Senators offer option to air layoff concerns

Briefing slated for Wednesday at Baldwin High

The Maui News
September 8, 2009

By CHRIS HAMILTON, Staff Writer

WAILUKU - Hawaii state senators are giving the public - and themselves - another opportunity to vent their frustrations with Gov. Linda Lingle's proposed layoffs of state employees, this time those from the Department of Health.

The state Senate's Ad Hoc Committee, which was organized to serve as a watchdog for Lingle's layoff plans, will conduct an informational briefing from 5 to 9 p.m. Wednesday at Baldwin High School. It's the panel's second such meeting on the Valley Isle. The committee will take testimony relating to the potential impacts on Maui County's community and the public's health.

The governor's plans would reduce by 305 the number of Health Department employees who work in vector control, public health nursing as well as adult, child and adolescent mental health, according to a committee news release.

It was unclear Monday how many jobs would be lost in Maui County with the Republican governor's plan.

Lingle has said she must lay off 1,100 state employees to close most of an estimated $884 million budget deficit through the end of the 2010 fiscal year. The workers are scheduled to lose their jobs in November. A second round of layoffs might be necessary when new state revenue projections come in, she's said.

On Friday, the nearly 30,000-member Hawaii Government Employees Association, the state's largest union, began binding arbitration hearings over a new labor contract.

For Wednesday's hearing, Senate Vice President Russell Kokubun and Senate Health Committee Chairman David Ige will join Maui Sens. Roz Baker (South and West Maui), J. Kalani English (Hana, East and Upcountry Maui, Molokai, Lanai and Kahoolawe) and Shan Tsutsui (Wailuku, Waihee, Kahului, Paia, Lower Paia). Maui's senators oppose the work force reductions.

"This plan has just not been very well thought through because they (members of Lingle's administration) don't talk to anyone. They only talk to themselves," Baker said Monday. "We need to put everything on the table, not just certain options decided by the governor. And we need to go back to the bargaining table and not let the labor negotiations go through binding arbitration."

Baker said the Senate has not been adequately informed about Lingle's plans. She said she suspects Lingle is using the budget deficit as a way to reorganize government departments in ways she could not accomplish legislatively while in the governor's office for the past seven years.

The governor's spokesman could not be reached for comment Monday, which was Labor Day.

Most of the Health Department employee cuts will likely occur in Honolulu, said Baker, the former chairwoman of the Senate Health Committee. But the reverberations will certainly be felt throughout Maui County, she said.

Vector control is the extermination of insects and animals that can transmit diseases and illnesses or destroy habitat and native species. Baker said she's been told that the governor expects the private sector to pick up the slack, which Baker called "just absurd."

She also said initial plans call for untrained state sanitation workers to conduct restaurant health code inspections as well as fewer public health nurses providing novel H1N1 flu vaccinations, even with a new federal multimillion-dollar grant for the effort.

"None of this really makes much sense to me," said Baker, who is chairwoman of the Senate Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee. "We really need to get an assessment of what the impacts will be on the county."

Baker also said the economic crisis isn't as dire as Lingle claims. The state won't go bankrupt at the end of the year, and the deficit has been years in the making now. She said what the governor should be doing is sitting down with everyone and getting their advice on how to deal with the budget gap, then make more educated choices.

"We as lawmakers have no greater concern than the health and safety of our residents," said Tsutsui, who is co-chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee. "These planned reductions could have devastating effects. Yes, we need to work to reduce state spending, but we need to do it responsibly."

Baker also said that cutting adult mental health services could result in those individuals who now receive care ending up in prison or in homeless shelters.

"This is a chance for the residents of Maui, Molokai and Lanai to voice their concerns," English said. "They know what these programs mean to their community and what kind of effects we can expect to see from the programs' elimination."

The committee has asked Maui District Health Officer Dr. Lorrin Pang and Maui Memorial Medical Center Chief Executive Officer Wesley Lo to speak, along with the staff and directors of other Health Department programs.

The Ad Hoc Committee previously held a hearing on the Big Island regarding the proposed closure of the Kulani Correctional Facility.

And on Thursday, at the Ad Hoc Committee's first meeting on Maui, almost 100 environmentalists and farmers lashed out at Lingle's announced layoffs of state agricultural inspectors. Those cuts, they said, could also lead to public health problems as well as enduring damage to the environment.

* Chris Hamilton can be reached at chamilton@mauinews.com.

Original article URL: http://www.mauinews.com/page/content.detail/id/523371.html

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