Hawaii Revised Statutes
92. Public Agency Meetings and Records
92-8 Emergency meetings.

§92-8 Emergency meetings. (a) If a board finds that an imminent peril to the public health, safety, or welfare requires a meeting in less time than is provided for in section 92-7, the board may hold an emergency meeting; provided that:
(1) The board states in writing the reasons for its findings;
(2) Two-thirds of all members to which the board is entitled agree that the findings are correct and an emergency exists;
(3) An emergency agenda and the findings are electronically posted pursuant to section 92-7(b), filed with the office of the lieutenant governor or the appropriate county clerk's office, and posted in the board's office; provided further that the six calendar day requirement for filing and electronic posting shall not apply; and
(4) Persons requesting notification on a regular basis are contacted by postal or electronic mail or telephone as soon as practicable.
(b) If an unanticipated event requires a board to take action on a matter over which it has supervision, control, jurisdiction, or advisory power, within less time than is provided for in section 92-7 to notice and convene a meeting of the board, the board may hold an emergency meeting to deliberate and decide whether and how to act in response to the unanticipated event; provided that:
(1) The board states in writing the reasons for its finding that an unanticipated event has occurred and that an emergency meeting is necessary and the attorney general concurs that the conditions necessary for an emergency meeting under this subsection exist;
(2) Two-thirds of all members to which the board is entitled agree that the conditions necessary for an emergency meeting under this subsection exist;
(3) The finding that an unanticipated event has occurred and that an emergency meeting is necessary and the agenda for the emergency meeting under this subsection are electronically posted pursuant to section 92-7(b), filed with the office of the lieutenant governor or the appropriate county clerk's office, and posted in the board's office; provided further that the six calendar day requirement for filing and electronic posting shall not apply;
(4) Persons requesting notification on a regular basis are contacted by postal or electronic mail or telephone as soon as practicable; and
(5) The board limits its action to only that action that must be taken on or before the date that a meeting would have been held, had the board noticed the meeting pursuant to section 92-7.
(c) For purposes of this part, an "unanticipated event" means:
(1) An event which members of the board did not have sufficient advance knowledge of or reasonably could not have known about from information published by the media or information generally available in the community;
(2) A deadline established by a legislative body, a court, or a federal, state, or county agency beyond the control of a board; or
(3) A consequence of an event for which reasonably informed and knowledgeable board members could not have taken all necessary action. [L 1975, c 166, pt of §1; am L 1996, c 267, §4; am L 2017, c 64, §3; am L 2019, c 244, §3]