March 19, 2026, 9:35 a.m.
Hawaii State Capitol
Conference Room 309 and Videoconference
To: House Committee on Labor
Rep. Jackson D. Sayama, Chair
Rep. Mike Lee, Vice Chair
From: Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
Ted Kefalas, Director of Strategic Campaigns
RE: TESTIMONY IN SUPPORT OF SB2014 SD1 — RELATING TO PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT
Aloha Chair, Vice Chair and other Committee Members,
The Grassroot Institute of Hawaii supports — and offers an amendment to — SB2014 SD1, which would require the Hawaii Department of Human Resources Development to abolish any state job that has been vacant for more than five years except for positions funded by federal dollars.
All funding from these abolished positions would immediately return to the fund from which the position had received its appropriation, whether that be a special fund or the general fund. This legislation would also require DHRD to report on the number of positions abolished in this manner in its annual report to the Legislature.
As of Nov. 1, 2025, the state had 4,273 vacant civil service positions, 485 of which had been vacant for four years or more.[1]
Tying down state funds for vacant positions inhibits the Legislature’s ability to respond to fiscal pressures such as the ones the state is currently facing.
Grassroot has estimated that abolishing all of the state’s more than 4,000 vacant positions would free up more than $350 million in tax dollars that could be allocated elsewhere.[2]
If the bill resulted in the abolition of only 10% of those positions, it would free up $30 million that could be put to better use.
The Committee should also consider amending this measure to specify that jobs that remain vacant for more than two years be abolished, as SB3180 proposes. This could be accomplished simply by replacing “five” with “two” in Section 2 of the bill. [a][b]
Thank you for the opportunity to testify.
Ted Kefalas
Director of Strategic Campaigns
Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
1050 Bishop St. #508 | Honolulu, HI 96813 | 808-864-1776 | info@grassrootinstitute.org
[1] “Report to the 2026 Legislature as Required by Act 57, Session Laws of Hawaii 2019,” Hawaii Department of Human Resources Development, updated Jan. 8, 2026, pp 1-2 and Appendix A. Note that this figure does not include Hawaii Department of Education positions.
[2] Keli’i Akina, “Alternatives to ‘pausing’ Hawaii’s income tax cuts,” Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, Jan. 19, 2026.
