Task Force on Reinventing Govt

February 2010

Stories:
Senator Kim on the Hot Seat
Task Force on Reinventing Government
Interim of 2009 - Site Visits
Facts about Hawaii's Current Collective Bargaining Negotiations
Commentary
2009 Award Recipients
Sen. Hydrogen Investigation Final Report
Response to DBEDT Investigation
Photos: Active and Involved

Goals of the Task Force on Reinventing Government

Faced with the worst budget deficit in her 26 years of public service and in her first year as the Chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, Senator Kim believed that government needed to be restructured to become more efficient. Restructuring government is not a new concept but has been politically unpopular in the past. However, the 2009 Legislature, confronted with huge budget deficits, was forced to make deep cuts to government services and programs and raise various taxes. Realizing that more deficits lay ahead, Senator Kim introduced legislation to create a task force to take a fresh look at how government can deliver services more efficiently. She knew that it would be politically difficult so the legislation she proposed was to appoint a 10 member task force made up of stakeholders who would be willing to put politics aside to re-examine State Government.

The 10 member group selected Don Horner (CEO, First Hawaiian Bank) as Chair. Other members included Senator Donna Mercado Kim (Senate Ways and Means Chair), Representative Marcus Oshiro (House Finance Chair), Mark Fukunaga (CEO, Servco), Randy Perreira (Executive Director, HGEA), Reginald Castanares (Business Manager, Plumbers & Fitters Local 675), Lynn McCrory, COO, Pres., PAHIO Development, Inc.), John Monahan (CEO, Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau), Walter Ozawa (Dep. Admin. Director, Judiciary) and Laura Thielen (Chair, Board of Land and Natural Resources). The group's mission was “to identify strategic opportunities to improve the operational and organizational efficiency of state government.”

Since October, 2009, the task force met biweekly and six sub-committees were established: Education, Transportation, Land and Natural Resources, Economic Development, Human Resources and Health and Human Services. Each sub-committee proposed specific recommendations. The committees met with resource people such as current and past State department heads, community groups, and private industry associations and boards. Some of the recommendations include:

Increasing classroom instructional time and productivity through information technology improvements
Developing a plan to inventory state land assets and natural resources to determine their utilization and potential for revenue generation
Establishing a joint government and private sector task force to look at whether core health and human services can best be provided by the government or the private sector
Reviewing and amending the State Procurement code to create better efficiency in delivering government services
Improving the coordination of State and county transportation offices and look at consolidating functions and resources
Developing an integrated budgeting, payroll, and human resources database and computer system to increase efficiency and productivity in those functions
Centralizing and updating the State's information technology assets and resources in order to leverage economic, operating, and application synergies that are available through having departments share equipment, expertise, and application solutions

A number of legislative measures will be introduced this legislative session that concur with the Task Force's recommendations.