The rewards for those who persevere far exceed the pain that must precede the victory. ~ Ted Engstrom and R. Alec Mackenzie Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared believe that something inside of them was superior to circumstance. ~ Bruce Barton Every job is a self-portrait of the person who did it. Autograph your work with excellence. ~ Motorola World Class Ambassador Club

1. THE STATE OF HAWAII
TRANSPARENCY
THE ACCUSATION ━ THE INDICTMENT ━ THE INDIGNITY
HAWAII GETS AN ‘F’
FOR ITS TRANSPARENCY ON STATE GOVERNMENT SPENDING
HANABUSA FOR GOVERNOR
Accessed July 9, 2018
https://www.hanabusaforgovernor.com/latest-news/hawaii-gets-an-f-for-its-transparency-on-state-
government-spending/
Once best-in-the-nation open data initiatives appear to have taken steps
backward. One could argue that the lack of leadership exhibited in
transparency and digital services is the hallmark of this administration in
virtually every area, from transportation to the false missile alert.
Honolulu Civil Beat recently published a stinging indictment on the Ige
administration's failure to provide adequate transparency of its fnancial
management (“Hawaii Gets An 'F' For Its Transparency on State
Government Spending,” May 8, 2018). This runs contrary to our belief
that the state website should provide the public an easy way to access
up-to-date information about fnancial, economic and many other types
of data housed in various state departments and which indicate how
efciently the state is operating and how efectively services are being
provided.
Unfortunately, the website as it now exists is an embarrassment. This
wasn't always the case. When the current governor took ofce, the state
internet portal, from which users navigate to the transparency site and
the data dashboards, was considered the best in the nation, winning the
2014 Best of the Web (BOW) and Digital Government Achievement
Awards (DGAA) from the Center for Digital Government.
Hawaii Gets An 'F' For Its Transparency On State Government Spending
Read this story in Honolulu Civil Beat.

2. As the Civil Beat article notes, the 2016 information provided on the
transparency site is woefully out of date, rendering it useless as a
snapshot of how the state is handling its fnancial responsibilities in May
2018. The so-called transparency site is not an isolated failure but an
indicator or symptom of a larger problem.
The dashboards (dashboards.hawaii.gov) on the state web portal were
also intended to provide a transparent view of state government
performance across a number of areas, including energy, agriculture,
education, employment and homelessness. Some of these have not
changed during the entire tenure of this governor. The rest largely
sufered the same fate as the transparency site data and lag years behind.
The problem, in fact, extends even beyond transparency site and the
state data and dashboard sites. Ultimately, the problem dates back to the
decisions made by the Ige administration early on, when the governor
elected to reject a coordinated approach to the development of Hawaii’s
IT infrastructure in favor of making changes on a piecemeal basis. This
decision, along with an aversion to planning, has resulted in numerous
missed opportunities.
And while the administration struggled with cost overruns and
performance issues on projects, like the Department of Human Services
KOLEA system, others like the state dashboards were neglected or
abandoned.
Only now has the administration fnally begun to modernize its paper-
based payroll system, though just implementing it in two departments (2
percent complete, based on the administration's own numbers) despite
working on the project for approximately 2 years. And while the
governor's spokespeople claim the remaining departments will be
modernizing their payroll systems by the end of the year, many informed
experts, both in and out of government, who understand the scope of
work involved, believe this possibility to be extremely remote.

3. We are coming up on four years during which much could have been
achieved. Yet today, the transparency site, the state portal and the entire
state IT system remain decentralized.
Once best-in-the-nation open data initiatives appear to have taken steps
backward. One could argue that the lack of leadership exhibited in
transparency and digital services is the hallmark of this administration in
virtually every area, from transportation to the false missile alert.
If Colleen Hanabusa is elected governor, making Hawaii more
transparent and accessible will be a top priority and a task she will
approach with passion and urgency.
______________________________________________________________
HAWAII GETS AN 'F'
FOR ITS TRANSPARENCY ON STATE GOVERNMENT SPENDING
A transparency website is meant to provide the public easy access to
information, but it isn't always updated quickly
By Courtney Teague. Honolulu Civil Beat
May 8, 2018, accessed July 9, 2018
https://www.civilbeat.org/2018/05/hawaii-gets-an-f-for-its-transparency-
on-state-government-spending/
A measure that would have required the state to publish the formulas
used to calculate the fnancial impact of proposed bills died in the
Legislature in the recently adjourned session.
That probably came as no surprise to public interest researchers who
say the state government needs to be more open about its spending
practices.

4. Hawaii is among the worst in the nation when it comes to being
transparent about the way state government spends its money,
according to a new study of state transparency sites.
The public shouldn’t have to work as hard as it does to understand
how the state government spends its money, according to a new
study.
The U.S. Public Interest Research Group Education Fund gave the
Aloha State an F for transparency, two grades lower than the C it
received in the last report two years ago. California, Alaska and
Wyoming were the only states to score lower.
That’s because the state's transparency webpage hasn’t updated its
spending information since 2016, said Michelle Sirka, tax and budget
campaigns director for the PIRG fund. The same is true for budget
information on the webpage.
The report also found the webpage was glitch-prone and lacked a
multi-tiered search function.
Gov. David Ige's administration has made strides in improving
government accessibility online — such as modernizing the state
payroll and tax systems — but there’s more to be done, said Christine
Mai'i Sakuda, head of the nonproft Transform Hawaii Government.
The agency advocates for a more open and transparent government
through technology.
Sakuda wondered whether the state has set a plan and priorities for
updating information on its website. It's not just the transparency
webpage that contains outdated information, she said.

5. “Clearly the data not being up is a refection of no one’s eyes are on
that and thought that it was important enough to update, which is
unfortunate and not acceptable,” Sakuda said.
Brian Black, head of the Civil Beat Law Center for the Public Interest,
presented testimony on the issue at a meeting before the state's
Information Technology Steering Committee last week. Part of the
committee's role includes developing plans for and assessing state IT
systems.
Black's testimony, drafted after meeting with groups who support
accessible data, suggested the state prioritize posting fnancial, tax
and procurement data, plus certain data from the departments of
Health, Commerce and Consumer Afairs, and Land and Natural
Resources.
Brian Black from the Civil Beat Law Center presents oral arguments
at the Supreme Court, Aliiolani Hale. 1 June 2017
The state plans to use Brian Black's priorities when deciding what
information to post online.
He recommended the state educate the public on available data and
ensure it’s posted in a timely manner and machine readable format,
meaning the fle can be easily opened on a computer.
“Providing a central site for electronic data allows the public to fnd
information efciently,” Black wrote.
The state plans to follow those priorities when revamping its website,
said Todd Nacapuy, head of the Ofce of Enterprise Technology
Services, which oversees the transparency webpage.

6. The spending data won't be posted to the transparency site in the
immediate future, but Laurel Johnston, head of the Department of
Budget and Finance, noted it is already posted to her department's
webpage.
“The data is there, it's just maybe not the way that PIRG or others
might want it so they can compare by state,” Johnston said.
The vendor that the Ofce of Enterprise Technology Services
currently uses to host its data, Socrata, is expensive, Nacapuy said. A
contract with a new vendor should be fnalized within the next
month and a half — that’s when the state will start work on posting
the latest spending data to its transparency page.
U.S. PIRG wasn’t impressed with Hawaii's site, but Nacapuy pointed
to ETS’s Department Dashboard, which launched this year.
It breaks down a timeline of IT projects by state department and
shows the cost, whether they're on track and its project managers.
The dashboard ensures accountability of the state's IT projects, he
said, adding that it's the frst such site in the nation.
Senate Bill 2257 would have required the Department of Taxation to
make public the formulas used to calculate the fnancial impact of a
bill. It died two weeks ago in conference committee, where
lawmakers from both chambers attempt to work out diferences.
The Tax Foundation of Hawaii wrote in testimony that the
availability of information about those estimates was “spotty at best.”
“Having the information would be a great step toward openness and
transparency in important legislative decisions,” the group wrote.

7. The Hawaii Community Foundation’s Omidyar Ohana Fund supports
Transform Hawaii Government. Pierre Omidyar is the CEO and
publisher of Civil Beat.
Additionally, The Civil Beat Law Center for the Public Interest is an
independent organization created with funding from Pierre Omidyar.
Civil Beat Editor Patti Epler sits on its board of directors.
__________________________________________________________________
REFERENCES IN CIVILBEAT ARTICLE EXPANDED
SB2257 SD1 HD1
http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/measure_indiv.aspx?billtype=SB&billnumber=2257&year=2018
Measure Title: RELATING TO TAXATION.
Report Title: DOTAX; Revenue Estimates; Public Disclosure
Description: Requires that revenue estimates provided by the Department of
Taxation to the Legislature or to any executive or
administrative ofce with respect to proposed legislation be
accompanied by a description of the methodology used and
assumptions made in providing the estimate. Requires that the
estimate and description be open to public disclosure. (SB2257
HD1)
Introducers: SENATOR GILBERT KEITH-AGARAN, SENATOR DONOVAN
DELA CRUZ, SENATOR KARL RHOADS, SENATOR J. KALANI
ENGLISH, SENATOR MIKE GABBARD, SENATOR DONNA
MERCADO KIM
__________________________________________________________________

8. FOLLOWING THE MONEY 2018
How the 50 States Rate in Providing Online Access to Government Spending Data
Rachel J. Cross, Frontier Group
Michelle Surka and Scott Welder, U.S. PIRG Education Fund
April 2018, accessed July 9, 2018
https://uspirgedfund.org/sites/pirg/fles/reports/FtM%20NATIONAL%20FINAL%20VERSION_0.pdf
FAILING “F” STATES
Table 6. Failing States
State Grade Score Rank
Hawaii F 48 47
California F 47 48
Alaska F 46 49
Wyoming F 35 50
This year, four states receive a failing grade refecting their failure to
follow many of the best practices of online spending transparency.
Wyoming's online checkbook fails to provide a functional search feature,
while the most current year of data available on Hawaii's checkbook
is 2016. While the state of California does publish tax expenditure
reports, these are not included on the state's transparency website,
making this information more difcult for users to locate than if all state
fnancial data were hosted in one central place.
Table A-2. Grading Scale
Score Grade Score Grade
97 to 100 points A+
94 to 96 points A
90 to 93 points A
87 to 89 points B+
83 to 86 points B
80 to 82 points B
75 to 79 points C+
70 to 74 points C
65 to 69 points C
60 to 64 points D+
55 to 59 points D
50 to 54 points D
1 to 49 points F

9. THE CIVIL BEAT
LAW CENTER FOR THE PUBLIC INTEREST
TESTIMONY OF EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR BRIAN BLACK
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY STEERING COMMITTEE
TODD NACAPUY, CHAIR
RE: DISCUSSION ON AVAILABILITY OF STATE OF HAWAI'I ONLINE DATA
MAY 3, 2018 AT 10:00 A.M.
[Excerpt]
Dear Chair and Members of the Committee:
My name is Brian Black. I am the Executive Director of the Civil Beat
Law Center for the Public Interest, a nonproft organization whose
primary mission concerns solutions that promote governmental
transparency. Thank you for the opportunity to submit testimony
regarding State of Hawai'i online data.
As this Committee is aware, Hawai'i law requires State agencies to make
“reasonable eforts” to make electronic data sets publicly available
through the State's open data portal. HRS § 27-44. And the Legislature
has asked this Committee to propose data goals and objectives as part of
a State strategic plan. HCR 94.
The Law Center encourages the Committee to carefully scrutinize the
State's approach to open data. As the State goes through various
modernization eforts and agencies track more information electronically,
open data must be an integral planning component, not an afterthought.
Without afrmative guidance, agencies will not devote adequate attention
to public access and open data principles. In that regard, the Law Center
would like to highlight a handful of open data guidelines and advocate
for better access to several known datasets.
__________________________________________________________________

10. The state plans to use Brian Black's priorities when deciding what
information to post online. The state plans to follow those priorities
when revamping its website, said Todd Nacapuy, Head of the Ofce
of Enterprise Technology Services, which oversees the transparency
webpage.
Source:
Hawaii Gets An 'F' For Its Transparency On State Government
Spending
A transparency website is meant to provide the public easy access to
information,
but it isn't always updated quickly
By Courtney Teague. Honolulu Civil Beat
May 8, 2018, accessed July 9, 2018
https://www.civilbeat.org/2018/05/hawaii-gets-an-f-for-its-transparency-on-state-government-spending/
__________________________________________________________________
Additional Reference
Open Letter to Governor Ige on Transparency
By Andrew Walden, Editor, Hawai`i Free Press
December 26, 2014, accessed July 9, 2018
http://www.hawaiifreepress.com/ArticlesMain/tabid/56/ID/14248/Open-Letter-to-Gov-Ige-on-
Transparency.aspx
__________________________________________________________________
Over the river a golden ray of sun came through
the hosts of leaden rain clouds
― Stephen Crane, The Red Badge of Courage

11. GOVERNOR DAVID IGE
CORE VALUES
Our core values are centered on collaboration and integrity,
guiding the state's new trajectory.
ALOHA: We treat everyone with dignity, respect and kindness,
refecting our belief that people are our greatest source of
strength.
KULEANA: We uphold a standard of transparency,
accountability and reliability, performing our work as a
government that is worthy of the public’s trust.
LAULIMA: We work collaboratively with business, labor and the
community to fulfll our public purpose.
KŪLIA: We do our very best to refect our commitment to
excellence.
PONO: We strive to do the right thing, the right way, for the
right reasons to deliver results that are in the best interest of the
public.
LŌKAHI: We honor the diversity of our employees and our
constituents through inclusiveness and respect for the diferent
perspectives that each brings to the table.
HO`OKUMU: We continually seek new and innovative ways to
accomplish our work and commit to fnding creative solutions to
the critical issues facing this state.