OIP Experiences High Volume of Cases
News release from Office of Information Practices, September 28, 2026
The Office of Information Practices (OIP) administers Hawai‘i’s Sunshine Law found at part I of chapter 92, Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS), and the Uniform Information Practices Act (Modified), chapter 92F, HRS (UIPA). As a neutral agency, OIP helps other government agencies to comply with these laws, and helps the public to exercise their rights under the laws. OIP also resolves disputes between the public and government agencies or boards.
During Fiscal Year 2026 (FY 26), OIP received 117 appeal requests and also opened 247 other types of files. This represents a significant increase from previous years. By comparison, in FY 2025, OIP received 67 appeal requests and opened 160 other types of files. In FY 2024, OIP received 63 appeal requests and opened 152 other types of files. Following this trend, OIP has continued to receive a high volume of cases so far in FY 2027.
Because OIP is experiencing a high volume of cases along with staff vacancies, OIP asks that parties to cases be aware that processing times are longer than usual for opening new cases and resolving existing cases.
In addition, the increased use of artificial intelligence (AI) has resulted in OIP receiving very lengthy, often difficult to decipher requests from the public. These AI-generated requests often mischaracterize the laws and OIP’s role, which has resulted in OIP staff and attorneys having to spend significant amounts of time parsing out what an AI-generated request is actually seeking.
If you have submitted a request for assistance or a request for an appeal to OIP recently, please understand that OIP is processing your request and you will receive a response. Thank you for your patience.
OIPs-Report-of-State-and-County-Agency-UIPA-Record-Request-Logs-FY-2026.pdf
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