[§92F-2]  Purposes; rules of construction. In a democracy, the people are vested with the ultimate decision-making power. Government agencies exist to aid the people in the formation and conduct ofpublic policy.  Opening up the government processes to public scrutiny andparticipation is the only viable and reasonable method of protecting thepublic's interest.  Therefore the legislature declares that it is the policy ofthis State that the formation and conduct of public policy--the discussions,deliberations, decisions, and action of government agencies--shall be conductedas openly as possible.

The policy of conducting government business asopenly as possible must be tempered by a recognition of the right of the peopleto privacy, as embodied in section 6 and section 7 of Article I of theConstitution of the State of Hawaii.

This chapter shall be applied and construed topromote its underlying purposes and policies, which are to:

(1)  Promote the public interest in disclosure;

(2)  Provide for accurate, relevant, timely, andcomplete government records;

(3)  Enhance governmental accountability through ageneral policy of access to government records;

(4)  Make government accountable to individuals in thecollection, use, and dissemination of information relating to them; and

(5)  Balance the individual privacy interest and thepublic access interest, allowing access unless it would constitute a clearlyunwarranted invasion of personal privacy. [L 1988, c 262, pt of §1]