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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2003 STATE OF HAWAII |
H.C.R. NO. |
94 H.D. 1 |
RESOLUTION
Requesting the Department of human resources development to submit reports on exempt employees as required by act 253, session laws of hawaii 2000.
WHEREAS, the Legislature finds that Act 253, Session Laws of Hawaii 2000 (Act 253), reformed civil service laws that had evolved over decades to make government more efficient, effective, and responsive; and
WHEREAS, Act 253 further established a so-called "bright line" between the civil service system based on merit, and the right of public employees to bargain collectively; and
WHEREAS, another objective of Act 253 was to increase the number of positions covered by the civil service system, where appointments and promotions are made under a merit system determined by competitive examination, and to decrease the use of exempt appointments; and
WHEREAS, in addition to clarifying the underlying basis for the civil service system, Act 253 mandated one significant change in the criteria for examination and the composition of the exempt service under Section 76-16, Hawaii Revised Statutes, by eliminating the exemption for positions of a temporary nature; and
WHEREAS, there are fundamental differences between civil service employment which has tenure provided that performance requirements are met and maintained, and requires consistent treatment statewide based upon civil service laws and rules, and exempt service which is essentially "at will" employment with no formal system for consistency between departments; and
WHEREAS, exempt employees who are within collective bargaining units do not have the same rights and benefits as their civil service counterparts in terms of reduction-in-force and discipline; and
WHEREAS, exempt employees have provided invaluable and continuous service to programs which have existed, in some cases, for decades; and
WHEREAS, a significant number of exempt employees were hired through some form of open recruitment and receive salaries that are commensurate with comparable civil service positions; and
WHEREAS, some exempt employees perform important regulatory functions in State government, where their "at will" status leaves them vulnerable to undue influence; and
WHEREAS, delays in converting appropriate exempt positions to civil service place exempt employees at a disadvantage in seeking permanent positions and promotional opportunities despite years of good service and competitive recruitment,; and
WHEREAS, the Auditor, in Report 94-23, stated that the Department of Human Resources Development (DHRD) should establish clearer rules for establishing exempt positions to prevent abuse of the exempt hiring process and for the Legislature to clarify the rationale for and categorization of exempt positions; and
WHEREAS, among other things, Act 235 required DHRD to submit an annual report to the Legislature beginning with the Regular Session of 2001, that provided the positions that were permanently exempted from the civil service prior to the enactment of Act 253; and
WHEREAS, the report to the Legislature was to address the following issues:
(1) When the position was established;
(2) The purpose of the position;
(3) Why the position was exempted from civil service;
(4) Findings and recommendations on whether the position should remain exempt or be converted to a civil service position;
(5) For those positions DHRD recommends remain exempt, a decision on whether the position should be exempted permanently from civil service recruitment procedures or the classification system, or both; and
(6) For those positions recommended for inclusion in the civil service, proposed legislation to convert the exempt positions into civil service, taking into consideration any impact on the conversion;
and
WHEREAS, DHRD submitted a preliminary report on exempt employees to the Senate Committee on Labor in March 2003, indicating a patchwork of more than one-hundred separate statutes allowing for exemptions from civil service, many of which may no longer be justified; and
WHEREAS, the preliminary report on exempt employees revealed the following:
(1) Exempt employees are found in all State departments and exempt service is comprised of a wide range of positions and occupants;
(2) The highest concentration of exempt employees is found in the largest departments -- the Department of Education with twenty-two percent and the Department of Health with fifteen percent of the total number of exempt employees;
(3) There are 7,274 exempt positions, of which thirty-five percent are currently filled;
(4) Approximately twenty-four percent of exempt positions have been established as permanent, forty-one percent are within the Department's authorized position ceiling; and
(5) Over half of the exempt employees are covered by collective bargaining;
and
WHEREAS, there are important public policy issues related to evaluating the current exemptions from civil service, including the need to staff persons on a permanent versus a temporary or periodic process, providing stability to the fiscal implications of converting positions from exempt to civil service, and the need to assure that any transition to civil service is fair, and equitable; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session 2003, the Senate concurring, that this body requests DHRD to submit yearly reports to the Legislature on exempt employees as required pursuant to Act 253; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the House Committee on Labor and Public Employment hold interim briefings on the existing statutory exemptions from civil service and whether these exemptions be continued or repealed, and how exempt employees would be converted to civil service if the exemption is no longer justified; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that exempt employees and their exclusive representatives have the opportunity to present relevant information to the committee during the interim briefings; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Human Resources development.