Capitol View
WHEN the boys in the backroom are done in by somebody else's backroom deal, you always have to appreciate the moment. Unions take on
state governmentThat's what happened with a bill that started with the mission to close the Hawaii State Hospital.
That didn't really happen, but the bill, SB 1518, had a curious and controversial life.
In one of those miraculous legislative transformations, the State Hospital bill became a bill to reform, prioritize and streamline government by directing all departments to write mission statements.
Then in the closing moments of the Legislature, the bill changed again. It became the most important measure in the Legislature.
This is the bill that gives pay raises to HGEA and UPW members. The money came from the state Employees Retirement Fund.
That bill makes good the important pledge by Gov. Ben Cayetano to fund the promised-but-delayed public employee pay raises.
But the bill, which still required mission statements from all departments, also threw in a last-minute ringer.
Included in the bill is this order:
"The parties may not negotiate with respect to cost items for the biennium 1999-2001, and the cost items of employees...until July 1, 2001."
That last little bit was inserted at the last minute, in a midnight conference committee report. It passed with overwhelming Democratic support.
State House leaders had been warning that there was no more money to pay future public employee pay raises, so it was time for the unions to start changing their priorities.
And while the administration publicly said the constitutionality was doubtful, Cayetano still signed it into law.
On the surface, this is not what you would expect from a pro-union legislature in a Democrat-controlled state.
As one labor leader said after the vote:
"How can you be an elected Democrat who voted to destroy collective bargaining and expect to be supported in the next election?"
This year, this governor and this Legislature, however, are all a bit different.
First, Cayetano started the year with a call in his State of the State speech to reform civil service.
"It is absolutely critical that we develop and build a new civil service system which encourages innovation, rewards hard work, and is empowered to adapt to constant change," Cayetano said.
SINCE then Cayetano's director of human resources, former state Sen. Mike McCartney, has held hundreds of meetings with unions, bureaucrats, county officials and other "stake holders" in an attempt to fulfill the governor's call to change.
The unions this week filed suit, saying, as Cayetano did, that the anti-collective bargaining law is unconstitutional.
They have also launched a public relations campaign trying to beef up the image of public employees.
In the end, however, here is what you have: The state wants to cut the cost of government and the surest way to do that is to cut the payroll.
Unions, meanwhile, have one overriding duty -- to protect their members' jobs, pay and benefits.
Everything else is way back in importance.
And when the Legislature meets, that is what the issue will be -- cut the job or save the job.
Richard Borreca reports on Hawaii's politics every Wednesday.
He can be reached by e-mail at rborreca@pixi.com