STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2209

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 3100

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Government Operations and Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 3100 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE STRUCTURE OF GOVERNMENT,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to consolidate the Department of Budget and Finance and the Department of Human Resources Development into the Department of Budget, Finance, and Human Resources and to transfer functions and duties accordingly.

Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Human Resources and Development. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Budget and Finance.

Your Committees find that creating efficiencies in government is essential to maintaining proper government function and instilling public confidence in government. Moreover, government efficiency promotes healthier interactions between government and the public and ultimately produces better outcomes. Under existing law, there exist two separate executive departments, the Department of Human Resources Development and the Department of Budget and Finance. Your Committees find that maintaining these two separate departments is unnecessary and inefficient. For example, maintaining these two agencies as separate entities often causes significant delays in hiring. This problem is of particular concern given the State's aging workforce and the looming need to fill numerous positions in a timely manner. Your Committees also note that other jurisdictions successfully employ a single agency to handle the duties and responsibilities that our state government divides between the Department of Human Resources Development and Department of Budget and Finance. Accordingly, while your Committees acknowledge that changes such as the one proposed in this measure can create uncertainties, your Committees find that the proposed changes would make state government more efficient and better served by specifically combining the Department of Human Resources Development and the Department of Budget and Finance into a single department.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Government Operations and Labor that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3100 and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

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

________________________________ JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair

________________________________ DONNA MERCADO KIM, Chair