Hawaii Administrative Rules › Title 5 - DEPARTMENT OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL › Subtitle 1 - General Departmental Provisions and Programs › Chapter 1 - GENERAL ORGANIZATION, PRACTICE, AND PROCEDURE › Subchapter 5 - SPECIAL PROCEEDINGS › Section 5-1-70 - Petition for declaratory rulings

Current through June, 2024
(a) Any interested
				  person may petition the department for the issuance of a declaratory order as
				  to the applicability of any statutory provision administered by the department
				  or of any rule or order of the department. Petitions for the issuance of a
				  declaratory order shall state clearly and concisely the controversy or
				  uncertainty, shall cite the statutory authority or rule or order involved,
				  shall include a detailed statement of all the facts and the reasons or grounds
				  prompting the petition, together with full disclosure of the petitioner's
				  interest, and shall conform to the requirements of section 5-1-35. The
				  department, upon receipt of the petition, may require the petitioner to file
				  additional data or a memorandum of legal authorities in support of the position
				  taken by the petitioner. The department may summarily dismiss a petition for a
				  declaratory order if the petition does not meet the requirements of this
				  section and, after notification of the deficiencies and a reasonable
				  opportunity to correct the deficiencies, the petitioner fails to comply with
				  the requirements of this section in a material respect.
(b) Although in the usual course of
				  disposition of a petition for a declaratory ruling no formal hearing will be
				  granted to the petitioner or to a party in interest, the director may in the
				  director's discretion schedule a hearing. Any petitioner or party in interest,
				  who desires a hearing on a petition for declaratory ruling, shall set forth in
				  detail in its request the reasons why the matters alleged in the petition,
				  together with supporting affidavits or other written evidence and briefs or
				  memorandums of legal authorities, will not permit the fair and expeditious
				  disposition of the petition, and, to the extent that the request for hearing is
				  dependent upon factual assertion, the request shall be accompanied by an
				  affidavit attesting to those facts. In the event a hearing is scheduled by the
				  director, sections 5-1-31 to 5-1-49 shall govern the proceedings.
(c) The director may, for good cause, deny
				  the petition and refuse to issue a declaratory order. Without limiting what may
				  constitute good cause, the director shall refuse to issue a declaratory order
				  when:
(1) The question is speculative or
				  purely hypothetical and does not involve an existing situation or one that
				  reasonably may be expected to occur in the near future;
(2) The petitioner's interest is not of the
				  type that would give the petitioner standing to maintain an action in a court
				  of law regarding the same factual and legal circumstances presented in the
				  petition;
(3) The statutory
				  provision cited in the petition is not administered by the department or the
				  rule or order cited in the petition is not a rule or order of the department;
				  or
(4) The factual and legal
				  circumstances presented in the petition are involved in pending administrative
				  contested case proceedings or judicial proceedings that will result in a
				  decision on the applicability of the statutory provision or rule or order cited
				  in the petition.