HAR § 18-231-19.5-08 — Written opinions; petition for further disclosure

(a) Any person may petition the department to obtain additional disclosure of information contained in any written opinion that has been made open or subject to public inspection. The petition shall be submitted in writing to the department’s technical review office. (b) The petition shall contain: (1) Information identifying the written opinion for which additional disclosure is sought; (2) An indication of the information the department segregated but which the petitioner believes should be disclosed; and (3) For each item of information described in paragraph (2), an explanation of why the petitioner believes that the item of information should be disclosed. (c) No special form shall be required for the petition. A letter addressed to the technical review office, department of taxation, shall be a sufficient petition under this section if the letter complies with subsections (a) and (b). (d) If the department receives the petition more than eighteen months after the notice of intention to disclose was mailed, the department shall deny the petition and shall promptly notify the petitioner of the denial. (e) If the petition is not denied under subsection (d), the department shall notify all persons to whom the written opinion pertains of the substance of the petition, except that the department shall have no duty to notify the persons described in section 18-231-19.5-05(b). The notice shall request the recipient of the notice to reply in writing within twenty days by submitting a statement of whether the recipient agrees to the requested disclosure or any portion of it. (1) If all persons to whom the notice in this subsection is sent agree in writing to the requested disclosure or any portion of it, the written opinion shall be revised to disclose the information with respect to which an agreement to disclose has been reached, and the petitioner shall be so informed. (2) The department within a reasonable time, but not more than one-hundred-eighty days from the date it received the petition, shall deny the petition, and shall so notify the petitioner, if: (A) One or more persons to whom the notice in this subsection is sent do not agree to the additional disclosure requested; (B) One or more persons to whom the notice in this subsection is sent do not respond to the notice; or (C) The department is unable to notify one or more persons to whom the notice in this subsection is required to be sent, because of inability to locate the person, destruction of the department’s records in accord with normal procedure, or similar causes. (f) If the determination of the department under this section is partly or wholly adverse to the petitioner, the department shall notify the petitioner of the appeal rights under section 231-19.5(f), HRS, at the same time it notifies the petitioner of its determination on the petition.