Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Labor & Public Employment, to which was referred H.B. No. 1222 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to broaden the grounds for appeal to the Merit Appeals Board (MAB) by repealing various actions that currently limit the jurisdiction of MAB.

A concerned individual testified in support of this bill. The Hawaii Government Employees Association testified in support of the intent of the measure but expressed several concerns. The Department of Human Resources Development (DHRD), Judiciary, Hawaii State Personnel Council, Department of Human Resources of the City and County of Honolulu, and a member of MAB for the State of Hawaii testified in opposition to this measure. The Hawaii Government Employees Association Managerial and Confidential Employees Chapter testified in opposition to the measure as currently written. The Employees Claims Division of the Department of Human Resources Development commented on the bill.

Act 253, Session Laws of Hawaii, 2000 (Act 253), often referred to as "The Civil Service Reform Act" replaced the Civil Service Commission (Commission) with MAB. However, Act 253 provided MAB with narrower jurisdictional authority.

Your Committee believes that certain employees with cases pending before the Commission prior to its abolition may have subsequently been deprived of a hearing on their respective cases before MAB as a consequence of MAB's more restricted jurisdiction.

Your Committee further finds that statutory language is unclear as to whether the loss of promotional opportunity or demotion due to reclassification of a job position as a result of reorganization of a department or agency falls under the jurisdiction of MAB. Your Committee is concerned that such reorganizations may sometimes be applied with detrimental effects on employees. The Director of Human Resources and Development testified that, as a matter of policy, DHRD prohibits the use of reorganizations to address personnel matters. However, this can occur from time to time. The Director further testified that, when this policy is violated, the offending parties are reprimanded. This legislation is intended to prohibit this practice.

Accordingly, your Committee has amended this bill by:

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Labor & Public Employment that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1222, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1222, H.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.