Thank you for taking the time to write to me regarding transparency and democracy
during the COVID-19 crisis. Please know that many of your concerns were carefully
considered prior to the decision to temporarily suspend certain requirements of the
State’s Sunshine Law, part 1 of chapter 92, Hawai‘i Revised Statutes (HRS). While I
agree that transparency is of utmost importance, the ability of government to function at
all during a pandemic of the unprecedented sort we currently face is also critical and all
possible flexibility in this regard must be provided to government entities.