THE SENATE

S.B. NO.

1364

THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2023

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

 

RELATING TO THE SECOND DEPUTY DIRECTOR IN THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES.

 

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 


     SECTION 1.  The department of human services has one of the most significant operating budgets of any state department, which includes a significant amount of federal funds for various social, employment, protective services, child care, and other programs.  The department also has the fifth largest staff of any department, with more than two thousand employees staffing its divisions, staff offices, attached agencies, and commissions.

     Currently, the department has only one deputy director.  Act 223, Session Laws of Hawaii 1994, deleted the second deputy director position, prompted by the State's poor economy at that time.

     The department serves vulnerable and low-income adults, families, and children statewide.  The diversity of programs is complex and governed by their unique state and federal laws, rules, and regulations.  As a result, the required breadth of knowledge and experience necessary for effective leadership and management of all the programs is extensive and challenging to develop and meet the department's needs.

     The department's programs and services, and services of three attached agencies, include health care services; child care licensing and subsidies; child abuse and neglect prevention services; protective services for vulnerable children and adults; vocational rehabilitation; financial assistance; nutrition assistance; assistance with utilities; job training and placement; housing and services for individuals and families experiencing homelessness; prevention, treatment, and housing for the state's youthful offenders; and therapeutic services for young adults at risk of homelessness or involvement with the criminal justice system.  The department also supports four commissions that advocate for the rights and services of Hawaii's women, youth, fatherhood, and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, and plus communities.

     The department provides more than one-third of Hawaii's residents with one or more human services by collecting, maintaining, and securing vast amounts of information in multiple record systems.  The department is engaged in modernizing its systems and processes to serve residents better and to provide staff with modern tools and an efficient work environment.

     The department's fiscal management and budget functions grow more complex as requirements to track the receipt and expenditure of federal funds have increased the number of departmental appropriation accounts.

     The department regularly addresses new or amended federal and state laws and regulations requiring new administrative and operational capacities.  Since 2010, the Director and Deputy Director have led and overseen the significant investment of human and financial resources to implement, innovate, and maintain programs in compliance with significant federal laws, such as the Affordable Care Act of 2010, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014, the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 2014, Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act of 2015, the Family First Prevention Services Act of 2018, and most recently, the numerous federal COVID-19 pandemic relief initiatives.  These and other mandates require new rules, implementation processes, system changes, administrative processes, communication, cross-sector and community engagement, procurement, training, reorganization, community outreach, and increased oversight.

     The effective management of the department and its programs also requires internal collaboration as well as collaboration with other branches, departments, federal and county agencies, and philanthropic, affinity, and community organizations that serve Hawaii's families and low-income residents.

     Additionally, more executive time and resources are required to support emergency management support functions for all hazards, including planning and training and emergency and individual repatriation of United States citizens and their dependents.

     The purpose of this Act is to restore the second deputy director position for the department of human services and fund the second deputy director position and a private secretary position for that second deputy director.

     SECTION 2.  Section 76-16, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (b) to read as follows:

     "(b)  The civil service to which this chapter applies shall comprise all positions in the State now existing or hereafter established and embrace all personal services performed for the State, except the following:

     (1)  Commissioned and enlisted personnel of the Hawaii National Guard as such, and positions in the Hawaii National Guard that are required by state or federal laws or regulations or orders of the National Guard to be filled from those commissioned or enlisted personnel;

     (2)  Positions filled by persons employed by contract where the director of human resources development has certified that the service is special or unique or is essential to the public interest and that, because of circumstances surrounding its fulfillment, personnel to perform the service cannot be obtained through normal civil service recruitment procedures.  Any such contract may be for any period not exceeding one year;

     (3)  Positions that must be filled without delay to comply with a court order or decree if the director determines that recruitment through normal recruitment civil service procedures would result in delay or noncompliance, such as the Felix-Cayetano consent decree;

     (4)  Positions filled by the legislature or by either house or any committee thereof;

     (5)  Employees in the office of the governor and office of the lieutenant governor, and household employees at Washington Place;

     (6)  Positions filled by popular vote;

     (7)  Department heads, officers, and members of any board, commission, or other state agency whose appointments are made by the governor or are required by law to be confirmed by the senate;

     (8)  Judges, referees, receivers, masters, jurors, notaries public, land court examiners, court commissioners, and attorneys appointed by a state court for a special temporary service;

     (9)  One bailiff for the chief justice of the supreme court who shall have the powers and duties of a court officer and bailiff under section 606-14; one secretary or clerk for each justice of the supreme court, each judge of the intermediate appellate court, and each judge of the circuit court; one secretary for the judicial council; one deputy administrative director of the courts; three law clerks for the chief justice of the supreme court, two law clerks for each associate justice of the supreme court and each judge of the intermediate appellate court, one law clerk for each judge of the circuit court, two additional law clerks for the civil administrative judge of the circuit court of the first circuit, two additional law clerks for the criminal administrative judge of the circuit court of the first circuit, one additional law clerk for the senior judge of the family court of the first circuit, two additional law clerks for the civil motions judge of the circuit court of the first circuit, two additional law clerks for the criminal motions judge of the circuit court of the first circuit, and two law clerks for the administrative judge of the district court of the first circuit; and one private secretary for the administrative director of the courts, the deputy administrative director of the courts, each department head, each deputy or first assistant, and each additional deputy, or assistant deputy, or assistant defined in paragraph (16);

    (10)  First deputy and deputy attorneys general, the administrative services manager of the department of the attorney general, one secretary for the administrative services manager, an administrator and any support staff for the criminal and juvenile justice resources coordination functions, and law clerks;

     (11) (A)  Teachers, principals, vice-principals, complex area superintendents, deputy and assistant superintendents, other certificated personnel, not more than twenty noncertificated administrative, professional, and technical personnel not engaged in instructional work;

          (B)  Effective July 1, 2003, teaching assistants, educational assistants, bilingual/bicultural school-home assistants, school psychologists, psychological examiners, speech pathologists, athletic health care trainers, alternative school work study assistants, alternative school educational/supportive services specialists, alternative school project coordinators, and communications aides in the department of education;

          (C)  The special assistant to the state librarian and one secretary for the special assistant to the state librarian; and

          (D)  Members of the faculty of the University of Hawaii, including research workers, extension agents, personnel engaged in instructional work, and administrative, professional, and technical personnel of the university;

    (12)  Employees engaged in special, research, or demonstration projects approved by the governor;

     (13) (A)  Positions filled by inmates, patients of state institutions, persons with severe physical or mental disabilities participating in the work experience training programs;

          (B)  Positions filled with students in accordance with guidelines for established state employment programs; and

          (C)  Positions that provide work experience training or temporary public service employment that are filled by persons entering the workforce or persons transitioning into other careers under programs such as the federal Workforce Investment Act of 1998, as amended, or the Senior Community Service Employment Program of the Employment and Training Administration of the United States Department of Labor, or under other similar state programs;

    (14)  A custodian or guide at Iolani Palace, the Royal Mausoleum, and Hulihee Palace;

    (15)  Positions filled by persons employed on a fee, contract, or piecework basis, who may lawfully perform their duties concurrently with their private business or profession or other private employment and whose duties require only a portion of their time, if it is impracticable to ascertain or anticipate the portion of time to be devoted to the service of the State;

    (16)  Positions of first deputies or first assistants of each department head appointed under or in the manner provided in section 6, article V, of the Hawaii State Constitution; three additional deputies or assistants either in charge of the highways, harbors, and airports divisions or other functions within the department of transportation as may be assigned by the director of transportation, with the approval of the governor; one additional deputy in the department of human services either in charge of welfare or other functions within the department as may be assigned by the director of human services; four additional deputies in the department of health, each in charge of one of the following:  behavioral health, environmental health, hospitals, and health resources administration, including other functions within the department as may be assigned by the director of health, with the approval of the governor; two additional deputies in charge of the law enforcement programs, administration, or other functions within the department of law enforcement as may be assigned by the director of law enforcement, with the approval of the governor; an administrative assistant to the state librarian; and an administrative assistant to the superintendent of education;

    (17)  Positions specifically exempted from this part by any other law; provided that:

          (A)  Any exemption created after July 1, 2014, shall expire three years after its enactment unless affirmatively extended by an act of the legislature; and

          (B)  All of the positions defined by paragraph (9) shall be included in the position classification plan;

    (18)  Positions in the state foster grandparent program and positions for temporary employment of senior citizens in occupations in which there is a severe personnel shortage or in special projects;

    (19)  Household employees at the official residence of the president of the University of Hawaii;

    (20)  Employees in the department of education engaged in the supervision of students during meal periods in the distribution, collection, and counting of meal tickets, and in the cleaning of classrooms after school hours on a less than half-time basis;

    (21)  Employees hired under the tenant hire program of the Hawaii public housing authority; provided that not more than twenty-six per cent of the authority's workforce in any housing project maintained or operated by the authority shall be hired under the tenant hire program;

    (22)  Positions of the federally funded expanded food and nutrition program of the University of Hawaii that require the hiring of nutrition program assistants who live in the areas they serve;

    (23)  Positions filled by persons with severe disabilities who are certified by the state vocational rehabilitation office that they are able to perform safely the duties of the positions;

    (24)  The sheriff;

    (25)  A gender and other fairness coordinator hired by the judiciary;

    (26)  Positions in the Hawaii National Guard youth and adult education programs;

    (27)  In the state energy office in the department of business, economic development, and tourism, all energy program managers, energy program specialists, energy program assistants, and energy analysts;

    (28)  Administrative appeals hearing officers in the department of human services;

    (29)  In the Med-QUEST division of the department of human services, the division administrator, finance officer, health care services branch administrator, medical director, and clinical standards administrator;

    (30)  In the director's office of the department of human services, the enterprise officer, information security and privacy compliance officer, security and privacy compliance engineer, and security and privacy compliance analyst;

    (31)  The Alzheimer's disease and related dementia services coordinator in the executive office on aging;

    (32)  In the Hawaii emergency management agency, the executive officer, public information officer, civil defense administrative officer, branch chiefs, and emergency operations center state warning point personnel; provided that, for state warning point personnel, the director shall determine that recruitment through normal civil service recruitment procedures would result in delay or noncompliance; and

    (33)  The executive director and seven full-time administrative positions of the school facilities authority;

    (34)  Positions in the Mauna Kea stewardship and oversight authority; and

[[](35)[]]  In the office of homeland security of the department of defense, the statewide interoperable communications coordinator.

     The director shall determine the applicability of this section to specific positions.

     Nothing in this section shall be deemed to affect the civil service status of any incumbent as it existed on July 1, 1955."

     SECTION 3.  There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $161,092 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2023-2024 and the sum of $165,048 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2024-2025 to be used for the salary of the additional deputy director of the department of human services (HMS 904).

     There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $74,580 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2023-2024 and the sum of $78,312 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2024-2025 to be used for the salary of the private secretary for the additional deputy director of the department of human services (HMS 904).

     The sums appropriated shall be expended by the department of human services for the purposes of this Act.

     SECTION 4.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 5.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval; provided that the amendments made to section 76-16(b), Hawaii Revised Statutes, by section 2 of this Act shall not be repealed when section 24 of Act 278, Session Laws of Hawaii 2022, takes effect.

 

INTRODUCED BY:

_____________________________

 

 

BY REQUEST


 


 

Report Title:

Department of Human Services; Second Deputy Director; Private Secretary; Appropriations

 

Description:

Restores the second deputy director position for the Department of Human Services; authorizes a private secretary position for the second deputy; appropriate funds.

 

 

 

The summary description of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.