REPORT TITLE: 
Public Employment


DESCRIPTION:
Makes provisions found in collective bargaining agreements take
precedence over provisions found in chapters 76 through 83,
Hawaii Revised Statutes.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        2084
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES                H.B. NO.           
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                     A BILL FOR AN ACT

RELATING TO PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that the State's civil
 
 2 service system is based on "merit principles and scientific
 
 3 methods" governing the classification of positions and the
 
 4 employment, conduct, movement, and separation of public officers
 
 5 and employees.  The merit-based system was first developed in
 
 6 England in the 1800s to provide government service that was
 
 7 competent, fair, and free of political influence.  The United
 
 8 States adopted the concept of the merit-based system in the mid-
 
 9 1800s.  In the 1900s, the territorial legislature enabled
 
10 Honolulu to establish a civil service system.  In 1939, the
 
11 territorial legislature expanded this system to include the other
 
12 counties and the territory.
 
13      In 1939, fewer government services were provided in Hawaii.
 
14 At that time, the territorial government employed about thirteen
 
15 hundred civil servants.  In contrast, the State's workforce is
 
16 now around forty-four thousand full-time employees, of which
 
17 twenty-four thousand are in the civil service.  Of the remaining
 
18 twenty thousand, most of them are teachers, educational officers,
 
19 and university administrative staff and faculty. 
 

 
Page 2                                                     2084
                                     H.B. NO.           
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1      Over the last sixty years, the legislature finds that the
 
 2 State's civil service system has become overly restrictive and
 
 3 less responsive to the changing needs of the people of Hawaii.
 
 4 The legislature finds that the State cannot operate efficiently
 
 5 and effectively with a civil service system that is based on
 
 6 requirements and practices that may serve as impediments to
 
 7 change.
 
 8      Inefficiencies in the civil service system take a tremendous
 
 9 toll on the businesses, residents, and taxpayers of the State.
 
10 The legislature finds that instead of focusing on productivity
 
11 and outcomes, the existing civil service system tends to focus on
 
12 rules, job titles, regulations, and procedures.  This makes
 
13 responding to the needs of the public an afterthought to the
 
14 inflexible enforcement of bureaucratic requirements.
 
15      For example, there are statutory provisions governing public
 
16 employees that may conflict with provisions found in collective
 
17 bargaining agreements, which are authorized by chapter 89, Hawaii
 
18 Revised Statutes.  This situation is further complicated because
 
19 not all public employees subject to provisions found in chapters
 
20 76 through 83, Hawaii Revised Statutes, are in civil service and
 
21 members of any collective bargaining unit.  The legislature finds
 
22 that one way to resolve this problem would be to make provisions
 
23 found in collective bargaining agreements take precedence over
 

 
Page 3                                                     2084
                                     H.B. NO.           
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1 provisions found in chapters 76 through 83, Hawaii Revised
 
 2 Statutes.
 
 3      The purpose of this Act is to make provisions found in
 
 4 collective bargaining agreements take precedence over provisions
 
 5 found in chapters 76 through 83, Hawaii Revised Statutes.
 
 6      SECTION 2.  Chapter 89, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended
 
 7 by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to
 
 8 read as follows:
 
 9      "§89-     Collective bargaining agreement provisions take
 
10 precedence, when.  Any provision found in a collective bargaining
 
11 agreement made in accordance with this chapter shall take
 
12 precedence over any contrary provision found in chapters 76
 
13 through 83."
 
14      SECTION 3.  New statutory material is underscored.
 
15      SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
 
16 
 
17                           INTRODUCED BY:_________________________