Hawaii, nicknamed the Aloha state, became the fiftieth state in the U.S. on August 21, 1959. The state has 2 official languages, English and Hawaiian, with a population of 1.3 million residents. Hawaii benefits primarily from an economy consisting of tourism and agriculture of bananas, pineapples, sugar, nuts, taro and coffee. There are 5 counties and one municipality (Honolulu). Kalawao county is the smallest county in the United States with only 90 residents.
Similar to the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), Hawaii signed into law the Uniform Information Practices Act (UIPA). This law ensures residents of Hawaii open access to government records for any reason. Businesses and individuals make UIPA requests on a regular basis. One of the most recent notorious cases was the birth certificate of President Obama. UIPA requests only pertain to public information, records that are sealed, confidential or disclose private protected information are excluded. However, most records sought by residents are generally public records.
The Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center provides statewide criminal history records online. Any member of the public can request felony and misdemeanor criminal convictions. Businesses in Hawaii can conduct a conviction history check prior to employing a new member of personnel to their company. Individual private citizens can order criminal background checks to see a copy of their report before employers obtain any erroneous data. A background history can be expanded to include many records other than a person’s criminal past. Hawaii driving records from the Traffic Violations Bureau can be requested for employers requiring a driver’s history prior to employment. Court records can be obtained to see divorces filed in family courts. Certified paper copies can be requested from each courthouse and non certified information can be viewed online. Civil court searches can reveal past judgments, lawsuits and jury awards. Preliminary searches such as people finders can be instantly conducted using free web databases. Other instant searches include inmate locators, offender registries, professional license lookup and verification and the most wanted by law enforcement.
Locating assets in Hawaii can be successful by accessing the proper sources. Assets such as bank accounts, investment portfolios and other personal data are protected in Hawaii. Many other Hawaii assets are open to public inspection and request. Property such as real estate ownership is one of the larger assets held by private citizens which can be searched by accessing the Bureau of Conveyances. District of Hawaii bankruptcy court records can reveal list of assets and liabilities in case files. Vehicle ownership in Hawaii can be instantly searched using the web. Judgments and liens are available from Hawaii electronic court search.
Searching for public records initially require looking for the right sources that are current and helpful. PublicRecordCenter provides a directory specializing in sites that provide records, have easy simple online ordering instructions and free request forms. Many state agencies offer databases that can be searched with a computer where results can be printed at home. Indexing best sources found shows an individual browsing online which departments to visit and their procedures in obtaining information.
