Every year, Hawaiʻi government agencies receive public records requests from citizens, journalists and researchers.

Theoretically, Hawaiʻi’s public records law — the Uniform Information Practices Act, or UIPA — makes government records available for public inspection. Records can include audits, budget reports, police records, government photos, police body cam videos, data or even public officials’ emails. Civil Beat is a common requester of records, and they often — although not always — turn into news stories. Some can spark investigations, inspire hearings or even lead to criminal charges.

“Press releases only present their best version of the facts,” said Brian Black, executive director of the Public First Law Center, a nonprofit law firm that specializes in government transparency. “Public records allow you to see everything that’s going on, so that you can make your own assessment without any filters from the government agency.”

But the law allows agencies to withhold records in certain circumstances, redact information pursuant to state law or charge hundreds — even thousands — of dollars for the work of searching and reviewing records. In the end, requesters can be left empty handed.

The Public First Law Center keeps track of which agencies are the most and least responsive every year. Its latest report on Fiscal Year 2025 notes numerous agencies that disclosed nothing more than half the time.

Records requests can be denied or redacted for legitimate legal reasons. That could include information that, if disclosed, would violate someone’s privacy or interfere with an ongoing criminal investigation. Agencies also aren’t required to create new records if they don’t already exist, so they sometimes deny records requests because they simply don’t have the information.

Other times, though, agencies improperly deny records requests that would reveal information that could invite criticism of their agency. Public First’s report doesn’t offer an opinion on the validity of the UIPA denials. But when agencies hold back what they should disclose, Black said that’s a problem.

“When an agency improperly denies access, it keeps the public in the dark,” he said. “And when we’re in the dark, we speculate, we make things up, rumors start. If we don’t know what’s going on, then we can’t correct it. If we think its wrong, we can’t advocate for better ways of doing things. It keeps us from being active participants in our own government.”

Other agencies are known for long processing times.

Some requests take an especially long time to fulfill, according to Public First’s report. The longest wait time was for a request to the Maui Department of Liquor Control that took 454 days — more than a year.

When requesters experience challenges prying records loose from a government agency, they can seek help from the Hawaiʻi Office of Information Practices.

That office, known as OIP, tends to receive complaints about the same agencies over and over, according to the report.

Public First’s report also gives kudos to four agencies that handed over records to 100% of requesters last fiscal year: The Kauaʻi Department of Finance, the Hawaiʻi Department of Accounting and General Services (also known as DAGS) accounting branch, the State Employer Union Trust Fund and the Hawaiʻi Department of Health’s clean water branch.

And the quickest agencies — those who responded in 10 working days or less — included the State Ethics Commission, the state auditor and the Honolulu Medical Examiner.