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The Maui News
The Maui County Council and its committees will keep meeting online in the new year, Chairperson Alice Lee announced Thursday after Gov. David Ige signed an emergency proclamation to allow virtual public meetings to continue as COVID-19 cases rise.
Eight public meetings are set next week, including the full council meeting at 9 a.m. Friday.
"We had been preparing for in-person public testimony in the Council Chamber starting the first week of January based on the Sunshine Law," Lee said in a news release. "But for public health, it's commendable the governor is allowing us additional time to keep having exclusively online meetings."
Ige's emergency proclamation temporarily suspends an upcoming provision in Hawaii's Sunshine Law that would have mandated at least one in-person location be held for public meetings.
Act 220, which was passed and signed by the governor earlier this year, allows meetings to be conducted remotely, while still requiring at least one in-person meeting location. All other provisions of Act 220 will take effect as planned on Jan. 1.
The proclamation will remain in effect through Feb. 28, unless terminated or superseded by a separate proclamation.
The council has been meeting online since the pandemic began nearly two years ago and won a 2021 achievement award from the National Association of Counties for its online meetings, which have allowed residents to testify remotely from anywhere.
For more information on meeting agendas or to watch meetings online, visit mauicounty.us.