HB 2278

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
H.B. NO.
2278
THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2026
STATE OF HAWAII
A BILL FOR AN ACT
RELATING TO THE EXEMPTION FROM CIVIL SERVICE OF EXECUTIVE
PERSONNEL OF THE EMPLOYEES' RETIREMENT SYSTEM.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
���� SECTION 1. �Chapter 88, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
amended by adding to part II, subpart A, a new section to be appropriately
designated and to read as follows:
���� "�88-��� ��Executive personnel.� The board, through its executive
director, may appoint a deputy executive director, a chief compliance officer,
and an information security officer.�
Each appointee shall serve under the direction of the executive
director, with duties and qualifications prescribed and each appointee's salary
fixed by the board, and shall be exempt from chapter 76."
���� SECTION
2.� Section
76-16, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (b) to read
as follows:
���� "(b) �The civil service to which this chapter
applies shall comprise all positions in the State now existing or hereafter
established and embrace all personal services performed for the State, except
the following:
���� (1)� Commissioned and enlisted personnel of
the Hawaii National Guard and positions in the Hawaii National Guard that are
required by state or federal laws or regulations or orders of the National
Guard to be filled from those commissioned or enlisted personnel;
���� (2)� Positions filled by persons employed by
contract where the director of human resources development has certified that
the service is special or unique or is essential to the public interest and
that, because of circumstances surrounding its fulfillment, personnel to
perform the service cannot be obtained through normal civil service recruitment
procedures. �Any contract may be for any
period not exceeding one year;
���� (3)� Positions that must be filled without
delay to comply with a court order or decree if the director determines that
recruitment through normal recruitment civil service procedures would result in
delay or noncompliance, such as the Felix-Cayetano consent decree;
���� (4)� Positions filled by the legislature or
by either house or any committee thereof;
���� (5)� Employees in the office of the governor
and office of the lieutenant governor, and household employees at Washington
Place;
���� (6)� Positions filled by popular vote;
���� (7)� Department heads, officers, and members
of any board, commission, or other state agency whose appointments are made by
the governor or are required by law to be confirmed by the senate;
���� (8)� Judges, referees, receivers, masters,
jurors, notaries public, land court examiners, court commissioners, and
attorneys appointed by a state court for a special temporary service;
���� (9)� One bailiff for the chief justice of
the supreme court who shall have the powers and duties of a court officer and
bailiff under section 606-14; one secretary or clerk for each justice of the
supreme court, each judge of the intermediate appellate court, and each judge
of the circuit court; one secretary for the judicial council; one deputy
administrative director of the courts; three law clerks for the chief justice
of the supreme court, two law clerks for each associate justice of the supreme
court and each judge of the intermediate appellate court, one law clerk for
each judge of the circuit court, two additional law clerks for the civil
administrative judge of the circuit court of the first circuit, two additional
law clerks for the criminal administrative judge of the circuit court of the
first circuit, one additional law clerk for the senior judge of the family
court of the first circuit, two additional law clerks for the civil motions
judge of the circuit court of the first circuit, two additional law clerks for
the criminal motions judge of the circuit court of the first circuit, and two
law clerks for the administrative judge of the district court of the first
circuit; and one private secretary for the administrative director of the
courts, the deputy administrative director of the courts, each department head,
each deputy or first assistant, and each additional deputy, or assistant
deputy, or assistant defined in paragraph (16);
��� (10)� First deputy and deputy attorneys
general, the administrative services manager of the department of the attorney
general, one secretary for the administrative services manager, an
administrator and any support staff for the criminal and juvenile justice resources
coordination functions, and law clerks;
��� (11)� (A)� Teachers, principals, vice-principals,
complex area superintendents, deputy and assistant superintendents, other
certificated personnel, and no more than twenty noncertificated administrative,
professional, and technical personnel not engaged in instructional work;
��������� (B)� Effective July 1, 2003, teaching
assistants, educational assistants, bilingual or bicultural school-home
assistants, school psychologists, psychological examiners, speech pathologists,
athletic health care trainers, alternative school work study assistants,
alternative school educational or supportive services specialists, alternative
school project coordinators, and communications aides in the department of
education;
��������� (C)� The special assistant to the state
librarian and one secretary for the special assistant to the state librarian;
and
��������� (D)� Members of the faculty of the university
of Hawaii, including research workers, extension agents, personnel engaged in
instructional work, and administrative, professional, and technical personnel
of the university;
��� (12)� Employees engaged in special, research,
or demonstration projects approved by the governor;
��� (13)� (A)� Positions filled by inmates, patients
of state institutions, and persons with severe physical or mental disabilities
participating in the work experience training programs;
��������� (B)� Positions filled with students in
accordance with guidelines for established state employment programs; and
��������� (C)� Positions that provide work experience
training or temporary public service employment that are filled by persons
entering the workforce or persons transitioning into other careers under
programs such as the federal Workforce Investment Act of 1998, as amended, or
the Senior Community Service Employment Program of the Employment and Training
Administration of the United States Department of Labor, or under other similar
state programs;
��� (14)� A custodian or guide at Iolani Palace,
the Royal Mausoleum, and Hulihee Palace;
��� (15)� Positions filled by persons employed on
a fee, contract, or piecework basis, who may lawfully perform their duties
concurrently with their private business or profession or other private
employment and whose duties require only a portion of their time, if it is
impracticable to ascertain or anticipate the portion of time to be devoted to
the service of the State;
��� (16)� Positions of first deputies or first
assistants of each department head appointed under or in the manner provided in
section 6, article V, of the Hawaii State Constitution; three additional
deputies or assistants either in charge of the highways, harbors, and airports
divisions or other functions within the department of transportation as may be
assigned by the director of transportation, with the approval of the governor;
one additional deputy in the department of human services either in charge of
welfare or other functions within the department as may be assigned by the
director of human services; four additional deputies in the department of
health, each in charge of one of the following: �behavioral health, environmental health,
hospitals, and health resources administration, including other functions
within the department as may be assigned by the director of health, with the
approval of the governor; two additional deputies in charge of the law
enforcement programs, administration, or other functions within the department
of law enforcement as may be assigned by the director of law enforcement, with
the approval of the governor; three additional deputies each in charge of the
correctional institutions, rehabilitation services and programs, and administration
or other functions within the department of corrections and rehabilitation as
may be assigned by the director of corrections and rehabilitation, with the
approval of the governor; two administrative assistants to the state librarian;
and an administrative assistant to the superintendent of education;
��� (17)� Positions specifically exempted from
this part by any other law; provided that:
��������� (A)� Any exemption created after July 1,
2014, shall expire three years after its enactment unless affirmatively
extended by an act of the legislature; and
��������� (B)� All of the positions defined by
paragraph (9) shall be included in the position classification plan;
��� (18)� Positions in the state foster
grandparent program and positions for temporary employment of senior citizens
in occupations in which there is a severe personnel shortage or in special
projects;
��� (19)� Household employees at the official
residence of the president of the university of Hawaii;
��� (20)� Employees in the department of
education engaged in the supervision of students during meal periods in the
distribution, collection, and counting of meal tickets, and in the cleaning of
classrooms after school hours on a less than half-time basis;
��� (21)� Employees hired under the tenant hire
program of the Hawaii public housing authority; provided that no more than
twenty-six per cent of the authority's workforce in any housing project
maintained or operated by the authority shall be hired under the tenant hire
program;
��� (22)� Positions of the federally funded
expanded food and nutrition program of the university of Hawaii that require
the hiring of nutrition program assistants who live in the areas they serve;
��� (23)� Positions filled by persons with severe
disabilities who are certified by the state vocational rehabilitation office
that they are able to perform safely the duties of the positions;
��� (24)� The sheriff;
��� (25)� A gender and other fairness coordinator
hired by the judiciary;
��� (26)� Positions in the Hawaii National Guard
youth and adult education programs;
��� (27)� In the Hawaii state energy office in
the department of business, economic development, and tourism, all energy
program managers, energy program specialists, energy program assistants, and
energy analysts;
��� (28)� Administrative appeals hearing officers
in the department of human services;
��� (29)� In the Med-QUEST division of the
department of human services, the division administrator, finance officer,
health care services branch administrator, medical director, and clinical
standards administrator;
��� (30)� In the director's office of the
department of human services, the enterprise officer, information security and
privacy compliance officer, security and privacy compliance engineer, security
and privacy compliance analyst, information technology implementation manager,
assistant information technology implementation manager, resource manager,
community or project development director, policy director, special assistant
to the director, and limited English proficiency project manager or
coordinator;
��� (31)� The Alzheimer's disease and related
dementia services coordinator in the executive office on aging;
��� (32)� In the Hawaii emergency management
agency, the executive officer, public information officer, civil defense
administrative officer, branch chiefs, and emergency operations center state
warning point personnel; provided that for state warning point personnel, the
director shall determine that recruitment through normal civil service
recruitment procedures would result in delay or noncompliance;
��� (33)� The executive director and seven
full-time administrative positions of the school facilities authority;
��� (34)� Positions in the Mauna Kea stewardship
and oversight authority;
��� (35)� In the office of homeland security of
the department of law enforcement, the statewide interoperable communications
coordinator;
��� (36)� In the social services division of the
department of human services, the business technology analyst;
��� (37)� The executive director and staff of the
911 board;
��� (38)� The software developer supervisor and senior
software developers in the department of taxation;
��� (39)� In the department of law enforcement,
five Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc.,
coordinator positions;
��� (40)� The state fire marshal and deputy state
fire marshal in the office of the state fire marshal;
��� (41)� The administrator for the law
enforcement standards board;
��� (42)� In the office of the director of
taxation, the data privacy officer and tax business analysts; [[and]
� [[]](43)[[]]]� All positions filled by the Hawaii tourism
authority within the department of business, economic development, and tourism[[.]];
and
��� (44)� In the employees' retirement system
of the State of Hawaii, the deputy executive director, the chief compliance
officer and the information security officer.
���� The
director shall determine the applicability of this section to specific
positions.
���� Nothing
in this section shall be deemed to affect the civil service status of any
incumbent as it existed on July 1, 1955."
���� SECTION
3.� Statutory material to be repealed is
bracketed and stricken.� New statutory
material is underscored.
���� SECTION
4.� This Act shall take effect upon its
approval.
INTRODUCED BY:
_____________________________
BY REQUEST
Report Title:
ERS; Executive Personnel; Civil Service Exemption
Description:
Allows the Board of Trustees of the Employees' Retirement
System, through its Executive Director, to appoint specified executive
personnel positions of the Employees' Retirement System of the State of Hawaii
and exempts these positions from the State's civil service requirements.
The summary description
of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.