Among the many ways that the COVID-19 pandemic hurts the public is the closing of the free flow of information.

The state Legislature, for example, functions because the public demands it. Hawaii is not finished figuring out how to get it right, so the business of forming our perfect union is always ongoing.

That is why for a third year in a row, voters are seeing the Democrat-controlled Legislature deny the public access to the state Capitol.

The practice started in 2020 when a senator was diagnosed with the highly contagious, potentially life-threatening virus.

The disease and fear of the state government serving as a channel spreading it caused the building to be declared off-limits.

A 2020 resolution noted that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “has officially issued guidelines to restrict gatherings of 50 or more people for the next eight weeks to help control the spread of COVID-19” — so that was it; no legislative hall pass for the public. If the public wanted to reach out and touch the Legislature and 76 lawmakers, it would do it “virtually.”

As the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported last week, legislative leaders decided to, as least for now, shut the door.

“With delta- and omicron- variant positive COVID-19 cases in the several thousands, the Senate is in agreement with the House of Representatives that in an abundance of caution, the Capitol should not be opened at the present time,” said House Speaker Scott Saiki and Senate President Ron Kouchi.

Saiki said “it was a painful decision” to announce the closure, and that he and Kouchi and other legislative leaders “agonized over it for weeks,” the paper reported.

Opening up Hawaii’s government has long been an issue as the public repeatedly sought to gain access to meetings and reports. The legislative tactic usually is to deny the meeting took place, or to say it was not a formal meeting or one that included a formal decision. Now the door just doesn’t open to the public.

The public can go to ball games and movies — but watch or lobby in person while ideas and concepts become laws? Nope, legislative leaders call it just too risky.

The National Conference of State Legislatures is tallying up the status of state legislatures for the 2022 political session, but last year, it showed that state legislatures took a scattered approach to COVID-19 closures, with some shutting down, some almost ignoring the virus and some that met it squarely and adapted.

While Delaware went virtual, the Indiana General Assembly canceled sessions and temporarily closed the statehouse; interestingly, New Hampshire tested a “drive-in meeting at the University of New Hampshire after the chamber’s speaker died of COVID-19,” according to the NCSL.

Several state legislatures, including Connecticut’s, ignored the weather and met outdoors.

In usually sunny Hawaii, committee hearings and legislative sessions will be televised.

If you want to listen to them in person, or have them see you in the flesh, you must hope to see them at Burger King or Zippy’s — both of which, unlike the state Legislature as of press time, were still offering table service.

Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays. Reach him at 808onpolitics@gmail.com.