STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3114

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 2477

       H.D. 2

       S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Government Operations and Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred H.B. No. 2477, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO STATE EMPLOYEES,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

     (1)  Limit the maximum number of civil service exempt positions administered by the Department of Human Resources Development within the Executive Branch, except the Department of the Attorney General;

     (2)  Require the respective state agency directors to remove civil service exempt positions by a certain amount if the number of civil service exempt employees within the director's agencies exceed the maximum authorized percentage; and

     (3)  Require the Director of the Department of Human Resources Development to report the number of civil service exempt employees administered by the Department of Human Resources Development within the Executive Branch.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Government Employees Association, AFSCME Local 152, AFL-CIO.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Budget and Finance, Department of Land and Natural Resources, Department of Agriculture, and Hawaii State Public Library System.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Human Resources Development; Department of Labor and Industrial Relations; Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism; Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs; Department of Hawaiian Home Lands; Department of Human Services; and Department of Taxation.

     Your Committees find that state employees who are exempt from civil service do not have the same rights as civil service employees, and the State's merit-based civil service system is at risk due to the abundance of state positions that are exempt from civil service.  Implementation of this measure will strengthen the State's civil service system and ensure that more state employees have access to the State's merit-based civil service system.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Reinserting the exemptions for the Department of Education, University of Hawaii, public charter schools, and Hawaii Health Systems Corporation; and

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Government Operations and Judiciary and Labor that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2477, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2477, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Government Operations and Judiciary and Labor,

________________________________ GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair

________________________________ DONNA MERCADO KIM, Chair