2015-07-20 Game Management Advisory Commission Minutes

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Hawaii Game Management Advisory Commission Meeting Minutes —July 20, 2015 used to have someone who just left— I forget his name — but make sure that the Mayor's Office knows what bills you are tracking and what your position is. Make sure that it comes from the committee — again, though, you are a committee that advises the Mayor and you may have to make sure that whatever you're endorsing is not necessarily the Mayor— and then the Mayor might not endorse — he might approve what your position is so you have to make sure you're not saying anything contradictory to what the County is pushing. The other thing about the committee is — you can have special emergency sessions too — so if— a lot of times — and I know this comes up in other commissions— and I haven't been doing this for very long so I know that in the last legislative session we were thinking about— for one of my commissions — having a special emergency — not emergency meeting — but a special meeting just so that the board can come together— to decide what the position is gonna be and then moving from there and then also — if you need to elect who's gonna be the spokesperson for particular legislation that you decided that at that special meeting. Chair Lodge: What the people do on this commission has been — if there was an issue they will email everybody that issue. And I know what you're gonna say but— blind copied to other commissioners and they're expected to respond back to that original sender. When something needs to be done — what we have also done is saying — if I don't hear back from you I'm gonna assume that's your agreement. BCH: You cannot actually do that. That's called serial communications and actually that's one of the big Sunshine Law violations. Also in your packet what I've included is the Rules of Ethics for Commissions and Boards and actually it's actionable — I mean you could be liable. You could actually be liable for misdemeanor. I used to be a public defender for 12 years, so I advise people not to break the law, but I'm your advisor— you can do what you need to, but I mean you can do what you want to based on what I advise you — chose to take the... TL: Take that issue right there. If you need something in a hurry— how do you do it? BCH: You would have to — you would go to Barbara and it has to be disseminated — but you cannot vote on anything — you cannot ask for an agreement— you cannot ask for a commitment to something unless it's an open meeting like this. That's the Sunshine Law. That's the heart of the Sunshine Law, actually, not to have dealings outside of the public knowledge, cause that's — that leads to back door dealings — and maybe it's not as apparent— abuse is not apparent for a board like this — but, you know, the Sunshine Law applies to all boards and commissions and some 16