House bill would eliminate
23 state deputy directors

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By Bruce Dunford
Associated Press

The state government's 18 departments would be consolidated into 15 departments, and 23 deputy director positions in 16 departments would be eliminated under bills up for approval in the state House.

The measures to restructure the state administration are intended to save money by streamlining operations, said House Finance Director Dwight Takamine.

"We're looking wherever we can to cut costs," Takamine (D, North Hilo-Hamakua) said yesterday.

Under the proposal approved by the Finance Committee:

>> The Department of Human Resources Development, which is in charge of state employment, would move into the Department of Labor & Industrial Relations.

>> The regulatory function of the Department of Agriculture would go into the Department of Commerce & Consumer Affairs, and its promotional arm would go into the Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism.

>> Finally, the Department of Accounting & General Services would be combined with the Department of Budget & Finance.

Senate Ways & Means Committee Chairman Brian Taniguchi (D, Manoa-Moiliili-McCully- Pawaa) said his committee would look at the proposal if it passes the House, but doubted it would survive in the Senate.

The Legislature might want to wait and let the new governor elected later this year recommend an administration structure "in a way they are comfortable with. It might not be worth doing now."

House Minority Leader Galen Fox (R, Waikiki-Ala Wai) said the proposal is a step in the right direction but does not go far enough.

"It's not real reform, it's paper reform," he said.

"It would work better if they actually eliminated the departments they are talking about eliminating," Fox said. "They are just taking the functions and just shuffling them into other departments."

The Human Resources Development Department is not needed because each department has its own personnel section, "so we could do away with the extra people," he said.

A lot of what the Department of Accounting & General Services does "just gets in the way of the efficient delivery of services, so why not just abolish it and allow each of the departments to do their own procurement?" Fox said.

The axing of 23 deputy director positions would affect all but the Department of Education and the University of Hawaii, and alone would save the state at least $1.8 million a year.

There was no immediate estimate on the savings from consolidating 18 departments into 15.

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