Hawaii governor orders expedited hiring for displaced federal workers
Federal government employees in Hawaii who lose their jobs under a purge by President Donald Trump are being offered expedited consideration for state positions.
Gov. Josh Green on Tuesday signed an executive order intended to place qualified applicants discharged from federal employment into state jobs quickly.
“The state of Hawaii is committed to respecting and valuing its employees,” Green said in a statement. “As we witness the very quickly changing landscape of the federal government, federal workforce and federal policies, this order directs state agencies to review candidates and make a conditional job offer within 14 days of receiving an individual’s application.”
The governor’s order No. 25-02 is titled Operation Hire Hawaii: A Workforce Transition Initiative.
The expedited-hiring program is being coordinated by the state Department of Human Resources Development, which has begun putting some program information online at dhrd.hawaii.gov/OHHI Opens in a new tab.
Green said candidates who apply under the “OH-HI” initiative will be referred immediately to hiring agencies for consideration.
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Brenna Hashimoto, DHRD director, said in a statement that the agency is committed to working closely with other state agencies to ensure that suitable job candidates can be hired quickly.
“We are eager to welcome those impacted by the changes at the federal level to our workforces, as we believe they will make an immediate, positive impact,” she said.
About 5,000 state civil service jobs, excluding public school teacher positions, were vacant as of Feb. 11, according to DHRD.
Workers needed by the state include engineers, information technology professionals, planners, accountants, human resources specialists, registered nurses, investigators and many more, according to state officials.
Green’s order states that many displaced federal employees possess specialized expertise in areas of great importance to the state, including environmental protection, public health, infrastructure development, cybersecurity and economic policy.
Trump last week issued an executive order directing leaders of all federal agencies to prepare to initiate “large-scale” reductions in force, excluding military personnel and jobs related to public safety, law enforcement or immigration enforcement.
The president’s order, aimed at eliminating “waste, bloat, and insularity,” followed a recent buyout offer accepted by about 75,000 federal workers around the country and a hiring freeze that included a recommendation to rescind around 200,000 job offers and jobs for probationary employees. The federal government employs about 2.4 million people.
Hawaii was home to about 35,500 federal civilian workers in 2024, according to the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.
Elizabeth Fien, president and CEO of the nonprofit Friends of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, recently said several new or incoming National Park Service employees, including a trail supervisor and an engineer, had their employment at the Hawaii island park rescinded since Trump began his initiative.
Last week Suzanne Shriner, director of the nonprofit Synergistic Hawaii Agriculture Council, reported that the Daniel K. Inouye U.S. Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center in Hilo lost three research scientists, eight technicians and some administrative staff due to probationary firings under the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The Operation Hire Hawaii initiative is geared to promptly consider hiring people affected by layoffs, resignations or loss of federal funding, as well as other interested job seekers.
Under Green’s order, DHRD is to provide quarterly progress reports to his office on the initiative, including the number of employees recruited and retained.
