REPORT TITLE:
Vacancy Pools


DESCRIPTION:
Requires transfer of all vacancies as of 6/30/99 to pools where
1/2 are to be abolished and funds lapse to general fund;
remaining positions to be reallocated by governor or chief
justice with funds to be used for reallocated positions.
Prohibits creation of new exempt positions.  Applies to vacancies
after 6/30/99.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        
THE SENATE                              S.B. NO.           45
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO VACANCIES. 


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

 1      SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that the State's
 
 2 continuous and persistent economic downturn seriously threatens
 
 3 the fiscal condition of state government.  The council on
 
 4 revenues currently projects a virtual no growth economy and a
 
 5 decrease in tax revenue for fiscal year 2000.  The legislature
 
 6 further finds that this stagnant revenue trend requires that the
 
 7 size of state government be scaled down in a rational and
 
 8 equitable manner in order to protect the fiscal integrity of the
 
 9 State's general fund.
 
10      The legislature also finds that each year, by attrition, a
 
11 number of vacancies occur throughout state government.
 
12 Typically, during austere times, a freeze on vacant positions is
 
13 one of the first actions taken for cost savings purposes.
 
14 However, the legislature finds that such a policy not only ties
 
15 up moneys in agency accounts, but also unfairly penalizes smaller
 
16 agencies that operate efficiently within their allocated
 
17 resources, or are burdened with increasing mandated services.
 
18      The purpose of this Act is to provide a temporary mechanism
 
19 that provides for an immediate reduction in the size of state
 

 
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 1 government, while at the same time allowing flexibility in the
 
 2 use of vacant positions to deploy resources to areas of critical
 
 3 need.  To accomplish this, this Act requires that: 
 
 4      (1)  All vacant positions existing (in the executive and
 
 5           judicial branches) as of June 30, 1999, be transferred
 
 6           to a vacancy pool (separate pools for executive and
 
 7           judicial branches) where one-half shall be eliminated
 
 8           and one-half of the total moneys appropriated for all
 
 9           such vacant positions shall lapse;
 
10      (2)  One-half of all vacant positions existing as of
 
11           June 30, 1999, shall remain in the vacancy pool
 
12           (separate pools for executive and judicial branches)
 
13           and one-half of the moneys appropriated for all
 
14           vacancies existing as of June 30, 1999, and not lapsed
 
15           under paragraph (1) shall be deposited into a special
 
16           vacancy account;
 
17      (3)  After June 30, 1999, upon the occurrence of a vacancy,
 
18           that vacant position shall automatically be transferred
 
19           to the vacancy pool with one-half of the moneys
 
20           appropriated for that position lapsing into the general
 
21           fund and the remaining moneys deposited into the
 
22           special vacancy account;
 
23      (4)  Positions in a vacancy pool shall be categorized by
 

 
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 1           civil service and exempt positions and accounted for
 
 2           separately;
 
 3      (5)  The governor and the chief justice shall determine how
 
 4           the positions and the moneys in the vacancy pools under
 
 5           their respective jurisdictions shall be allocated
 
 6           within guidelines established by this Act;
 
 7      (6)  After June 30, 1999, only positions established through
 
 8           the vacancy pool procedure under this Act may be filled
 
 9           and, notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, the
 
10           governor and the chief justice shall be expressly
 
11           prohibited from establishing any exempt positions; and
 
12      (7)  To obtain an accurate count of all state personnel that
 
13           can be used to reasonably control the future growth of
 
14           state government, the governor and chief justice are
 
15           required to submit a baseline report of all positions
 
16           and vacancies as of June 30, 1999, as well as biannual
 
17           status reports regarding the vacant positions and
 
18           moneys in their respective vacancy pools.
 
19      SECTION 2.  Applicability.(a)  This Act applies to all
 
20 positions paid from the general fund, as defined in
 
21 section 76-11(18), Hawaii Revised Statutes, of the executive and
 
22 judicial branches of state government that are subject to civil
 
23 service, under chapter 76, Hawaii Revised Statutes, and exempt
 

 
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 1 under section 76-16, Hawaii Revised Statutes.
 
 2      (b)  This Act does not apply to the counties or to positions
 
 3 wholly or partially funded by federal or special funds.
 
 4      (c)  As used in this Act, "vacancy" or "vacant position"
 
 5 means a position, as defined in section 76-11(18), Hawaii Revised
 
 6 Statutes, that is unoccupied due to retirement, resignation,
 
 7 transfer, termination, death, or dismissal of an employee.
 
 8      SECTION 3.  Vacancy pools, vacancy pool accounts;
 
 9 establishment.  (a)  There shall be established a vacancy pool
 
10 for the executive branch to be administered by the governor and a
 
11 vacancy pool for the judicial branch to be administered by the
 
12 chief justice of the supreme court.  Each vacancy pool shall be
 
13 maintained so that positions in the vacancy pool are identified
 
14 by unique numbers and accounted for separately in two categories,
 
15 one for civil service positions and the other for positions
 
16 exempt under section 76-16, Hawaii Revised Statutes.
 
17      (b)  There shall be established within the state treasury an
 
18 executive branch vacancy pool account to be administered by the
 
19 governor, and a judicial branch vacancy pool account to be
 
20 administered by the chief justice.  Each account shall consist of
 
21 two subaccounts, one for moneys from vacant civil service
 
22 positions, and one for moneys from exempt positions, transferred
 
23 to the vacancy pool pursuant to sections 4 and 5(a).  Moneys in
 

 
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 1 the subaccounts shall not be commingled and shall be used only in
 
 2 accordance with the procedure established in section 6.
 
 3      SECTION 4.  Vacant positions existing on June 30, 1999;
 
 4 transfer to vacancy pools.  On July 1, 1999, all positions vacant
 
 5 in the executive branch as of June 30, 1999, shall be transferred
 
 6 to the executive branch vacancy pool established under
 
 7 section 3(a) and all positions vacant in the judicial branch
 
 8 shall be transferred to the judicial branch vacancy pool
 
 9 established under section 3(a).  Upon these transfers, the
 
10 governor and the chief justice, for their respective pools, shall
 
11 compile a list designating positions constituting one-half of the
 
12 total vacant positions in the pool which are to be abolished.
 
13      Of the moneys appropriated for all positions vacant on
 
14 June 30, 1999, after deduction of amounts sufficient to cover
 
15 accumulated vacation leave of the employees vacating the
 
16 positions, one-half of the moneys shall lapse into the general
 
17 fund, and one-half of the moneys appropriated for those positions
 
18 shall be deposited into the appropriate vacancy pool subaccount
 
19 established under section 3(b).
 
20      SECTION 5.  Vacancies occurring on or after July 1, 1999;
 
21 automatic transfers.(a)  Effective July 1, 1999, any position
 
22 in the executive or judicial branch that becomes vacant after
 
23 June 30, 1999, shall be transferred automatically to the vacancy
 

 
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 1 pool established for the respective branch under section 3(a).
 
 2 Upon transfer and after deduction of amounts sufficient to cover
 
 3 accumulated vacation leave of the employee vacating the position,
 
 4 one-half of the remaining moneys allocated to the vacant position
 
 5 being transferred shall lapse into the general fund and one-half
 
 6 shall be deposited into the appropriate vacancy pool subaccount
 
 7 established for the respective branch under section 3(b).
 
 8      (b)  Positions transferred to a vacancy pool and eliminated
 
 9 under section 4 and this section shall be deleted from the
 
10 position count ceiling of the transferring agency in the
 
11 executive or judicial budget submitted to the legislature.
 
12      SECTION 6.  Reallocation of vacancy pool positions;
 
13 procedure.  The governor or chief justice may reallocate any
 
14 position from the vacancy pool to an agency within the respective
 
15 branch using the following guidelines:
 
16      (1)  A written request from an agency showing that a
 
17           position is required for the execution of a mandated
 
18           program or service shall be submitted to the governor
 
19           or chief justice, as applicable;
 
20      (2)  Positions transferred from the pool for reallocation to
 
21           an agency shall be reflected as an increase in the
 
22           receiving agency's position count; provided that no
 
23           transfer shall be made if it causes the agency's
 

 
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 1           position count ceiling in the executive or judiciary
 
 2           budget to be exceeded;
 
 3      (3)  No civil service position in the vacancy pool shall be
 
 4           used to establish an exempt position and no exempt
 
 5           position in the vacancy pool shall be used to establish
 
 6           a civil service position; and
 
 7      (4)  Only moneys available in the civil service vacancy pool
 
 8           subaccount may be used to establish a civil service
 
 9           position and only moneys available in the exempt
 
10           vacancy pool subaccount may be used to establish an
 
11           exempt position.
 
12      SECTION 7.  Creation of new positions prohibited, when.
 
13 Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary conferring broad
 
14 authority to establish exempt positions, no new exempt positions,
 
15 except those established by reallocation under section 6 may be
 
16 created by the governor or the chief justice.
 
17      SECTION 8.  Exchanges or movements not prohibited.  This
 
18 chapter shall not affect intergovernmental exchanges or movements
 
19 under section 76-36.
 
20      SECTION 9.  Conflicting laws superseded.  This chapter shall
 
21 supersede any other laws to the contrary.
 
22      SECTION 10.  The implementation of this Act shall not be
 
23 subject to negotiation under chapter 89.
 

 
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 1      SECTION 11.  Reports to the legislature.(a)  Baseline
 
 2 position count report.  The governor and the chief justice,
 
 3 respectively, shall submit a report to the legislature not later
 
 4 than December 31, 1999, containing:
 
 5      (1)  A list of all positions paid by the general fund, by
 
 6           civil service and exempt categories, existing in the
 
 7           respective branch as of June 30, 1999, which shall
 
 8           include for each position, the position number,
 
 9           position title, and the dollar amount allocated to the
 
10           position;
 
11      (2)  A list of all vacancies existing as of June 30, 1999,
 
12           which shall include the position number, position
 
13           title, dollar amount allocated to the position,
 
14           duration of the vacancy, and reason for the vacancy;
 
15      (3)  A list identifying positions partially funded by state
 
16           general fund moneys, with the percentages of funding
 
17           attributable to the general fund and the other sources
 
18           of funding which also shall be identified; and
 
19      (4)  A list identifying positions partially funded by two or
 
20           more executive departments, with the percentage of
 
21           funding attributable to each department.
 
22      (b)  Vacancy pool status reports.  The governor and the
 
23 chief justice, respectively, shall report to the legislature in
 

 
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 1 six month intervals, with the first report due on December 31,
 
 2 1999, on the status of their respective vacancy pools and
 
 3 accounts.  The reports shall include but not be limited to:
 
 4      (1)  A list of those vacant positions from the list in
 
 5           subsection (a)(2) that were abolished;
 
 6      (2)  A list of vacant positions transferred to the vacancy
 
 7           pool which shall include the position number and title,
 
 8           and the date of transfer;
 
 9      (3)  The amount of money transferred into each vacancy pool
 
10           subaccount and the amount of money lapsed by each
 
11           agency;
 
12      (4)  A list of reallocated positions which shall include the
 
13           vacancy pool position number, the title of the
 
14           reallocated position, the justification for the
 
15           reallocation, the agency receiving the reallocated
 
16           position, and the amount of money expended from the
 
17           vacancy pool subaccount for the reallocated position;
 
18           and
 
19      (5)  An accounting of the positions remaining in each pool
 
20           and the moneys remaining in each vacancy pool
 
21           subaccount.
 
22      SECTION 12.  Upon the repeal of this Act, all vacant
 
23 positions in the vacancy pools for the executive branch and the
 

 
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 1 judicial branch shall be abolished.
 
 2      SECTION 13.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 1999, and
 
 3 shall be repealed on June 30, 2002.
 
 4 
 
 5                           INTRODUCED BY:  _______________________