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Who reports records on the
RRS?
When an agency is reporting its records on the Records Report System
("RRS"), the best person to do the reporting is an employee
in that agency who is familiar with the records being reported.
This may very well be the "custodian of records" in that
agency, or the "officer in charge" of the record.
Clerical staff will be able to complete many of the
fields in the report, but supervisory staff are normally best qualified
to complete the legal fields (see the note at the end of the Data
Entry Instructions). Access classification is one of the legal
fields that should be determined by a supervisor
in the agency that maintains and is reporting the record.
Five access classifications:
To report whether a type of record is normally accessible to the
public or not, there are five possible classifications:
- PUBLIC - public access
is usually required.
- CONFIDENTIAL - public
access usually not permitted.
- CONFIDENTIAL/CONDITIONAL
- access permitted only to those persons, or under those conditions,
described by specific statute(s),
or
- CONFIDENTIAL/CONDITIONAL
- access permitted to public after segregation
(redaction) of information protected from disclosure by an applicable
UIPA exception.
- UNDETERMINED - access
will be determined at a later date.
The access classification refers only to the
general accessibility of a record title. Note that a particular
record of a publicly accessible type could ultimately be subject
to redaction or withholding by the agency if that record contains
information made confidential by law. Similarly, if a record title
has been designated as confidential by the agency, a particular
record of that type may nevertheless be subject to disclosure under
the law. Unless requested, OIP does not review the RRS data for
accuracy, including whether a record title should be classified
as public or confidential or whether a particular record should
be disclosed under the UIPA.
How to determine a record's
access classification:
UIPA:
To determine a record's access classification, follow the Uniform
Information Practices Act (Modified), Chapter 92F, Hawaii Revised
Statutes ("UIPA").
GENERAL RULE:
Remember the general rule, that all records are considered
public unless they are protected
by one of the five exceptions to disclosure. In addition, Section
92F-12 presents a long list of types of records that are always
public.
EXCEPTIONS:
The five exceptions to disclosure
are found in Section 92F-13:
1) Government records which, if disclosed, would
constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy;
(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. [L 1988, c 262, pt of §1; am L 1993, c
250, §1]
PRIVACY:
Section 92F-14 states that "Disclosure
of a government record shall not constitute a clearly unwarranted
invasion of personal privacy if the public interest in disclosure
outweighs the privacy interests of the individual." Section
92F-14 also gives many examples of information in which the individual
has a significant privacy interest. The most common examples are
an individual's home address, home telephone number, and social
security number.
Tips for reporting a record's access classification
on the RRS:
1. Browse the RRS to
see how other agencies in your department, or in other departments,
have reported the same record title, or similar records.
2. On the RRS, look at the State of Hawaii
Executive Agencies records. The OIP
added these 339 common State records to the RRS as examples
of how to report records. The OIP staff attorneys determined an
access classification for each of these records.
3. If the agency is unable
to identify or establish an access classification for the record
being reported, then select "Undetermined - access will be
determined at a later date." Use this classification sparingly,
for those more perplexing cases, and only after contacting an OIP
staff attorney for assistance. |
