STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1185

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2005

RE: S.B. No. 1193

S.D. 1

H.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Labor & Public Employment, to which was referred S.B. No. 1193, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CIVIL SERVICE LAW,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to permit all Department of Education (DOE) civil service employees, including those civil service employees transferred under Act 51, Session Laws of Hawaii (SLH) 2004, to retain the rights to apply for intradepartmental and interdepartmental transfer and promotional opportunities within the civil service system of the Executive Branch.

The Hawaii Government Employees' Association testified in support of this bill. DOE supported the intent of this measure. The Department of Human Resources Development submitted comments expressing concerns.

Act 51, SLH 2004, better known as the "Reinventing Education Act," calls for DOE to establish a separate civil service personnel system that encompasses all existing DOE employees as well as those who transfer to DOE from other executive departments.

Your Committee finds that employees who were under the civil service system established for executive departments who are transferred to the newly created civil service system of DOE should not have their benefits and rights diminished due to this transfer because it is a situation beyond their control.

However, your Committee finds that other employment benefits and rights besides intradepartmental and interdepartmental transfer and promotional opportunities within the executive branch should be preserved upon the establishment of the civil service system of DOE. Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by deleting its contents and inserting the language of H.B. No. 1614, H.D. 1, which provides a broader set of protections for civil service employees.

As amended, this bill protects the employment rights of public employees by ensuring that civil service employees of the newly established DOE civil service system shall have the same benefits and rights of civil service employees employed by the executive departments.

Your Committee has also amended this measure by:

(1) Changing its effective date to July 1, 2010, to encourage further discussion; and

(2) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Labor & Public Employment that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1193, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1193, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Labor & Public Employment,

 

____________________________

KIRK CALDWELL, Chair