STAND. COM. REP. NO.  553-14

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2014

RE:   H.B. No. 1966

      H.D. 1

Honorable Joseph M. Souki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Labor & Public Employment, to which was referred H.B. No. 1966 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC EMPLOYEES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure was to make a technical, nonsubstantive amendment to the public service law.

     For the purposes of a public hearing on this measure, your Committee circulated Proposed H.B. 1966, H.D. 1 (Proposed Draft), and notified the public that it would be accepting testimony on the proposal, which ensures effective, efficient, and responsive government service at all levels of the State and ensures financial integrity, responsibility, and efficiency in the state and county governments by requiring the State Auditor to:

     (1)  Review the current civil service exemption process; and

     (2)  Recommend procedures and guidelines to ensure the appropriate use of this process in extraordinary circumstances.

The United Public Workers, AFSCME, Local 646, AFL-CIO provided testimony in support of the Proposed Draft.  The Department of Human Resources Development; Office of Community Services; and Hawaii Government Employees Association, AFSCME, Local 152, AFL-CIO provided comments on the Proposed Draft.

     Your Committee considered the merits of both H.B. No. 1966, as received by your Committee, and the Proposed Draft.  Upon careful consideration, your Committee adopted the substantive contents of the Proposed Draft, and made the following additional amendments:

     (1)  Requiring the State Auditor to work with other interested parties, in addition to the Department of Human Resources Development, to determine reasons for circumventing the civil service process and make recommendations to streamline the process for modernizing job descriptions;

     (2)  Requiring the State Auditor to recommend criteria to ensure the appropriate use of the civil service exemption process; and

     (3)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of 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 H.B. No. 1966, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1966, H.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

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

____________________________

MARK M. NAKASHIMA, Chair