STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3526

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.R. No. 57

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Public Safety and Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.R. No. 57 entitled:

"SENATE RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENTS OF PUBLIC SAFETY AND HUMAN RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT TO INCREASE THE SALARIES AND IMPROVE THE BENEFITS THAT ARE PROVIDED TO DEPUTY SHERIFFS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to request the Department of Public Safety and the Department of Human Resources Development to negotiate with the Hawaii Government Employees Association higher salaries and increased benefits for deputy sheriffs throughout Hawaii.

     Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Hawaii Government Employees Association and twenty-one individual citizens.  Testimony in opposition of this measure was submitted by the Department of Human Resources Development.

     Your Committees find that the State expends substantial financial resources, typically over $100,000 per recruit, on training deputy sheriffs to protect the people of, and property located in, Hawaii.  The low salaries and benefits that are currently received by deputy sheriffs in Hawaii are not competitive with their counterparts on the mainland or county police officers in Hawaii.  Consequently, after just a couple of years of service in Hawaii, many deputy sheriffs are recruited by deputy sheriff departments, or other law enforcement agencies, on the West Coast of the mainland that have substantially more attractive compensation packages for the deputy sheriffs.

     Your Committees further find that the starting salaries for equivalent positions on the mainland are approximately thirty per cent higher than for deputy sheriffs in Hawaii.  Also, within just the past two years, forty deputy sheriffs have left the Department of Public Safety for higher paying law enforcement positions in Hawaii and on the mainland.  That rate of turnover has made it very challenging for the Department of Public Safety to retain deputy sheriffs and continue to provide superior services for the State of Hawaii.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purpose of clarity.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Public Safety and Judiciary and Labor that are attached to this report, your Committees concur with the intent and purpose of S.R. No. 57, as amended herein, and recommend its adoption in the form attached hereto as S.R. No. 57, S.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Public Safety and Judiciary and Labor,

____________________________ BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair

____________________________ WILL ESPERO, Chair