Although it’s April 1, this is not joke.

Circuit Court Judge Jeffrey Crabtree issued a minute order on Friday which holds that several limited liability corporations set up and controlled by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs are subject to the Uniform Information Practices Act, which requires most records of public agencies to be open to the public.

OHA has for years kept the inner workings of the organizations secret by claiming that the LLCs were independent of OHA and could not be considered to be “agencies” subject to the law.

Crabtree rejected OHA’s claims, and determined that the LLCs are indeed state agencies controlled by OHA and must comply with the open records law.

The ruling came in a case brought by Andrew Walden, editor of the Hawaii Free Press, an online publication covering local issues from what it calls a “free enterprise, small government, and individual liberty” perspective.

Walden went to court in August 2018 seeking access to the complete check registers, as well as the income and expense statements, of three OHA LLCs–Hi‘ilei Aloha, LLC; Ho‘okele Pono, LLC; and Hi‘ikapa, LLC.

Although the LLCs are established as separate entities, top OHA officials are their designated managers.

At the core of the case was the UIPA’s definition of an “agency” subject to the public records law.

“Agency” means any unit of government in this State, any county, or any combination of counties; department; institution; board; commission; district; council; bureau; office; governing authority; other instrumentality of state or county government; or corporation or other establishment owned, operated, or managed by or on behalf of this State or any county, but does not include the nonadministrative functions of the courts of this State.

The key legal issue in the case is whether the LLCs “are corporations owned, or operated, or managed by or on behalf of the State of Hawaii.”

Walden was supported by the Civil Beat Law Center for the Public Interest, which filed a legal brief supporting opening the LLCs records.

Attorneys representing OHA argued that the agency should be treated the same as Olelo, which manages Oahu’s public access television channels. A 2007 Hawaii Supreme Court case found that Olelo is not a public agency for purposes of the UIPA.

Judge Crabtree ruled, however that Olelo “showed nowhere near the ownership and control of management and operations as exists between OHA” and the LLCs, and determined they must comply with the public records law.

See the Hawaii Free Press for links to legal documents and prior analysis of the OHA LLCs.