The city and state had their knuckles rapped only four years ago when a federal judge told them they could not forbid nonresidents from public employment. Legislators now have decided that most jobs from local government public works projects go to Hawaii residents. The goal of directing jobs to the state's unemployed is appreciated, but Gov. Linda Lingle should pause before signing a bill that could backfire, triggering expensive and time-consuming challenges to contract bids and awards.

The bill emanates from roofing renovations at Aloha Stadium being performed by Minnesota and Kentucky workers, said Nathaniel Kinney, organizer of the International Painters Union and Allied Trades in Hawaii. He said the bill is not aimed at excluding mainland contractors but assuring “;that they hire 80 percent of local people.”;

The bill approved by the Legislature by near-unanimity, under the moniker of “;local jobs for local people,”; would require at least 80 percent of workers on a state or county public works contract to be state residents. Ironically, the General Contractors Association of Hawaii opposes the bill, warning that it would increase state and county project costs.

City officials share that concern, with construction of the rail transit on the horizon. Rix Maurer III, director of budget and fiscal services, and Craig I. Nishimura, director of design and construction, predict that it would create opportunities for vendors to protest contract awards, causing delays, project cost increases and “;an administrative nightmare.”;

It also could be challenged on the basis of the 14th Amendment requirement that a state may not abridge a person's rights as a U.S. citizen. However, several states already have laws with minimum resident-worker quotas ranging from 50 percent to 95 percent.

In 1978, Hawaii's Legislature enacted a law that required applicants for state or county jobs to be Hawaii residents. Lawmakers wanted to discourage people from moving to Hawaii out of fear they would deplete state resources.

When two Floridians applied for jobs with the city and were rejected because of their nonresidency, the American Civil Liberties Union challenged the state law in federal court in 2005. Hawaii Attorney General Mark Bennett defended that law by citing a study finding that nonresidents hired for government work under exemptions of the law were two times more likely to quit. However, District Judge David Ezra overturned the law in 2006 after calling it “;a troubled one with a troubled history.”;

Lois Perrin, the ACLU's Hawaii legal director who argued the previous case before Ezra, concedes that the 80-percent bill is likely to survive a constitutional challenge because of “;the current economic climate.”; She suggested to the Legislature that the bill have a life of only five years because of the temporary condition. That degree of caution seems warranted — although it is not included in the bill Lingle is asked to sign into law.