Need a marriage license? Unemployment insurance? A camping permit? A copy of your birth certificate? Plan ahead, because these state services will no longer be available on many Fridays.

Gov. Linda Lingle said yesterday that most state departments and agencies will close on two Fridays a month through June 2011 now that the Hawaii Government Employees Association has ratified a contract that includes furloughs.

The state's largest public-sector labor union agreed to a contract that calls for 18 furlough days this fiscal year and 24 furlough days next fiscal year for most state workers represented by the union. Six of the union's bargaining units ratified the contract on Monday, while the seventh, representing school principals and other education officers, approved it yesterday.

The furloughs and office closures start this Friday.

"Our focus in developing the furlough plan was to ensure state government offices continue to provide the best possible service to the public under the current fiscal circumstances," Lingle said in a statement.

"I have every confidence that our dedicated state employees will do whatever they can within their operations to minimize disruptions in services. We appreciate the public's understanding and patience as our employees make the necessary adjustments in their work schedules."

Lingle said some departments and agencies will follow separate furlough schedules, while others will remain open and stagger or rotate furlough days for workers to reduce disruption to public services.

SCHEDULES VARY

The Lingle administration's furlough plans apply to 16 state departments and agencies under the governor's authority. The state Judiciary, the state Department of Education, the University of Hawaii and the Hawaii Health Systems Corp. are not covered.

The state Judiciary announced yesterday that state courts and administrative offices will be open this Friday and on Oct. 30. The Judiciary did not disclose whether furlough days are planned in the future.

Public school teachers and school personnel on 10-month schedules will take 17 furlough days a year on Fridays. Teachers on 12-month schedules will take 21 furlough days a year.

State agencies that expect to maintain office hours include the governor's and lieutenant governor's offices, the Hälawa animal quarantine station, plant quarantine inspection stations at state airports and harbors, the state Department of Defense, and the state Department of Transportation's highways, airports and harbors operations.

Agencies on 24-hour operation schedules, including state prisons and the state mental hospital, will also stagger and rotate furlough days for workers.

The Lingle administration urged the public to check the governor's Web site — at www.hawaii.gov/gov — to find the specific furlough plan for each state department and agency.

The impact of the furlough days will vary by department.

At the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, for example, people will not be able to apply for unemployment insurance claims on furlough Fridays.

At the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, people will not be able to get camping or hiking permits or vessel registrations on furlough Fridays.

The department's Bureau of Conveyances, which records real-estate transactions, is required to remain open all work week by state law and will not close on furlough Fridays. Most state parks will also remain open.

At the state Department of Health, couples who want marriage licenses or people who need copies of vital statistics such as birth, death, marriage and divorce records will not be able to obtain the documents on furlough Fridays. Couples can still try to obtain marriage licenses on furlough Fridays from private agents who provide licenses on behalf of the department.

'RIGHTLY INDIGNANT'

State officials do not expect the same visceral backlash over the Lingle administration's furlough plans that is happening at the state Department of Education over furloughs for teachers. Many parents are upset they have to find day care or other arrangements for their children on furlough Fridays, after the department and teachers opted to schedule furloughs on classroom instruction days.

But the public will likely experience inconveniences from state office closures, and state productivity will likely be influenced by the lost work days.

Randy Perreira, the HGEA's executive director, told reporters yesterday that state workers expected they would have to make a sacrifice to help with a budget deficit estimated at $1 billion through June 2011. But he said many state workers are disappointed by the way they have been depicted by some during the public debate on the deficit over the past several months.

"Government employees, I think, are rightly indignant about how they've been treated from the beginning," Perreira said. "They haven't been treated well by their employers and, frankly, they haven't been treated well by the public.

"On the part of our members, what was most disconcerting throughout this process was just how hateful some people could be and the kind of upset directed at government employees. That, to me, was particularly upsetting."