 By Ronna Bolante
Advertiser Capitol Bureau
In the midst of ongoing public worker union negotiations, a House committee sidestepped Gov. Ben Cayetano’s bill that would give pay raises to about three dozen top appointed executives.
Instead, the House Committee on Labor and Public Employment approved a bill that would establish a commission within the governor’s office to annually review the salaries of the chief of staff and department heads and deputies.
The commission bill now moves to the House Finance Committee for further consideration.
The commission would also recommend salaries for the governor and legislators, and lawmakers would have the authority to reject the commission’s recommendations. Any pay raises recommended by the commission would automatically take effect if lawmakers don’t reject them.
Salaries for the governor and department heads and deputies are now set by the Legislature. A salary commission appointed by the governor periodically reviews only legislative salaries, and lawmakers approve or reject its recommendations.
Cayetano this year proposed raises of up to 29 percent for state department heads and deputies as well as his chief of staff. The last pay raise for those positions was 10 years ago.
Committee Chairwoman Terry Nui Yoshinaga, who proposed a salary commission, said she doesn’t intend to consider executive pay raises again this session. If the salary commission is created, it will then be up to the group to increase executives’ pay.
"In light of our current fiscal situation, we’re fighting over a shrinking pie, shrinking dollars," said Yoshinaga, D-22nd (M¯‘ili‘ili, McCully, Pawa‘a). "It’s difficult to justify increasing (executive salaries) under our collective bargaining agreement, so I attempted to compromise that by deferring that and allowing a compensation review process."
The commission would be appointed by the governor to serve staggered five-year terms.
"We need to have a plan with regards to compensation and benefit planning from the top down, so it shouldn’t be that we’re pitted against each other," Yoshinaga said. "If you’re in government service, you want to attract the best employees on all levels. And so, collective bargaining is one issue, and just compensation for executives is another."
The proposed salary commission is modeled after the body that determines pay for various officials in the City and County of Honolulu, including the mayor, City Council and department heads and deputies.
"So I’m just paralleling it because that’s more enlightened, based on data as opposed to ‘Gee, we’re ready now to give an increase to department heads,’" Yoshinaga said. "It seems like a very whimsical process. This (bill) is to make it more systematic."
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