Report Title:

Civil Service Reform; Federal Employer-Employee Model

RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, the Legislature enacted civil service reform legislation last year as Act 253, Session Laws of Hawaii 2000; and

WHEREAS, the purpose of that law was to reform the public employment laws to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of government consistent with two constitutional mandates, namely, that that there be a civil service based on merit, and that public employees have the right to bargain collectively; and

WHEREAS, that law sought to integrate the differing approaches to the modernization of Hawaii's public employment laws and reflect the often conflicting concerns raised by management and workers, the various jurisdictions and agencies within Hawaii's system of government and unions representing public workers, and the general public who benefit from government services; and

WHEREAS, while Act 253 represented a good initial effort to amend public employment laws that had evolved over decades, and procedures that had been constricted by layers of well-intended rules and ordinances, there is a continuing need to resolve remaining problems inherent in Hawaii's civil service system; and

WHEREAS, other models of civil service reform should be examined as a possible basis for implementing further reform in Hawaii's civil service system; and

WHEREAS, in particular, there is a need for the establishment of a task force to review the federal employer-employee relationship, which offers a fresh approach to bringing about a more effective and flexible means of providing government services to the people of Hawaii; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2001, the Senate concurring, that the Governor is requested to convene a task force to review federal employer-employee laws and practices as a model for further civil service reform in Hawaii; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Governor is requested to appoint the following members, who shall serve without compensation:

and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force, in carrying out its duties, may request staff assistance from the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations and other appropriate executive agencies; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force is requested to report its findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, to the Legislature no later than twenty days before the convening of the Regular Session of 2002; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, the President of the Hawaii Senate, the Speaker of the Hawaii House of Representatives, and the Director of Labor and Industrial Relations.