[ OUR OPINION ]
Lingle should appoint
privatization bossGOVERNOR Lingle was a champion of privatizing some government services when she was mayor of Maui. She has been given encouragement to follow through on such a method of making state government more efficient and less costly. A state privatization authority -- perhaps even a "czar" -- envisioned by state legislative Auditor Marion Higa would give agencies the impetus required to bring about this change in state government.
THE ISSUE The state auditor has recommended creation of an authority to guide state agencies about privatizing some services.
Lingle played hardball on the issue in 1997, when she threatened to cancel 263 Maui County contracts with private companies if the Legislature failed to clarify the law allowing state and county services to be farmed out. The need for clarity resulted from a state Supreme Court ruling in a lawsuit by the United Public Workers union, then headed by Gary Rodrigues, that forced Hawaii County to shelve the privatization of a landfill operation.
Since then, the Legislature has enacted laws that allow privatization to achieve potential cost savings as long as displaced government employees are given an opportunity to undergo training and go to work for the private contractor. That should suit Lingle, who promised in her 1998 campaign that no state layoffs would result from "my program to selectively use privatization."
In this year's campaign, Lingle said no layoffs would occur at all under her stewardship, a position that still should allow for privatization. Rodrigues, who is awaiting a prison sentence after being convicted of union corruption, no longer will be around to challenge her actions.
Gov. Ben Cayetano's Economic Revitalization Task Force recommended privatization in 1998, but Rodrigues' participation made the endorsement suspect. Sure enough, four years later, the only state government operation that has been targeted for privatization is that of providing of services at the Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor.
To "exempt" themselves from the new laws, other state agencies have used the "untenable justification" that the laws fail to define privatization, Higa says in a report to the Legislature. At the very least, she adds, "agencies should determine if contracting would result in cost savings and assess the impact on services if a private provider would default on its state contract."
The problem is that nobody in state government has been assigned to tell them that. Some agencies advised Higa that they were "waiting for guidance" from the Department of Human Resources Development, which has no plans to provide such guidance. Other agencies "admitted they do not want to be the first to privatize" services under the new laws, Higa reported. "We found no evidence that the state has taken any steps to plan or provide guidance for future privatization efforts."
Higa recommends that Lingle designate an "entity" to establish and enforce privatization guidelines. Whether provided by a multi-person authority or a single individual -- referred to in some states to as the "privatization czar" state agencies need a kick in the rear to overcome continued pressure from public employee unions.
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