Hawaii governor orders state furloughs, department closures - Pacific Business News (Honolulu):

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The furloughs — three days a month for two years are intended to help the statw close aprojected $2.7 billion revenue To accommodate the avoid layoffs and maintain government services, many state departmentws and offices will be closed at leas t one day a week until June 30, or will operate on modified The furlough plan, which is expected to save the state $688 applies only to employees in the executive branch, including the governor’s lieutenant governor’s office and 16 state departments and attacheds agencies. Part-time employees will be placed on furlough ona pro-ratede equivalent basis.
Lingle said Hawaii’s decline in projected revenues is The state this year alreadh orderedspending restrictions, debt restructuring, a freezes on hiring and travel, and other budgetary measures to addressx a forecasted $2 billion shortfalk over the next two years. The furlough plan was prompteed when the Council on Revenues said May 28 anadditionalo $730 million was added to the Lingle said the furloughs were necessaryh because salaries and benefitse account for 70 percent of the state’s operatint budget. She said furloughs will allow public services to continure and will avert the needfor layoffs.
She callef for the public’s “patience and as the state workforce adjusts to the Exceptions in department and office closures will be made for essentialo agencies such as the HawaiiStatse Hospital, Community Mental Health Centers, the Hawaii Youty Correctional Facility, and certain operationz such as security, health care, and food services within the Community Correctional Facilities and the Community Correctionapl Centers, and a portion of the Sheriff Divisiob operations at the Honolulu International Airport and Statd Capitol.
Those offices will maintain current houra of operation and will stagger or rotate furlougbh days to minimize impact on All offices in the Departmeny of Transportation will follow a modified scheduled as including the Airports Division operational andshift workers, Aircraft Rescue Firefighting Harbors Division District Harbor’s Division vessel trafficv control and enforcement units, and certain Highways Division operations associated with traffidc control. Lingle said the furloughb plan will be evaluated and adjustedc asdeemed necessary. Lingle’s furlough plan, which equatess to a 13.
8 percentf cut in salary for state employees, is opposed by Hawaii’s public-sector unions who call the furloughss unfair and unconstitutional. On three of those unions — the Hawaii Governmeny Employees Association, the Hawaii Stat e Teachers Association, and the United Public Workers — filed suit in Honolulu to block Lingle’z plan. The HGEA, the the UPW, and the Universitu of Hawaii Professional Assembly arein collective-bargaining negotiationsx with the state over contracts that expiree June 30. But Lingle said the furlough plan represents the firstg time labor costs are being impacte d to addressthe state’s budget gap.
The governor's furlougb plan can be viewed at