State budget director contradicts Lingle on health benefits
By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Advertiser Capitol Bureau
The state government's nearly 1,000 part-time, temporary, seasonal and casual employees would be eligible for the same medical insurance benefits as their full-time co-workers under a bill heard by the House Labor Committee yesterday.
State Budget Director Georgina Kawamura said her agency opposes employer-subsidized health benefits for part-time employees, a position that runs contrary to statements made by Gov. Linda Lingle, her boss, during the 2002 gubernatorial campaign.
Under Senate Bill 762, House Draft 1, health insurance benefits would be available to a state or county employee who works 20 or more hours a week for four consecutive weeks.
Nongovernment employers already need to provide such benefits to part-time employees under the state's Prepaid Health Care Act, from which the state and counties are exempt.
House Labor Chairman Marcus Oshiro, D-39th (Wahiawa) said the bill came out of a recommendation by the Hawai'i Uninsured Project, a coalition of healthcare policy-makers.
Kawamura cited cost considerations for her opposition. Estimating that there are 942 part-time or temporary state employees, she said it would cost between $1.6 million and $4.7 million to provide health insurance to those workers and their families.
Kawamura said the state's contribution to employee healthcare coverage has risen from $320 million in fiscal year 2004 to $372 million in 2005, and is estimated to climb to $410 million by 2009.
Oshiro said he would expect the benefit for part-time workers would be the same as that negotiated for full-time workers in their union contracts. He estimated the state now pays for 60 percent of healthcare premiums, with employees paying the rest.
Kawamura's position runs contrary to comments made by Lingle during a forum sponsored by the Alliance for Health and Human Services in October 2002. Lingle criticized the state for not providing medical coverage for temporary hires when it forces private businesses to do so.
"If you're going to promote something you're going to have to practice what you preach," Lingle said then. "That's just not right, holding everyone else to a different standard that they themselves aren't willing to meet."
Also yesterday, the committee heard testimony on two measures that would extend protection given employees under the Whistleblowers' Protection Act by including situations that "pose a danger to public health or safety." Unions urged passage of Senate Bill 764 Senate Draft 1, which applies to all employees, and Senate Bill 694 Senate Draft 1, which is only for public workers.
Employer interests, however, joined the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations in raising concerns about the ambiguity of the phrase "public health and safety," which they described as "overly broad."
Oshiro said his committee will take votes on all three proposals next Wednesday.
Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 525-8070.
