STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1388

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2025

RE: S.B. No. 447

H.D. 1

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Madame:

Your Committee on Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 447 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO A DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH PILOT PROGRAM,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to establish a three-year Hiring Pilot Program within the Department of Health to streamline its hiring process by delegating certain human resources services from the Department of Human Resources Development to the Department of Health.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health and Hawaii Government Employees Association, AFSCME Local 152, AFL-CIO. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Human Resources Development.

Your Committee finds that addressing staffing shortages in the State's public health sector serves the public interest and is a key priority for the State. As of March 2025, the Department of Health reported a vacancy rate of twenty-nine percent, equaling 1,031 vacant positions. Your Committee further finds that a recent survey indicated that forty-three percent of the Department of Health's staff are expecting to seek employment elsewhere within the next twelve months, despite feeling a sense of purpose and meaning in their work and support from their colleagues and supervisors. Your Committee recognizes that the Department of Health has exhausted all the tools provided by the Department of Human Resources Development, including the Hire Hawaii Program, Holo Delegation, and Wikiwiki Hiring Program, which have had little effect on filling their large vacancy. Your Committee notes that the Department of Health's chief concern is the timeliness in which qualified candidates are referred to them, noting that it often takes two to four months for the Human Resource Office to pre-screen applicants and provide the Department of Health with a list of candidates to contact for an interview, by which time those applicants have found employment elsewhere. This Hiring Pilot Program established under this measure will streamline the hiring process in the Department of Health and further the Department of Health's mission to protect and promote the physical, behavioral, and environmental well-being of the State's residents.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Changing the effective date to July 1, 3000, to encourage further discussion; and

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

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 447, as amended herein, and recommends that it be referred to your Committee on Finance in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 447, H.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Labor,

____________________________

JACKSON D. SAYAMA, Chair