EDITORIAL
State residency rule for jobs serves no purpose
No compelling benefit exists that justifies the state's residency requirement for applicants to state and county jobs — a restriction that, according to a federal lawsuit, is unconstitutional.
The legal challenge, filed last week, calls attention to an embarrassingly parochial law, which asserts that the applicants must be Hawai'i residents at the time of their application for employment. Kevin R. Walsh, a Florida man, was rejected for three data processing and computer programmer positions with the city on the basis of his residency.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai'i, representing Walsh, reasonably argues that this rule fails constitutional muster because it abridges the freedom of interstate travel. And yet state lawmakers have been obtuse enough to pass the current version of the law after two similar measures were thrown out in court, first in 1972 and then five years later.
The law was originally seen as a way to control population growth through in-migration and to protect residents' access to jobs so that they wouldn't need to relocate away from family. Even that thin rationale no longer applies, with the current unemployment at an all-time low.
There is a waiver clause for hard-to-fill jobs, but that creates even more inconsistency in what is simply bad policy.
All counties have adopted policies based on this law, but the rule enforced on O'ahu is especially nonsensical, including former residents among those able to apply.
How can this be construed as fair?
Undoubtedly there are jobs for which someone familiar with Hawai'i would be better qualified. But rather than use a blanket prohibition in the application process, it would make more sense to specifically search for those unique qualifications during the interviewing and selection process.
Casting the hiring net wider would raise the level of competition and increase our chances of finding the best and brightest candidates to meet our needs. And that ultimately would result in higher-caliber employees hired to do the public's work.
