Auditor says effort to thin bureaucracy hasn't worked

By Bruce Dunford
Associated Press

State Auditor Marion Higa says a four-year-old law "intended to tame an unduly cumbersome civil service system" by using severance or retirement incentives when trying to downsize or restructure the state bureaucracy has been ineffective.

The state has failed to properly implement, administer and monitor the separation incentives law, resulting in inconsistent programs and misuse, said Higa yesterday.

The departments of Human Resources Development and Budget and Finance disagreed and said they are making a good-faith effort to use the program.

Budget Director Georgina Kawamura noted that the law contained no requirement for a statewide program.

The 2000 Legislature established the law after efforts in 1994 and 1995 to reduce the state workforce during tight financial times proved ineffective because of the civil-service laws.

It resulted in higher-paid senior civil servants whose jobs were eliminated bumping less-senior, lower-paid employees at lower-level positions, yet retaining their higher salaries.

It also saw "a kind of gamesmanship that led to talented employees in critical areas voluntarily separating from state service only to be rehired on temporary appointments," Higa said.

Under the law, if an employee agrees to leave a position being eliminated, he or she qualifies for a lump-sum cash bonus equal to 5 percent of his or her base salary for every year worked, up to 10 years and not exceeding 50 percent of the base salary.

To date, the relatively "insignificant" incentives have resulted in only 88 jobs eliminated and $2 million saved annually out of a 38,000 workforce and $2 billion in executive branch salaries, she said.