“When a person requests a standard copy they SHALL be given one. When they request all or a portion of the CONTENT of the certificate (an abstract) they SHALL be given that.”
§338-13 Certified copies. (a) ...the department of health shall, upon request, furnish to any applicant a certified copy of any certificate, or the contents of any certificate, or any part thereof.
IIRC, what you said was the heart of Duncan Sunahara’s lawsuit against the DOH and the Hawaii court ruled against him saying that the DOH decides which one a person gets.
He is appealing that ruling. I Don’t know the status of the appeal.
Here is Sunahara’s appeal brief:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/110606460/HI-APPEAL-Sunahara-v-HIDOH-et-al-Appellants-Opening-Brief
And the response:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/110606437/HI-APPEAL-Sunahara-v-HIDOH-et-al-State-Appellees-Answering-Brief
Thanks to y’all for all the research into this, especially the Hawaii rules & concerning the last time they were updated.
My husband lives in california, and last year ran into the ‘abstract-not-ok-for-govt-use’ when he applied for VA benefits and for his passport.
All he ever had was the New York area hospital short-form abstract.
In both instances he had to send away for the long form certified copy and include it with the apps.
“...the DOH decides which one a person gets.”
Wow. Really? Are they that corrupt in that state? Don’t answer that.
Clearly the intent is that if a certified copy is requested the department SHALL issue it. If the contents are requested the department SHALL issue that. If any part of the contents without the whole set being requested the department SHALL issue that.
The ‘decision’ of the DOH to issue any ‘one of the three’ is almost without a a doubt in the category of arbitrary and capacious. HOW would the department decide which to issue. It is impossible to determine without arbitrary and capacious decision making.
Yes, they believe not getting caught in a lie is the same as telling the truth. But they are different. You have to keep lying to cover up the first lie. So how far does Hawaii go on with this? Probably till one of their own goes to jail.