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Corp Counsel recognizes blog's 'colorable' argument

You may recall this post in which I questioned the County Environmental Commission's "Trash Tour" Oct. 1 to Oahu.

Corporation Counsel Lincoln Ashida e-mailed me Monday to say that the tour is now duly noticed as a public meeting. And though as of Tuesday night I don't see an agenda listed yet  on the Commission's Web site, here's what he wrote:

Since no “board business” was to be discussed or voted upon, it was originally believed such a visit was outside the purview of the Sunshine Law.

However, we do recognize a colorable argument could be made that the board was considering “board business,” as the sites were relevant for purposes of the EMC making recommendations to the department and/or Council. For this reason, the meeting was noticed by the Department last week, and the 6-day deadline was met.

However my argument about the location of the trip wasn't as "colorable," apparently, even though  it's public meeting that will exclude Hawaii County residents who can't afford the cost of an interisland trip. Ashida, who consulted the state Office of Information Practices, wrote:

OIP stated that, “If asked to opine on the issue of whether a county board can meet outside the county, we would likely adopt the approach that the Sunshine Law does allow such meetings where (1) there is a specific purpose or need for the location of the meeting, such as to meet with other boards located outside the jurisdiction or to view a specific matter; and (2) the out-of-jurisdiction meetings are not routinely held so as to effectively deny persons the right to attend the county board meetings. It is likely we would generally limit this to meetings within the state and/or with a standard used by at least a Florida court that the greater the distance from the jurisdiction, the heavier the burden on the board to demonstrate the need to meet at the location.”

Based on this guidance provided by OIP, the Environmental Management Commission could proceed with their tour, as the criteria were met.

So I'm taking my crayons and going home.