300 vacant state jobs face ax
By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Advertiser Capitol Bureau
The Senate Ways and Means Committee advanced a supplemental budget bill yesterday that had a number of top agency chiefs raising strong protests about the loss of about 300 vacant jobs for which money has been available.
House Bill 1800 was approved 11-3, with the committee's three Republicans voting no.
While the House version of the bill would eliminate job positions that have remained unfilled for a year or more, the Senate version goes farther, chopping jobs that have been vacant for as little as six months.
The House version would save the state about $8 million but the Senate's would save closer to $9.5 million, said Ways and Means Chairman Brian Taniguchi, D-10th (Manoa, McCully).
Public Safety Director John Peyton said eliminating 106 positions from his agency's budget may save the state $1.26 million in the short run, but could lead to a host of problems later on.
The Department of Public Safety is tasked with housing more than 6,000 inmates and ensuring that they are "returned to the public in a condition in which they can be productive citizens," Peyton said. "If we cut the positions that are proposed here, we can guarantee you that we cannot fulfill that function."
Sandra Kunimoto, chairwoman of the Board of Agriculture, said 19 positions would be eliminated from her agency. She pointed out that a key reason for the unfilled positions is the administration's self-imposed freeze on what the Department of Budget and Fiscal Services deemed "nonessential jobs" that lasted through much of the past year.
Kunimoto also noted, as did other department heads, that many of the vacancies are specialty jobs for which qualified applicants are few and difficult to recruit. "It's a time-consuming process and it doesn't mean that just because a position has remained empty, ... it's not needed," she said.
Some of the deleted jobs could still be restored when House and Senate members meet in conference committee at the end of the legislative session late next month to iron out their differences.
Meanwhile, the Hawai'i Health Systems Corp. welcomed Taniguchi's announcement that the Senate version of the general fund budget will include the entire $31.2 million it requested to supplement the operation of the state's community hospitals. The House version provided $19.7 million.
The budget package approved in committee yesterday includes about $16.7 million to pay for drug prevention and treatment programs, less than the $19 million proposed by the House.
The Senate version uses about $1.2 million from the so-called Rainy Day Fund, which the House version leaves untouched. It also earmarks $16 million to pay for programs within an omnibus education reform bill, nearly double the $8.3 million offered by the House.
Taniguchi also said the bill includes money to pay for raises recently given to workers represented by the Hawai'i Government Employees Association and the University of Hawai'i Professional Assembly — wage increases that will cost the state $32 million and $11 million, respectively. It also includes some money for units represented by the Hawai'i State Teachers Association and the United Public Workers, which have not settled with the state on pay issues.
To help offset some of the new expenditures, the Senate draft proposes a one-time raid of about $55 million from various state special funds. The House version would skim $14.3 million from special funds.
Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 525-8070.
