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"For the benefit of present and future generations, the State and its political subdivisions shall conserve and protect Hawaii's natural beauty and all natural resources, including land, water, air, minerals and energy resources and shall promote the development and utilization of these resources in a manner consistent with their conservation and in furtherance of the self - sufficiency of the State. All public natural resources are held in trust by the State for the benefit of the people." This overall doctrine is called the Public Trust Doctrine, and basically it's saying we are all accountable, not just to ourselves, but for the world that comes after us, and how we impact it. So, that Court case happened since the last Commission, that's why I felt it was important to bring this up in terms of what is the County's responsibility. As the Court describes it, it is an umbrella responsibility in terms of decision making. The other major theme is really just transparency, accountability and trust. I just want to quote from the State statute, under the Sunshine Law, and what are the policies involved. It is again, linking the people to government decision making, in a meaningful and informed way. I'm quoting from Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS) §92F -2. "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 of public policy. Opening up the government processes to public scrutiny and participation is the only viable and reasonable method of protecting the public's interest." So, again, especially in this County, where it is so big we don't have like in Waimea a little town where you can go sit and listen to what is going on. Given the current technologies, we can get more information out to people and how do we provide that. I'm just running through the specifics of what I put in my suggestions, and I would like you all to think about these things. I'm offering this as sort of a rough draft, and if you have thoughts, I'll try to come back next time. I've gotten a lot of suggestions of people saying, maybe you could do it this way in wording, so I think in the future I will come back. If there is something here that one of you is interested in, I'm grateful. I'm just trying to get some of these ideas moving forward in whatever way I can. The first one is to do with Ethics. It adds a new section to Article XIV under Ethics, and that would require disclosure by the members of their personal or business interests that could conflict with their ability to put the public's interest above a special or self interest. I took this language pretty much from the Ethics board, and what they ask of their members. Again, this is a rough reading, and it could be done in other ways. I think Ms. Hecht brought up that it would be good to have a little bit more understanding of who everybody is who serves on a board and what their interests are. So, transparency, accountability, avoiding conflicts of interest, and just letting people know who everyone is, and what their interests are. The second proposal that I made would be to add a new article to the Charter which would be Article XVII, and I titled it Transparency and Open Government. That is really incorporating the technology that we have now, that we didn't have before to promote; like requiring that notices of public meetings be placed on the County web site within the required notice period. I believe Honolulu now says that it is required to be put on the internet on their calendar if there is a public meeting. In a recent statement made by the Chair of the County Council, or maybe it was the Clerk, they said that really putting these notices up on the internet is just done as a courtesy, it is not required. If any board has a notice, they have to file it with the Clerk, and if possible, to put it at the site. So, putting it here would be your only required notice. 15