STAND. COM. REP. NO. 225-26

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2026

RE: H.B. No. 2292

H.D. 1

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Madame:

Your Committee on Public Safety, to which was referred H.B. No. 2292 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE HAWAII EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to authorize the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency to convert temporary special project positions created for Federal Emergency Management Agency-funded disaster recovery operations into permanent positions exempt from civil service law, subject to certain limitations.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Defense and Hawaiʻi Emergency Management Agency. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Hawaiʻi Government Employees Association, AFSCME Local 152, AFL-CIO.

Your Committee finds that the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency has often relied on temporary special project positions; however, these temporary positions were never intended to support the current reality of lengthy disaster recovery operations. Your Committee further finds that the uncertainty created by the current federal administration leaves the State at risk of losing critical personnel and expertise if the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency is forced to continue to be dependent on temporary special project positions. This measure authorizes the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency to convert its temporary special project positions, thereby ensuring workforce stability and retention of highly trained personnel.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Specifying that no more than seventy percent of the eighty-two special project positions are exempt from civil service and that thirty percent of the special project positions shall be transitioned to civil service over a period of up to five years;

(2) Changing the effective date to July 1, 3000, to encourage further discussion; and

(3) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2292, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2292, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Labor.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Public Safety,

____________________________

DELLA AU BELATTI, Chair