(AP) — During the coronavirus pandemic, Hawaiʻi instituted the most extreme restrictions of any state on the public’s access to official records. Last March, Gov. David Ige issued an emergency proclamation suspending the state’s three-decades-old open records law, which aims to protect the public interest by exposing government to scrutiny. The Democratic governor says he understands why the open records law is important. But he says that during the pandemic, his administration asked employees to focus on keeping the community healthy and safe. Ige says it’s sometimes difficult in these circumstances to assign people to collect requested information, especially when deadlines are involved.

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