He acknowledges that the HDOH CAN disclose the non-certified abbreviated BC, which means that the HDOH’s whole line about being forbidden is nonsense.
He says if I believe I am still entitled to receive it, I should contact the OIP who handles UIPA. I had made reference to UIPA in my request, and how the UIPA Manual says that a record that is not forbidden from disclosure by law (and Itamura acknowledges that disclosure of the non-certified COLB is not forbidden) is considered public and disclosure can only be denied if it meets at least one of the exemption requirements.
I did contact the OIP and they said (basically) that the DOH gets to interpret what 338-18 means, so if they say 338-18a forbids disclosure of what the Administrative Rules allows then that’s that. IOW, they totally abdicated their duty, since THEY are the ones who are supposed to interpret and apply UIPA.
Here is Itamura’s response:
This is in response to your complaint that the Hawaii Department of Health (DOH) has denied your request for a noncertified abbreviated copy of the birth certificate of President Barack Obama. You cited Section 2.5 B.(2) of DOH Public Health Regulations, Chapter 8B, as the basis for your request.
We reviewed DOH Public Health Regulations, Chapter 8B, titled “Vital Statistics Registration and Records,” and note that its purpose in part is to establish instructions and procedures relating to disclosure of vital records. Section 2.5, “Eligibility for Copies of Birth Certificates,” states in paragraph B.(2):
“Abbreviated Copy
. . . .
(2) A non-certified copy containing only such information as is listed in accordance with Section 2.2 may be issued to any person or organization requesting it.”
Section 2.2 states:
“List of Events
The Director of Health shall make available for public information current lists of vital statistics events, including marriage license applications, by posting same in the State Health Department, Kinau Hale building, Honolulu, or the District Health Offices on Hawaii, Maui and Kauai or by providing the same to the local newspapers on request. Only such identifying information for each event shall be included as the Director of Health considers appropriate.
A. No address shall be included in such lists unless approval is given by the registrants in cases of marriage license applications and marriage certificates and by one of the parents in the case of births.
B. Any report or information which in the judgment of the Director of Health may harm the character or reputation of a person involved shall be omitted from the lists.
C. No illegitimate birth shall be included in any list prepared under this section.”
We find that the above-cited rules do not require the DOH to provide you with a noncertified abbreviated copy of President Obama’s birth certificate. Instead, since Section 2.5 specifically provides that a noncertified abbreviated copy of a birth certificate “may be issued,” it affords the DOH Director the discretionary authority to issue or not issue such copy. The rules do require, however, that the DOH Director make available for public information current lists of vital statistics events, with the provision that only information considered appropriate by the DOH Director shall be included in such lists. According to the DOH, the current lists of vital statistics events consist of the same information that is required to be provided to the public under Section 338-18(d), Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS).
We reviewed Chapter 338, HRS, titled “Vital Statistics.” Section 338-18(d), HRS, states, “Index data consisting of name and sex of the registrant, type of vital event, and such other data as the director may authorize shall be made available to the public.” The DOH Director has not authorized any other data not listed in Section 338-18(d), HRS, to be made public. Index data, including index data regarding President Obama’s birth, is available for inspection at the DOH Office of Health Status Monitoring. The index data reported for President Obama is:
Birth Index
Obama II, Barack Hussein
Male
Based on the foregoing, we do not find the DOH’s denial of your request for a noncertified abbreviated copy of President Obama’s birth certificate to be unreasonable.
If you maintain that you are entitled to receive a noncertified abbreviated copy of President Obama’s birth certificate, we suggest that you contact the Office of Information Practices (OIP), which administers Chapter 92F, HRS, titled “Uniform Information Practices Act.” The contact information for the OIP is as follows:
Office of Information Practices
State of Hawaii
No. 1 Capitol District Building
250 South Hotel Street, Suite 107
Honolulu, HI 96813
Tel: 808-586-1400
Fax: 808-586-1412
Email: oip@hawaii.gov
As we do not believe we can be of further assistance to you in this matter, we will be closing your case in our files.
Sincerely yours,
/s/ ALFRED Y. ITAMURA
Analyst
Approved by:
ROBIN K. MATSUNAGA
Ombudsman, State of Hawaii
One other quick note on this. All the communication with the HDOH on this request - and it went on practically FOREVER - involved their telling me that they CAN’T disclose this because of HRS 338-18a, and how the Administrative Rules weren’t really talking about a certificate, they were just talking about index data, etc. Blah, blah, blah.
Gaslighting and sand-bagging. I now know the proper terminology for Okubo’s job description. lol.
So anyway, after Itamura concluded that their response was not UNREASONABLE I e-mailed him back to ask if he was going to make sure the HDOH knew that the reason they have been giving (We CAN’T disclose this because of HRS 338-18a) is dead wrong, and require them to give an accurate answer.
He never responded to my question in any way whatsoever.
We find that the above-cited rules do not require the DOH to provide you with a noncertified abbreviated copy of President Obama’s birth certificate.and
We reviewed Chapter 338, HRS, titled “Vital Statistics.” Section 338-18(d), HRS, states, “Index data consisting of name and sex of the registrant, type of vital event, and such other data as the director may authorize shall be made available to the public.” The DOH Director has not authorized any other data not listed in Section 338-18(d), HRS, to be made publicThis looks fairly straightforward - the ombudsman's office concludes that HDOH is not legally required to provide a noncertified copy, and that they are legally required to release index data. HDOH is following 338-18, a statute enacted in 1977 as far as I can tell, much later than the 1955 rules document. Where the statute conflicts with the rules document, they follow the statute.