOPO v. SPJ

court’s analysis was that the legislature, in the applicable

version of the UIPA, had unambiguously determined “as a matter of

public policy” that police officers do not have a significant

privacy interest in information about their disciplinary

suspensions. SHOPO contends that this means that this court

acknowledged that it is the Hawai#i Legislature’s responsibility

to “define constitutional protected privacy rights.” Although 9

In support of this argument, SHOPO also cites to the Proceedings 9

of the Constitutional Convention of Hawai#i, which states that the Convention,

when drafting article I, section 6, felt that:

(continued...)

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we do not agree that it is the Legislature’s exclusive role to

“define” the constitutional privacy right, nevertheless, as set

forth above, the legislature is not precluded from providing

privacy protections greater than those provided by the

constitution.

Civil Beat also relies on OIP Opinion Letter No. 97-01,

which concludes that “Act 242 recognized that suspended police

officers . . . have a significant privacy interest in information

relating to their employment misconduct.” Id. at 5. The OIP

went on to analyze the effect of the SHOPO v. SPJ decision on Act

242, and determined that: 

The SHOPO ruling eliminates the primary intent of Act

242 . . . of recognizing that suspended police

officers have significant privacy interests in

employment-related misconduct information. Because

the SHOPO decision erodes the significant weight

assigned by the Legislature to the suspended officer’s

privacy interest, as set out in Act 242, then only a

“scintilla” of public interest is enough to overcome

this privacy interest in the balancing test. 

(...continued)

We in the bill of rights committee could have gone

through the process of listing all the different ways

in which the right to privacy should be protected, but

we felt that this was not our job as constitutional

delegates, that we should merely state broad

principles and then let the legislature balance all

the different kinds of rights--the Freedom of

Information Act, the right of the people to know

(though not put in our Constitution, it still exists),

the right of attorneys to discover information, the

freedom of the press. The legislature should balance

all of these different competing rights and then have

something which would implement the right of privacy.

1 Proceedings of the Constitutional Convention of Hawai#i 1978, at 639 (1980).

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Id. at 8.

As explained supra, SHOPO v. SPJ does not “eliminate[]

the primary intent of Act 242” because SHOPO v. SPJ applied the

prior version of the UIPA only, and because the legislature

possesses the authority to enact a broader privacy protection

than that articulated by this court in SHOPO v. SPJ in its

analysis of article I, section 6. Under the OIP’s analysis,

which Civil Beat argues we should adopt, the legislature’s

amendments to the UIPA in Act 242 would be a nullity, and the

legislature would be powerless to change the scope of the privacy

protection for disciplined police officers, despite article I,

section 6’s mandate that “[t]he legislature shall take

affirmative steps to implement this right [of privacy].” Haw.

Const. art. I, § 6. Thus, the OIP’s analysis in Opinion Letter

No. 97-01 is palpably erroneous and does not inform our

interpretation of SHOPO v. SPJ or Act 242.10

In sum, the legislature recognized a significant

privacy interest in police officers’ disciplinary suspension

records in Act 242. However, as discussed below, this privacy

interest does not absolutely preclude disclosure, and must still

This court has held that OIP’s interpretations of its governing 10

statutes are entitled to deference unless found to be “palpably erroneous.”

Kanahele v. Maui Cnty. Council, 130 Hawai#i 228, 245-46, 307 P.3d 1174, 1191-

92 (2013). An OIP opinion is “palpably erroneous” when “inconsistent with

underlying legislative intent.” Id. at 246, 307 P.3d at 1192.

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be weighed against the public’s interest in the information. 

B. HRS § 92F-14, as amended by Act 242, requires a weighing of

the individual’s “significant privacy interest” against the

public interest in disclosure 

SHOPO argues that when the Hawai#i Legislature enacted

Act 242, it balanced the competing interests and intended to

preclude police officers’ disciplinary suspension records from

public disclosure without any further weighing required by the

courts. Although SHOPO acknowledges that “‘once a significant

privacy interest is found’ the second step is to balance that

interest ‘against the public interest in disclosure,’” (citing

SHOPO v. SPJ, 83 Haw. at 383, 927 P.2d at 391) it argues that the

Hawai#i Legislature performed this balancing in Act 242. 

According to SHOPO, the legislative history of Act 242

demonstrates this intent. 

Civil Beat argues that even though the legislature

recognized a significant privacy interest in police officers’

disciplinary suspension records in Act 242, the legislature did

not provide “absolute confidentiality” for these records, and the

privacy interest must still be weighed against the public

interest in disclosure before disclosure is precluded. Civil

Beat contends that interpreting the UIPA to create absolute

confidentiality in these types of records despite the

legislature’s silence on the matter would be contrary to the

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UIPA’s underlying purpose. 

When construing a statute, “our foremost obligation is

to ascertain and give effect to the intention of the

legislature.” Kauai Springs, Inc. v. Planning Comm’n of Cnty. of

Kauai, 133 Hawai#i 141, 163, 324 P.3d 951, 973 (2014). A statute

must be read in context and construed in a manner consistent with

its purpose and “each part or section of a statute should be

considered in connection with every other part or section.” Id. 

If a statute is ambiguous, we may take into account the statute’s

legislative history. Id.

HRS § 92F-13 exempts from disclosure any record that,

if disclosed, would constitute a “clearly unwarranted invasion of

personal privacy.” HRS § 92F-14(a) provides that “[d]isclosure

of a government record shall not constitute a clearly unwarranted

invasion of personal privacy if the public interest in disclosure

outweighs the privacy interest of the individual.” HRS § 92F14(b) then unambiguously includes police officers’ disciplinary

suspension records as an example of the type of record in which

the individual has a “significant privacy interest.” Nowhere in

the UIPA does the legislature state that disclosure of police

officers’ disciplinary records constitutes a “clearly unwarranted

invasion of personal privacy.” 

The terms “significant privacy interest” and “clearly

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unwarranted invasion of personal privacy” are not the same, and

where the legislature uses different terms in different parts of

a statute, we must presume this was intentional, and that the

legislature means two different things. Agustin v. Dan Ostrow

Constr. Co., 64 Haw. 80, 83, 636 P.2d 1348, 1351 (1981). Indeed,

HRS § 92F-14(a) indicates that for a “significant privacy

interest” to constitute a “clearly unwarranted invasion of

personal privacy,” the privacy interest at stake must be balanced

against the public interest in disclosure of the information. 

Thus, the structure and language of HRS § 92F-14 indicate that

once a “significant privacy interest” is recognized, it must be

balanced against the public interest in disclosure to determine

whether disclosure of the information would constitute a “clearly

unwarranted invasion of privacy.”

This interpretation is supported by the UIPA’s

legislative history. When the UIPA was enacted in 1988, the

House Judiciary Committee explained that “described in [section

92F-14(b)] are examples of those records in which the individual

has a significant privacy interest. Your Committee intends that

these records are available following application of the

‘balancing test’ to determine whether the public interest in

disclosure outweighs the individual privacy interest.” H. Stand.

Comm. Rep. No. 342-88, in 1988 House Journal, at 969 (emphases

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added). Commenting on the same provision, the Conference

Committee also stated that “[o]nce a significant privacy interest

is found, the privacy interest will be balanced against the

public interest in disclosure.” Conf. Comm. Rep. No. 112-88, in

1988 House Journal, at 818. These statements in the committee

reports, made in reference to versions of the provision identical

to the final version (which is also identical the current

version), indicate that there may be instances in which an

individual has a significant privacy interest in certain

information, but the public interest in disclosure is great

enough that it outweighs the individual’s privacy interest. 

Furthermore, this court in SHOPO v. SPJ came to the

same conclusion. The SHOPO v. SPJ court stated that:

The instant case requires application of HRS

§ 92F–13(1), excepting from the general disclosure

requirement “[g]overnment records which, if disclosed,

would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of

personal privacy[.]” The conference committee’s

explanation of this provision, which it “intended to

serve as a clear legislative expression of intent

should any dispute arise as to the meaning of these

provisions[,]” is that, “[o]nce a significant privacy

interest is found, the privacy interest will be

balanced against the public interest in disclosure. 

If the privacy interest is not ‘significant,’ a

scintilla of public interest in disclosure will

preclude a finding of a clearly unwarranted invasion

of personal privacy.” Conf. Comm. Rep. No. 112–88, in

1988 House Journal, at 817–18.

SHOPO v. SPJ, 83 Hawai#i at 383-84, 927 P.2d at 391-92.

This court thus found that:

HRS § 92F–14(b)(4) expressly confirms that an

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individual has a “significant privacy interest” in

information in an agency's personnel file, with the

exception of the specified information relating to

misconduct. This information unrelated to misconduct,

therefore, is exempt from the general disclosure

requirement unless “the public interest in disclosure

outweighs the privacy interests of the individual.”

Id. at 399-400, 927 P.2d at 407-08 (emphasis added).

The SHOPO v. SPJ court therefore held that information

in which an individual has a “significant privacy interest,” such

as “information unrelated to misconduct,” may nonetheless be

subject to disclosure if the public interest in disclosure

outweighs the individual’s privacy interest.

Although, as noted above, the SHOPO v. SPJ court was

applying a prior version of the UIPA, nothing in Act 242’s

amendments to the UIPA purports to change this analysis. Act 242

amended section 92F-14 so that the provision required disclosure

for police disciplinary actions resulting in discharge, but 11

left all other types of disciplinary action in the “significant

privacy interest” category, for which additional weighing is

required. In fact, the textual amendments in Act 242 support

Pursuant to SHOPO v. SPJ, if a police officer is discharged rather

11

than suspended as a result of a disciplinary action, disclosure would be

required upon showing a mere “scintilla” of public interest in disclosure. 

Shopo v. SPJ, 83 Hawai#i at 383-84, 927 P.d at 391-92 (“If the privacy

interest is not ‘significant,’ a scintilla of public interest in disclosure

will preclude a finding of a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal

privacy.”) (quoting Conf. Comm. Rep. No. 112-88, in 1988 House Journal at 817-

18). We note that because Act 242 recognizes a significant privacy interest

in suspension records, and all of the records at issue in the present case

involve disciplinary suspensions rather than discharges, the “scintilla” test

is not applicable here.

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this analysis because in addition to including police officers’

disciplinary suspension records as a “significant privacy

interest,” Act 242 changed the title of HRS § 92F-14 from

“Clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy” to

“Significant privacy interest; examples.” 1995 Haw. Sess. Laws,

Act 242 § 1, at 641. This amendment further clarifies that the

listed examples are not “clearly unwarranted invasions of

personal privacy,” but are instead “significant privacy

interests.” 

Further, although SHOPO v. SPJ was decided after the

legislature enacted Act 242, the OIP had also come to the same

conclusion before Act 242 was enacted. See OIP Op. Ltr.

No. 90-12, February 26, 1990, at 8, available at

http://files.hawaii.gov/oip/opinionletters/opinion 90-12.PDF

(stating that although an agency employee has a “significant

privacy interest” in information relating to disciplinary action

that is not in response to a “formal charge,” there are

circumstances where “the public interest in disclosure may

outweigh the employee’s privacy interest in the fact that

disciplinary action was taken and the circumstances surrounding

that action”) (emphasis added).

The legislature is presumed to know the law when it

enacts statutes, including this court’s decisions, and agency

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interpretations. See Agustin, 64 Haw. at 83, 636 P.2d at 1351

(“[T]he legislature is presumed to know the law when enacting

statutes, and we must presume that the legislature knew of the

definition we assigned to the word ‘accrued’ in Yoshizaki v. Hilo

Hospital, 50 Haw. 150, 433 P.2d 220 (1967), at the time it

amended § 657-8 in 1972.”); Keliipuleole v. Wilson, 85 Hawai#i

217, 225-26, 941 P.2d 300, 308-09 (1997) (“Presumably the

legislature was aware of the status of the law and the policies

of the [Board of Land and Natural Resources], yet declined to

amend the statute.”). Thus, we must presume that the legislature

was aware of the OIP’s interpretation of HRS § 92F-14 when it

enacted Act 242. The legislature nonetheless chose to place

police officer disciplinary suspension records in the provision

that recognized a “significant privacy interest,” instead of

creating an explicit exclusion from the UIPA’s disclosure

requirements.

SHOPO cites to remarks in the legislative history of

Act 242 to support its argument that the legislature intended, in

Act 242, to conclusively weigh the interests and find that police

officers’ disciplinary suspension records are precluded from

disclosure. 

However, SHOPO’s argument is without merit. First, as

explained supra, the language of the UIPA, as amended by Act 242,

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unambiguously requires us to balance the interests upon finding a

significant privacy interest, and as such, we need not resort to

the legislative history in order to interpret it. See Seki ex

rel. Louie, 133 Hawai#i at 406-07, 328 P.3d at 415-16. Second,

an analysis of Act 242’s legislative history reveals no clear

statement of intent that would warrant overriding what appears to

be clear from the plain language of the statute–-that we must

weigh the police officers’ significant privacy interest against

the public interest in disclosure of their disciplinary

suspension records. 

To support its argument, SHOPO points to two committee

reports accompanying S.B. No. 171 (the bill that proposed Act

242) which, SHOPO argues, indicate that the legislature intended

to preclude disclosure of disciplinary suspension records. 

First, the joint Senate Standing Committee report of the

Judiciary, Agriculture, Labor, and Employment Committees, which

referred to the original proposed version of S.B. No. 171,

stated: “The purpose of the bill, as originally received, is to

exclude from required disclosure under the government records

law, information pertaining to police department personnel

misconduct.” S. Stand. Comm. Rep. No. 627, in 1995 Senate

Journal, at 1064. The joint committees went on to amend the bill

as follows:

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To address some of the concerns expressed in

testimony, your Committees have amended this bill by

extending the applicability of the disclosure

requirement to acts of police misconduct which result

in the discharge of an officer. Your Committees have

further amended this bill by directing the chief of

each county police department to submit an annual

report to the legislature containing information on

the number of police officers suspended or discharged

by the department over the year. Your Committees find

that this bill, as amended, balances the concern over

the public’s right to know with the considerations

involved in ensuring and maintaining an effective

system of law enforcement in the State.

S. Stand. Comm. Rep. No. 627, in 1995 House Journal, at 1064.

However, contrary to SHOPO’s argument, this purpose

statement merely shows that the committees read the bill as

proposing to exclude disciplinary suspensions from required

disclosure; that is, the type of disclosure that disciplinary

discharge records are subject to (where a “scintilla” of public

interest in disclosure is sufficient to require disclosure). The

report, however, is silent as to the whether other records (e.g.,

those for which disclosure is not “required,” but in which there

is a “significant privacy interest”) are subject to balancing

against the public interest in disclosure. 

SHOPO also argues that the joint committees’ addition

of a legislative reporting requirement to HRS § 52D-3.512

This proposal was ultimately enacted as HRS § 52D-3.5, which 12

provides, in relevant part:

(a) The chief of each county police department shall

submit to the legislature no later than January 31 of

each year an annual report of misconduct incidents

(continued...)

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constituted the legislature’s solution after it had balanced the

privacy interests of the officers against the public interest in

disclosure. However, there is no indication that HRS § 52D-3.5

was the product of such balancing. The committee stated that the

bill would “balance[] the concern over the public’s right to know

with the consideration involved in ensuring and maintaining an

effective system of law enforcement in the State.” Id. (emphasis

added). This, however, is not the same balancing that must be

performed under HRS § 92F-14(a) because there is no mention of

the “privacy interest of the individual.” HRS § 92F-14(a). 

SHOPO next points to a standing committee report of the

House Judiciary Committee, which states that “[t]he purpose of

[S.B. No. 171] is to prevent the disclosure of the names of

administratively disciplined police officers, unless they have

been discharged from the force.” H. Stand. Comm. Rep. No. 1584,

in 1995 House Journal, at 1627. 

Although the purpose statement in this report also

seems to support SHOPO’s argument, the House draft bill

accompanying the report, S.B. 171, S.D.1, H.D.1, 18th Leg., Reg.

Sess. (1995), contained a statement that the purpose of the bill

(...continued)

that resulted in suspension or discharge of a police

officer.

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was to “provid[e] that the names of the administratively

disciplined officers are not subject to the disclosure

requirements of [section 92F-14(b)(4)] unless the discipline

imposed is discharge from the force.” Again, this statement

suggests that the intent was merely to prevent mandatory

disclosure of disciplinary suspension records, but is silent as

to whether further weighing against the public interest in

disclosure is required.

Furthermore, the remainder of the committee report does

not support SHOPO’s argument. The committee concluded that “the

release of police officers’ names simply because they have been

suspended is not appropriate since they are subject to more

stringent standards and tougher discipline than most other

government employees[.]” H. Stand. Comm. Rep. No. 1584, in 1995

House Journal, at 1627 (emphasis added). The committee also

expressed concern that police officers, “unlike most government

and private employees, are subject to para-military discipline

which manifests itself in the form of frequently applied

suspensions from duty for misconduct or violation of departmental

rules.” Id. 

Thus, the clear concern of the House committee was that

requiring disclosure of disciplinary suspension records in all

cases would lead to the disclosure of officers’ names for rule

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violations which, in other professions, would not be as serious

and may not result in suspension. The corollary to this concern

is the committee’s apparent recognition that in more serious

circumstances, disclosure of disciplinary suspension records is

appropriate. The committee’s concern is thus consistent with

interpreting Act 242 as requiring a balancing of the individual

officers’s privacy interests against the public interest in

disclosure. Instances of less serious police officer misconduct,

even those resulting in suspension, would likely not be subject

to disclosure because the officers’ significant privacy interests

would outweigh the public’s interest in knowing about the

misconduct. The more egregious the misconduct, the more likely

the public interest would outweigh the individual privacy

interest.

SHOPO also relies on floor remarks by legislators who

voted on Act 242 to support its argument that the legislature

conclusively weighed the competing factors and determined that

disciplinary suspension records should not be disclosed. For

example, SHOPO cites to remarks made by Representative Amaral:

[P]olice Officers are held to high standards, are held

to strict rules, are monitored and chastised in ways

that I have never seen other people chastised or

punished.

And now I hear that the public is fearful of what

police officers may be doing and, therefore, it needs

to have the names of those police officers that have

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been disciplined administratively. I hear that police

officers need to be trusted and so the way that police

officers can be trusted is if they will disclose the

names of those officers that they have disciplined.

The trust is a two-way street. I think you’ve got to

trust that there are systems and places for monitoring

the behavior of these officers, for correcting their

behavior, for punishing them appropriately.

(Quoting 1995 House Journal, at 681 (remarks of rep. Amaral)). 

SHOPO also refers to remarks made by Senator Graulty,

who quoted the testimony of HPD Chief Michael Nakamura:

I also want to instill in the public the trust and

confidence that if an officer commits a criminal act,

that officer is prosecuted to the fullest extent of

the law and the name of the officer is disclosed

publicly. Similarly, if an officer is sued civilly,

that officer’s name becomes part of the public record. 

However, it is not fair to punish police officers in

the media, nor is it fair to expose and subject their

friends and families to scorn, retaliation and threats

by disclosing the police officers’ names.

(Quoting 1995 Senate Journal, at 287 (remarks of Senator

Graulty)).

SHOPO’s reliance on these floor remarks is misplaced. 

First, remarks by individual legislators are not attributable to

the full legislature that voted for the bill, and as such are

less reliable indicators of legislative intent. See Wright v.

Home Depot U.S.A., Inc., 111 Hawai#i 401, 411 n.8, 142 P.3d 265,

275 n.8 (2006) (“To the extent that legislative history may be

considered, it is the official committee reports that provide the

authoritative expression of legislative intent. . . . Stray

comments by individual legislators, not otherwise supported by

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statutory language or committee reports, cannot be attributed to

the full body that voted on the bill.”) (quoting Bennett v.

Yoshina, 98 F. Supp. 2d 1139, 1150 (D. Haw. 2000)). 

Second, even if we were to consider individual

legislators’ remarks as evidence of legislative intent, these

remarks, like the committee reports, do not support SHOPO’s

argument because they do not expressly state any intent to

preclude disclosure of disciplinary suspension records without

first weighing the individual officers’ privacy interests against

the public interest in disclosure. Further, the remarks indicate

the same concern noted by the committees, that requiring

disclosure of suspension records could result in disclosure of

officers’ identities when they have been disciplined for

relatively non-serious misconduct. For example, in remarks not

cited by SHOPO, Representative Alcon stated, in support of S.B.

No. 171:

[T]his bill is a good bill because the police officers

have a way of handling their internal problems. You

mean to say, just because the policeman did not shine

his shoes that we will have to publish his name in the

paper? You mean to say that if a policeman is late

reporting to work, we have to publish his name in the

paper? You mean to say if a policeman did not make

his report, do we have to publish his name in the

paper?

1995 House Journal, at 682 (remarks of Rep. Alcon).

Again, recognition of these concerns is consistent with

a reading of the UIPA that requires us to weigh the police

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officers’ privacy interest in disciplinary suspension records

against the public interest in disclosure of the records.

Civil Beat, in further support of its position, argues

that the legislative history of subsequent amendments to HRS

§§ 92F-14 and 52D-3.5 in 2014 demonstrates that the legislature

intended for the courts to weigh individual officers’ privacy

interests against the public interest in disclosure even after a

significant privacy interest has been shown. 

In Act 121, signed into law in 2014, the legislature

specified with greater detail the information that police chiefs

must report to the legislature in their annual reports regarding

police discipline. Act 121 also changed the number of days that

must elapse following a written decision affirming an employee’s

discharge or suspension before records may be disclosed from

thirty to ninety in HRS § 92F-14(b)(4)(B)(v). See 2014 Haw.

Sess. Laws, Act 121, §§ 1-2, at 333-35. 

In arguing that the 2014 legislative history supports

its position, Civil Beat notes that the Conference Committee

“rejected the House’s effort to address police suspensions by

statute.” The House had proposed amending the exception provided

in HRS § 92F-14(b)(4)(B) to read, in relevant part: “provided

that this subparagraph shall [not] apply to a county police

department officer [except] only in a case which results in the

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suspension of one year or more for one incident or the discharge

of the officer[.]” S.B. 2591, S.D.1, H.D.1 § 2, 27th Leg., Reg.

Sess. 2014 (brackets and emphasis in original). The Conference 13

Committee deleted this proposed language and stated that its

version of the bill “creates a more informed public dialogue

about misconduct by police officers while recognizing that the

balance of privacy and public interest is not easily defined and

is a task better suited to common law.” Conf. Comm. Rep. No. 32-

14, in 2014 House Journal, at 1481-82. Thus, according to Civil

Beat, “[t]he Legislature . . . refused to amend the misconduct

exception to address police suspensions because it interpreted

the existing plain language of the UIPA as leaving the balance of

interests to the courts[.]” 

In addition, Civil Beat explains that when the House

Judiciary Committee proposed its amendment to HRS § 92F14(b)(4)(B), it cited SHOPO v. SPJ and acknowledged that the

decision may result in disclosure of such records:

Your Committee respectfully notes that consistent with

[SHOPO v. SPJ], allowing the disclosure of suspension

information instead of just discharge information does

not violate the privacy rights of individual police

officers. The Hawai#i Supreme Court held in SHOPO v.

SPJ that, “The information that must be disclosed

pursuant HRS § 92F-14(b)(4)(B) [sic] regarding a

public employee’s employment-related misconduct and

The brackets in the text indicate language that the draft bill 13

proposed deleting from the existing statute, and the underlined text indicates

language that the draft bill proposed adding to the statute.

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resulting discipline, is not “highly personal and

intimate information” and is, therefore, not within

the scope of Hawaii’s constitutional right to

privacy.” Nonetheless, your Committee has determined

to limit required disclosures of police misconduct to

suspensions of one year or more per incident and

discharges.

H. Stand. Comm. Rep. No. 1360-14, in 2014 House Journal, at 1364. 

Civil Beat argues that the Legislature therefore “knew that

failure to amend the misconduct exception or enact a

confidentiality statute may result in disclosure under SHOPO v.

SPJ.” 

SHOPO is correct that we should be wary of

“bootstrap[ping] the 2014 legislature’s intent to the 1995

legislature’s intent in enacting Act 242.” The legislative

history for Act 121 cited by Civil Beat is indicative of the 2014

legislature’s intent when enacting Act 121. It is not

dispositive of the 1995 legislature’s intent when it enacted Act

242. Further, the 2014 House Judiciary Committee’s reference to

SHOPO v. SPH is not relevant to the issue here because SHOPO v.

SPJ did not interpret Act 242. Thus, the 2014 legislature’s

rejection of the proposed amendment to HRS § 92F-14(b)(4)(B) does

not inform our understanding of Act 242.

Ultimately, although the relevant legislative history

of Act 242 contains some evidence of an intent to preclude

disclosure of police disciplinary suspension records, the

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legislative history of Act 242 as a whole lacks any clear

statement of such intent, which would be contrary to the plain

language of the statute. At best, the legislative history shows

an intent to preclude disclosure of disciplinary suspension

records in certain circumstances--i.e., where the police

officers’ misconduct is not egregious. This is consistent with

our reading of the plain language of HRS § 92F-14, which

requires, after finding a significant privacy interest in the

records sought, balancing that privacy interest against the

public interest in disclosure of the records. 

C. Given the limited factual record in this case, we must

remand to the circuit court to weigh the public and privacy

interests 

The circuit court, relying on SHOPO v. SPJ, reasoned

that police officers have no protected privacy interest in their

disciplinary records and concluded that “public access interest

would outweigh non-existent privacy interests in on-duty police

misconduct.” By not considering police officers’ “significant

privacy interest” in their records, the court did not engage in

the balancing required by HRS § 92F-14. Given the limited

factual record developed in this case, this court cannot now

properly weigh the interests in each instance of misconduct. 

Thus, we must remand this case to the circuit court to determine

whether the public interest in disclosure outweighs the privacy

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interests at stake. As contemplated by HRS § 92F-15, the court

should conduct an in camera review of the records and determine 14

on a case-by-case basis whether disclosure is warranted. See HRS

§ 92F-15(b) (In actions to compel disclosure of government

records, “[t]he circuit court may examine the government record

at issue, in camera, to assist in determining whether it, or any

part of it, may be withheld”). 

If the interests weigh in favor of disclosure of a

record, the court should also determine whether any redaction is

necessary, such as to remove identifying information of the

victim of a crime. Moreover, there is no compelling public

interest in the disclosure of police officers’ confidential

personal information such as home addresses, dates of birth,

social security numbers, driver’s license numbers, and bank

account information. Such information, if present in relevant

records, must be redacted. 

We further note that this court, as well as many

others, has emphasized the weight of the public interest in cases

involving police officer misconduct. In SHOPO v. SPJ, this court

recognized that “the appropriate concern of the public as to the

proper performance of public duty is to be given great weight”

An in camera review is a judge’s private consideration of 14

evidence. See Black’s Law Dictionary 878 (10th ed. 2014) (defining “in

camera” as “[i]n the judge’s private chambers”). 

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when balanced against competing privacy interests. 83 Hawai#i at

399, 927 P.2d at 407 (quoting Cowles Publ’g Co. v. State Patrol,

748 P.2d 597, 605 (Wash. 1988)). This is true when “the off duty

acts of a police officer bear upon his or her fitness to perform

public duty or if the activities reported in the records involve

the performance of a public duty.” Id. 

Similarly, in Rutland Herald v. City of Rutland, the

Supreme Court of Vermont explained that substantial weight should

be given to the public interest in disclosure because “there is a

significant public interest in knowing how the police department

supervises its employees and responds to allegations of

misconduct.” 84 A.3d 821, 825 (Vt. 2013). The court highlighted

the importance of the public’s ability to “gauge the police

department’s responsiveness to specific instances of misconduct

[and] assess whether the agency is accountable to itself

internally[.]” Id. (internal quotation marks and citation

omitted). 

In Tompkins v. Freedom of Information Commission, the

Connecticut Appellate Court reviewed records regarding the

disciplinary investigation of a discharged police officer and

emphasized the need to “facilitate the public’s understanding and

evaluation of the [department’s] investigative process,

decision-making and overall handling of an important matter

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involving a fellow police officer.” 46 A.3d 291, 299 (Conn. App.

Ct. 2012). The court further noted that “the more egregious the

specific behavior, the more a finding of legitimate public

concern is warranted.” Id.

Lastly, in City of Baton Rouge/Parish of East Baton

Rouge v. Capital City Press, L.L.C., the Louisiana First Circuit

Court of Appeal found that “the public has a strong, legitimate

interest in disclosure” of records of investigations into police

misconduct. 4 So.3d 807, 821 (La. Ct. App. 2008). The court

reasoned that “[t]he public should be ensured that both the

activity of public employees suspected of wrongdoing and the

conduct of those public employees who investigate the suspects is

open to public scrutiny.” Id. (internal quotation marks and

citation omitted). 

These cases recognize the compelling public interest in

instances of police misconduct given the importance of public

oversight of law enforcement. Police officers are entrusted with

the right to use force--even deadly force in some circumstances--

and this right can be subject to abuse. Public oversight

minimizes the possibility of abuse by ensuring that police

departments and officers are held accountable for their actions. 

The press’s access to records such as those at issue here is one

of the primary channels through which such public oversight can

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operate. See Gentile v. State Bar of Nevada, 501 U.S. 1030, 1035

(1991) (“[T]he press . . . guards against the miscarriage of

justice by subjecting the police, prosecutors, and judicial

processes to extensive public scrutiny and criticism.”) (quoting

Sheppard v. Maxwell, 384 U.S. 333, 350 (1966)). The more

egregious the misconduct, and the more closely connected to the

officer’s performance of his or her duties as an officer, the

more compelling this public interest.

Here, though the descriptions of the records requested

by Civil Beat are brief (recounted in full, supra, part I.A), it

is clear that the records involve serious misconduct. These

records include falsifying police reports, use of malicious

force, wilfully injuring another employee, fabricating facts

regarding probable cause, hindering investigations, and

misappropriating police funds. Further, two of the records––(1)

the seventy-seven day suspension for falsifying a police report

and being untruthful during an investigation and (2) the six

hundred twenty-six day suspension for hindering a federal

investigation–-appear to involve particularly egregious conduct,

as demonstrated by the length of the suspension imposed. 

With these considerations in mind, during its in camera

review of the records, the circuit court should review the

misconduct at issue in each case and determine whether the public

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interest in disclosure of such conduct outweighs the privacy

interests of a particular officer. 

D. SHOPO may not invoke the “frustration of a legitimate

government function” exception on HPD’s behalf

SHOPO also argues that “[t]he disclosure of a police

officer’s disciplinary records would frustrate a legitimate

government function” pursuant to HRS § 92F-13(3). In response, 15

Civil Beat argues that SHOPO may not invoke the legitimate

government function exception because only the agency from which

the records have been requested may invoke the exception. 

We conclude that Civil Beat is correct that only the

relevant government agency--in this case HPD--may invoke this

exception.

In OIP Opinion Letter No. 98-02, the OIP addressed

arguments made by Hawai#i Management Alliance Association (HMAA)

that the disclosure of eligible charges listed in HMAA’s contract

with Kona Community Hospital (KCH) would frustrate a legitimate

government purpose. OIP Op. Ltr. No. 98-02, at 1, 9, available

at http://files.hawaii.gov/oip/opinionletters/opinion 98-02.pdf. 

HMAA argued that disclosure of the charges would mean other

healthcare benefits companies would discover KCH’s lowest

HRS § 92F-13 provides, in pertinent part: “This part shall not 15

require disclosure of: . . . (3) Government records that, by their nature,

must be confidential in order for the government to avoid the frustration of a

legitimate government function[.]”

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acceptable price, which would mean they could negotiate lower

payments to KCH, which in turn would result in higher copayments

for patients. Id. at 9. The OIP stated that:

Although HMAA raises these frustration arguments on

behalf of KCH and [Hawai#i Health Systems

Corporation], the federal courts have refused to allow

a submitter to make such an argument on a government

agency’s behalf, particularly where the agency

declines to make the argument itself. Hercules, Inc.

v. Marsh, 839 F.2d 1027, 1030 (4th Cir. 1988) (where

an agency declines to argue that disclosure of

information would impair the agency’s ability to

obtain similar information in the future, the court

will not allow the submitter to raise the issue on the

agency’s behalf). And in Comdisco, Inc. v. GSA, 864

F.Supp. 510 (E.D. Va. 1994), the court deferred to the

agency’s determination that disclosure of the

requested information would not impair the agency’s

ability to obtain such information in the future. The

Comdisco court observed that the agency is in the best

situation to determine if disclosure would inhibit

future submissions. Id. at 515. 

Id. at 9-10 (footnote omitted).

The OIP thus concluded that “[a]s the agency does not

claim that disclosure of the eligible charges from the HMSA and

HMAA Contracts frustrates any legitimate government function of

KCH or HHSC, the OIP finds that there is no frustration.” Id. at

10 (emphasis added). SHOPO has not argued that the OIP’s

interpretation of HRS § 92F-13(3) is erroneous.

As Civil Beat notes, HPD did not claim in the circuit

court that disclosure of the suspension records would frustrate

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any government purpose. Moreover, HPD filed a notice of no 16

position regarding SHOPO’s appeal. Thus, HPD has not claimed at

any point in this litigation that disclosure of the records at

issue would frustrate any legitimate government purpose, and

SHOPO, as a third-party intervenor, cannot make that argument on

HPD’s behalf.

IV. Conclusion

HRS § 92F-14 recognizes a significant privacy interest

in police officers’ disciplinary suspension records, and this

interest must be balanced against the public interest in

disclosure of the requested records. Given the limited factual

record in this case, we cannot definitively determine whether

disclosure of the requested records is appropriate. The circuit

court must engage in an in camera review of the requested records

and determine whether the public interest outweighs the officers’

significant privacy interest in each instance. Thus, we vacate 

In its opposition to Civil Beat’s MSJ, HPD argued only the issue 16

of whether disclosure would constitute an unwarranted invasion of the police

officers’ personal privacy. Moreover, at the hearing on Civil Beat’s MSJ, the

only argument HPD made was that, when Civil Beat made its request for the

records in this case, HPD was precluded from releasing the records pursuant to

a 2001 circuit court order. 

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the circuit court’s June 10, 2014 final judgment and remand for

proceedings consistent with this opinion.

Keani Alapa and 

Vladimir Devens

for intervenor-defendantappellant

Donna Y.L. Leong, Paul S.

Aoki, Duane W.H. Pang and

Nicolette Winter for 

defendants-appellees City

and County of Honolulu and

Honolulu Police Department

Robert Brian Black 

for plaintiff-appellee

Peer News LLC

Jeffrey S. Portnoy

and John P. Duchemin 

for amicus curiae 

The Reporters Committee

for Freedom of the Press

/s/ Mark E. Recktenwald

/s/ Paula A. Nakayama

/s/ Michael D. Wilson

/s/ Jeffrey P. Crabtree

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