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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

566

TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2001

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

RELATING TO REORGANIZATION OF STATE GOVERNMENT.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. Findings and purpose. The legislature finds that there is a need to streamline the State's fiscal functions to improve financial oversight and planning through improved coordination of functions, policies, and procedures relating to finances.

The purpose of this Act is to consolidate the budget and finance functions performed by the department of budget and finance and the accounting functions performed by the department of accounting and general services. This Act also renames the department of accounting and general services as the department of general services.

SECTION 2. Section 26-4, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§26-4 Structure of government. Under the supervision of the governor, all executive and administrative offices, departments, and instrumentalities of the state government and their respective functions, powers, and duties shall be allocated among and within the following principal departments that are hereby established:

(1) Department of human resources development (Section 26-5)

(2) Department of [accounting and] general services (Section 26-6)

(3) Department of the attorney general (Section 26-7)

(4) Department of budget and finance (Section 26-8)

(5) Department of commerce and consumer affairs (Section 26-9)

(6) Department of taxation (Section 26-10)

(7) University of Hawaii (Section 26-11)

(8) Department of education (Section 26-12)

(9) Department of health (Section 26-13)

(10) Department of human services (Section 26-14)

(11) Department of land and natural resources (Section 26-15)

(12) Department of agriculture (Section 26-16)

(13) Department of Hawaiian home lands (Section 26-17)

(14) Department of business, economic development, and tourism (Section 26-18)

(15) Department of transportation (Section 26-19)

(16) Department of labor and industrial relations (Section 26-20)

(17) Department of defense (Section 26-21)

(18) Department of public safety (Section 26-14.6)"

SECTION 3. Section 26-6, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§26-6 Department of [accounting and] general services. (a)  The department of [accounting and] general services shall be headed by a single executive to be known as the [comptroller.] director of general services.

(b) The department shall:

(1) [Preaudit and conduct] Conduct after-the-fact audits of the financial accounts of all state departments to determine the legality of expenditures and the accuracy of accounts;

[(2) Report to the governor and to each regular session of the legislature as to the finances of each department of the State;

(3)] (2) Administer the state risk management program;

[(4)] (3) Establish and manage motor pools;

[(5)] (4) Manage the preservation and disposal of all records of the State;

[(6)] (5) Undertake the program of centralized engineering and office leasing services, including operation and maintenance of public buildings, for departments of the State;

[(7)] (6) Undertake the functions of the state surveyor;

[(8) Establish accounting and internal control systems;

(9)] (7) Provide centralized computer information management and processing services, coordination in the use of all information processing equipment, software, facilities, and services in the executive branch of the State, and consultation and support services in the use of information processing and management technologies to improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and productivity of state government programs; and

[(10)] (8) Establish, coordinate, and manage a program to provide a means for public access to public information and develop and operate an information network in conjunction with its overall plans for establishing a communication backbone for state government.

The state communication system shall be established to:

(1) Facilitate implementation of the State's distributed information processing and information resource management plans;

(2) Improve data, voice, and video communications in state government;

(3) Provide a means for connectivity among the state, university, and county computer systems; and

(4) Provide a long-term means for public access to public information.

(c) The department may adopt rules as may be necessary or desirable for the operation and maintenance of public buildings, and for the operation and implementation of a program to provide a means for public access to the State's information network system and public information. The rules shall be adopted pursuant to chapter 91.

(d) The King Kamehameha celebration commission shall be placed within the department of [accounting and] general services for administrative purposes. The functions, duties, and powers, subject to the administrative control of the [comptroller,] director of general services, and the composition of the commission shall be as heretofore provided by law.

[(e) The functions and authority heretofore exercised by the comptroller, board of commissioners of public archives, the archivist, the disposal committee, and the insurance management, surplus property management, and central purchasing functions of the bureau of the budget and the nonhighway functions of the department of public works as heretofore constituted are transferred to the department of accounting and general services established by this chapter.]"

SECTION 4. Section 26-8, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§26-8 Department of budget and finance. (a)  The department of budget and finance shall be headed by a single executive to be known as the director of finance.

(b) The department shall:

(1) [Undertake the preparation and execution of] Prepare and execute the executive budget of the state government;

(2) Conduct a systematic and continuous review of the finances, organization, and methods of each department of the State to assist each department in achieving the most effective expenditure of all public funds and to determine that such expenditures are in accordance with the budget laws and controls in force;

(3) Have custody of state funds and be responsible for the safekeeping, management, investment, and disbursement thereof; [and]

(4) Administer state debts[.];

(5) Establish accounting and internal control systems;

(6) Preaudit all state departments to determine the legality of expenditures; and

(7) Report to the governor and to each regular session of the legislature as to the finances of each department of the State.

[(c) The functions and authority heretofore exercised by the bureau of the budget (except for insurance management, surplus property management, and central purchasing transferred to the department of accounting and general services) and the funds custody, cash management, debt management, and administering of veterans loan functions of the treasurer as heretofore constituted are transferred to the department of budget and finance established by this chapter.

(d)] (c) The [employees] employees' retirement system as constituted by chapter 88 is placed within the department of budget and finance for administrative purposes. The functions, duties, and powers, subject to the administrative control of the director of finance, and the composition of the board of trustees of the [employees] employees' retirement system shall be as heretofore provided by law.

The public utilities commission is placed within the department of budget and finance for administrative purposes only."

SECTION 5. Section 26-52, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§26-52 Department heads and executive officers. The salaries of the following state officers shall be as follows:

(1) The salary of the superintendent of education shall be set by the board of education at a rate no greater than $150,000 a year;

(2) The salary of the president of the University of Hawaii shall be set by the board of regents;

(3) The salaries of all department heads or executive officers of the departments of [accounting and general services,] agriculture, attorney general, budget and finance, business, economic development, and tourism, commerce and consumer affairs, general services, Hawaiian home lands, health, human resources development, human services, labor and industrial relations, land and natural resources, public safety, taxation, and transportation shall be $85,302 a year; and

(4) The salary of the adjutant general shall be $85,302 a year; provided that if this salary is in conflict with the pay and allowance fixed by the tables of the regular army or air force of the United States, the latter shall prevail."

SECTION 6. All officers and employees whose functions are transferred to the department of budget and finance by this Act shall be transferred with their current functions and shall continue to perform their regular duties upon such transfer, subject to the state personnel laws and this Act.

No officer or employee of the state having civil service tenure shall suffer any loss of salary, seniority, prior service credit, vacation, sick leave, or other employee benefit or privilege as a consequence of this Act; provided that subsequent changes in status after the transfer may be made pursuant to applicable civil service and compensation laws.

SECTION 7. All rules, policies, procedures, guidelines, and other material adopted or developed heretofore by the department of accounting and general services to implement provisions of the Hawaii Revised Statutes relating to accounting shall remain in full force and effect until amended or repealed by the department of budget and finance pursuant to chapter 91, Hawaii Revised Statutes. In the interim, every reference to the department of accounting and general services or comptroller in those rules, policies, procedures, guidelines, and other material is amended to refer to the department of budget and finance or director of finance as appropriate.

SECTION 8. All records, equipment, files, supplies, contracts, books, papers, documents, maps, authorizations, and other property heretofore made, used, acquired, or held in conjunction with functions and activities transferred by this Act shall be transferred with the functions and activities to which they relate to the department of budget and finance.

SECTION 9. It is the intent of this Act not to jeopardize the receipt of any federal aid nor to impair the obligation of the State or any agency thereof to the holders of any bond issued by the State or by any such agency, and to the extent, and only to the extent, necessary to effectuate this intent, the governor is authorized and empowered to modify the strict provisions of this Act, but shall promptly report any such modifications with reasons therefore to the legislature at its next session thereafter for review by the legislature.

SECTION 10. If any provision of this Act, or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity does not affect other provisions or applications of the Act which can be given effect without the invalid provision and application, and to this end the provisions of this Act are severable.

SECTION 11. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 12. This Act shall take effect upon approval; provided that sections 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 shall take effect on July 1, 2001.

INTRODUCED BY:

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