West Maui Taxpayers Association
  • HOME
  • Olowalu Fire Station
  • WMTAPAC22
  • Affordable Housing
  • West Maui Lifesavers
  • Wall of Honor
  • Support WMTA
    • Membership - One Time Payment
    • Membership - Recurring Payment
    • Donations
    • Wills & Trusts
    • Charity Walk
  • Newsletter
  • Emergency Planning
  • News Blog
  • About Us
    • Goals & Objectives
    • Accomplishments
    • Board of Directors
    • WMTA vs WMIF
  • Contact
  • Subscribe

And We Aren't Moving People Around Because?                                           By Tom Yamachika, President

4/13/2020

0 Comments

 
WMTA Shares these commentaries, without taking a position unless otherwise noted, to bring information to our readers ​to view the archives of the Tax Foundation of Hawaii's commentary click here.
Picture
And We Aren't Moving People Around Because?
By Tom Yamachika, President

On March 5, our Governor issued a Proclamation declaring our current state of emergency.  The proclamation suspends several laws, including chapters 89 and 89C, HRS, relating to collective bargaining and public officers and employees excluded from collective bargaining, to the extent necessary to, among other things, “provide for the interchange of personnel, by detail, transfer, or otherwise, between agencies or departments of the State.”  This proclamation is signed by both the Governor and the Attorney General.

On April 3, the Director of the Department of Human Resources Development told a Special Senate Committee that the Departments of Defense, Health, and Agriculture have said they need help.  This is in addition to the DLIR and DBEDT, which support labor and business.  He also says that the Governor hasn’t decided how to implement the suspension of the collective bargaining laws.  (Earlier that same week, he was quoted as saying he was unaware that the collective bargaining laws were suspended at all.)  He says that the call has gone out for volunteers to lend a hand at other agencies.

Also, on April 3, the Governor’s chief of staff told the same committee that the Attorney General is researching whether it’s possible to redeploy workers who have been told to stay home with pay.

Wait a minute.  We have to pay people not to work when other departments urgently need help? 

From the very first proclamation, the Governor’s Office and the Attorney General contemplated this very issue, namely how to “provide for the interchange of personnel, by detail, transfer, or otherwise, between agencies or departments of the State.”  That proclamation suspended the collective bargaining laws to the extent they were in the way. 

So, we had some brain power focused on how to move people between departments – an issue they were anticipating – and now they aren’t doing it but instead are paying people to stay home?  If, as I suspect, the plan was to move bodies around during the emergency, but the plan was walked back after someone expressed some doubt, I think there needs to be more decisive action.  It brings back memories of Mauna Kea – which we wrote about a few weeks ago. 

Why do we expect the problem to be solved, or partially solved, by volunteers?  If you were paid the same amount to (1) stay home and not work, or (2) stay home and work and/or come in to work, which would you do?  Certainly, there are some with a compassionate heart and an altruistic spirit that would choose #2.  However, I suspect that they would be in the minority.

We need to lay down the law.

State workers whose talents are needed in another department need to go there and not make a fuss.  Those who think they are being treated unfairly can sort this out when we aren’t in a state of emergency.  If the perceived problem is a state law that requires us taxpayers to pay for no work, let’s suspend that law, because it is impeding efforts to deal with the emergency. 

State workers who don’t want to work and don’t qualify for special paid sick leave under the new federal laws can use their vacation time – most have plenty of it – for that purpose.  In other words, those who want a vacation use vacation time. 

Those who want to help our State get through this emergency should do so and be paid for it.  They will be much better off than thousands of us in the private sector who either can’t work (a server in a restaurant, for example) or can’t get paid (such as the owner of a small business that has been ordered closed).  But we just can’t afford to pay people for nothing, especially now.
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    RSS Feed


    If you wish to further discuss blog posts, please contat our office directly or contact us via Contact page.

    Categories

    All
    Affordable Housing & Homelessness
    Board
    Capital Improvements
    Charity Walk
    Commentaries
    Community Events
    Community Resources
    CON
    COVID 19
    Educational
    Emergency Planning
    Health & Safety
    HHARP
    Housing
    Infrastructure In West Maui
    In The News
    Kapalua Airport Runway Lights
    Kapalua Coastal Trail
    Lahaina Bypass
    Legislature Newsletters
    LLC
    Long Range Transportation Plan 2040
    Long-Range Transportation Plan 2040
    Makila
    MAUI CANCER CENTER
    Maui Cancer Center Llc
    Maui County
    Maui County Budget
    Maui County Dept Of Environmental Management
    Maui County - Dept Of Water
    Maui Destination Management Plan
    Press
    Public Safety In West Maui
    Real Property Tax
    Recycling Info
    TAT
    Tax
    Tourism
    Traffic & Roadways
    Transportation
    Video
    Vote
    Voting
    West Maui Community Plan
    West Maui Hospital
    West Maui Skate Park
    WMTA Annual Meeting
    WMTA Breakfast Events
    WMTA Candidates Night
    WMTA Disaster Preparedness
    WMTA Fundraisers
    WMTA Hot Topics
    Wmta Hot Topics Replay
    WMTA Membership
    WMTA PAC
    WMTA Sunset Sail
    WMTA Whale Watch

Quick Links: 

Home

News

About Us

Wall of Honor

Newsletter

Support WMTA
Emergency Planning

Contact

Copyright © 2021
Photo used under Creative Commons from wolfsavard
  • HOME
  • Olowalu Fire Station
  • WMTAPAC22
  • Affordable Housing
  • West Maui Lifesavers
  • Wall of Honor
  • Support WMTA
    • Membership - One Time Payment
    • Membership - Recurring Payment
    • Donations
    • Wills & Trusts
    • Charity Walk
  • Newsletter
  • Emergency Planning
  • News Blog
  • About Us
    • Goals & Objectives
    • Accomplishments
    • Board of Directors
    • WMTA vs WMIF
  • Contact
  • Subscribe