Current events quiz: Besides legalizing gay marriage during the recent special session, what else did the state Legislature do?
Quick answer: They spent a lot of money. Not because they wanted to, but because the Abercrombie administration signed two new public worker pay raise contracts after the regular legislative session concluded.
Legislators really don’t have an option: They can approve or reject the contracts, but they can’t bargain and they can’t ask for modifications. The job of making the deal falls to Gov. Neil Abercrombie, and the impact of that bargaining is staggering.
The two bills authorized the funding of pay raises for two groups of public workers: nearly 3,000 blue-collar institutional, health and prison workers, and the 7,700 state and county white-collar professional and scientific workers.
The tab for both groups, for the remaining years of their state contracts?
An extra $30 million this fiscal year, then, because of compounding, an extra $77 million for fiscal year 2015, an extra $114.7 million for fiscal year 2016 and then an extra $154 million each for fiscal years 2017, 2018 and 2019, according to figures put together by the House Finance Committee.
In total, about an extra $684.2 million in pay raises, for just two of the 14 bargaining groups of state and county workers.
And that’s just the pay raises, not the extra costs for benefits and pensions, nor the existing salary or overtime.
Rep. Sylvia Luke, Finance Committee chairwoman, calls it "a huge amount of money," but admits that it is not part of the Legislature’s job to shape or bargain pay raises for state workers.
"This is nondiscretionary funding," Luke said in an interview. "The reality is that you can either vote up or down on the bill."
Luke, like other legislators, said the state Constitution gives public employees the right to bargain collectively, something that few other states offer their public employees. It is not a right that anyone is seriously thinking about changing, so the Abercrombie administration and the union must make the deal and the lawmakers have to design a budget that includes the increases.
Last week, former Gov. George Ariyoshi advised, "It is important to look at what you do during bad times and during good times." Ariyoshi was discussing why he was not supporting Abercrombie’s re-election, saying he hoped the campaign would spark a serious discussion of state finances.
Bill Kaneko, Abercrombie for Governor campaign manager, had said in response: "We must remember, being governor is about leadership. It’s about having the strength to make tough choices that are in the best interest of all Hawaii."
Conservative groups across the country have used the cost of public employee salaries and pensions as an argument against unions, and in some states, such as Wisconsin, they have been successful.
Hawaii will not follow the same path because public employee unions are a strong part of the political fabric.
Legislators knew the budget would increase when the two union contracts were signed, but the approval of an extra $684.2 million deserves note, if not debate.
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Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.
