Lt. Gov. Shan Tsutsui announced today that the state has imposed a temporary hiring freeze on some state departments in response to the partial shutdown of the federal government.

Tsutsui described the hiring freeze as a short-term measure to minimize the impact of the shutdown.

The hiring freeze does not apply to critical positions at the Hawaii State Hospital, the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility and the state Department of Health. The Abercrombie administration does not have the authority to impose a freeze at the state Department of Education, the University of Hawaii and the Hawaii Health Systems Corp., which are overseen by independent boards, but has asked for similar precautionary measures.