The Public First Law Center is a legal advocacy nonprofit that files lawsuits in Hawaii to expand and enforce the state’s public transparency laws. ¹ The Center originated as a component of Honolulu Civil Beat, a news organization founded by prolific left-of-center donor and founder of eBay Pierre Omidyar. ² The Center has won lawsuits against the State of Hawaii and the City of Honolulu to secure public disclosures regarding police, corporate, and legislative matters. ¹

History

In 2010, Pierre Omidyar, the billionaire eBay founder and left-of-center philanthropist, founded Honolulu Civil Beat, a news organization donated primarily to matters in Hawaii. In 2016, the Civil Beat converted into a charitable nonprofit and became a member of the Institute for Nonprofit News. ²

In 2013, the Civil Beat Law Center for the Public Interest spun off from the Honolulu Civil Beat as an independent 501(c)(4) nonprofit primarily dedicated to informing the public and media by obtaining public records. ¹

In January 2024, the Civil Beat Law Center for the Public Interest was renamed the “Public First Law Center.” ³

Activities

The Public First Law Center advocates government transparency in Hawaii state and Honolulu municipal governments. In addition to legal precedents set by its lawsuits, the Center claims that its legal pressure has enforced constitutional standards on bills, expanded public knowledge of prison conditions, helped digitize public record access, and kept the public informed on public health matters. ¹

Notable Cases

The Center’s first major case was launched in 2013 with a lawsuit against the Honolulu Police Department after it refused to release disciplinary records to the public concerning twelve officers. In 2022, First Circuit Court Judge Gary Chang ordered the release of the records. ³

In 2015, the Center filed a lawsuit against the City of Honolulu to access files regarding the city’s budget that were being withheld from the public record. The city invoked the “deliberative process privilege” to claim that revealing the records publicly would “frustrate” the budget building process. In 2018, the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Center. ⁴

In 2017, the Center sued the City of Honolulu after it held a closed meeting to protect the privacy of the participants, primarily the former police chief who was discussing his retirement benefits. In a 2019 decision by the Hawaii Supreme Court, the court ruled against the city and created a precedent that closed meetings required proof of a “legitimate privacy interest.” ⁵

In 2018, the Center, Common Cause, and the League of Women Voters of Honolulu sued the State of Hawaii for allegedly engaging in a practice in which legislative bills are proposed, discussed, completely changed, and then passed. The three nonprofits referred to the practice as “gut and pass” and asked the 1st Circuit Court to void Senate Bill 2858, which initially increased funding for the Hawaii Department of Public Safety to expand its annual report metrics, but was rewritten to provide funding for disaster preparedness. In 2021, the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled against the state and created new regulations for bill rewriting and hearings. ^{6 7}

In January 2024, the Center filed a lawsuit against Agribusiness Development Corp. (a public corporation) for allegedly violating Hawaii’s Sunshine Law after the company hired its executive director in a series of closed-door meetings. ⁸

Funding

In 2024, the Public First Law Center received $494,404.66 from Pierre Omidyar, who donated $16.4 million that year to 501(c)(4) organizations. ⁹

In 2023, the Center earned $407,962 in revenue, the vast majority of which came from contributions. ¹⁰ That year, Omidyar donated $381,643 to the Center. ¹¹

Leadership

Brian Black was named executive director and president of the Public First Law Center at the organization’s founding in 2013. Prior, Black served as the deputy of corporation counsel for the City and County of Honolulu and worked as an associate and then partner at Hogan Lovells. Black earned an undergraduate degree from Harvard University and a law degree from Cornell University. ¹² On the Center’s 2023 tax forms, the organization reported paying Black $208,750, as well as about $16,000 in other compensation. ¹³

In April 2023, Ben Creps became the second lawyer on staff at the Center. From May 2022 to April 2023, Creps served as deputy general attorney for the State of Hawaii. From December 2021 to May 2022, Creps served as a research attorney in the Hawaii State Senate. Earlier, Creps was a partner at Ashford and Wriston for over seven years. ^{14 15}

1. Epler, Patti. “The Civil Beat Law Center Is Now The Public First Law Center.” Honolulu Civil Beat. January 10, 2024. Accessed May 26, 2025. https://www.civilbeat.org/beat/the-civil-beat-law-center-is-now-the-public-first-law-center/.
2. “About Civil Beat.” Honolulu Civil Beat. Accessed May 26, 2025. https://www.civilbeat.org/about.
3. Epler, Patti. “8 Years Of Fighting The Police Union In Court And What Did We Get? Quite A Lot, It Turns Out.” Honolulu Civil Beat. January 25, 2022. Accessed May 26, 2025. https://www.civilbeat.org/2022/01/8-years-of-fighting-the-police-union-in-court-and-what-did-we-get-quite-a-lot-it-turns-out/
4. Grube, Nick. “Hawaii Supreme Court Overturns 30 Years Of Government Secrecy.” Honolulu Civil Beat. December 21, 2018. Accessed May 26, 2025. https://www.civilbeat.org/2018/12/hawaii-supreme-court-overturns-30-years-of-government-secrecy/.
5. Lovell, Blaze. “Hawaii Supreme Court: Boards Must Prove Privacy Interest To Close Meetings.” Honolulu Civil Beat. June 26, 2019. Accessed May 26, 2025. https://www.civilbeat.org/2019/06/hawaii-supreme-court-boards-must-prove-privacy-interest-to-close-meetings/
6. Lovell, Blaze. “Hawaii Supreme Court Ends Legislature’s Gut-And-Replace Tactic.” Honolulu Civil Beat. November 4, 2021. Accessed May 26, 2025. https://www.civilbeat.org/2021/11/hawaii-supreme-court-ends-legislatures-gut-and-replace-tactic/.
7. Eagle, Nathan. “Nonprofits Sue Hawaii Over ‘Deceptive’ Gut-And-Replace Legislative Practice.” Honolulu Civil Beat. September 5, 2018. Accessed May 26, 2025. https://www.civilbeat.org/2018/09/nonprofits-sue-hawaii-over-deceptive-gut-and-replace-legislative-practice/.
8. Heaton, Thomas. “Lawsuit Alleges Two State Entities Improperly Hired Their Leaders Behind Closed Doors.” Honolulu Civil Beat. January 12, 2024. Accessed May 26, 2025. https://www.civilbeat.org/2024/01/lawsuit-alleges-two-state-entities-improperly-hired-their-leaders-behind-closed-doors/.
9. “Teddy Schleifer.” X. May 13, 2025. Accessed May 26, 2025. https://x.com/teddyschleifer/status/1922419879644135919?s=46&t=jI5pta-LqWTQoagVEw7hsA.
10. ^[1] “Public First Law Center Form 990.” ProPublica. Accessed May 26, 2025. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/463490671/202433189349310853/full.
11. “Point of View.” The Omidyar Group. Accessed May 26, 2025. https://www.omidyargroup.com/pov/2024/04/04/omidyar-family-disclosures-2023/.
12. “R. Brian Black.” LinkedIn. Accessed May 26, 2025. https://www.linkedin.com/in/r-brian-black-04a81b87/.
13. “Public First Law Center Form 990.” ProPublica. Accessed May 26, 2025. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/463490671/202433189349310853/full.
14. ^[1] Epler, Patti. “The Civil Beat Law Center Is Now The Public First Law Center.” Honolulu Civil Beat. January 10, 2024. Accessed May 26, 2025. https://www.civilbeat.org/beat/the-civil-beat-law-center-is-now-the-public-first-law-center/.
15. “Ben Creps.” LinkedIn. Accessed May 26, 2025. https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-creps-940bb011/.