The following testimony was submitted by the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii for consideration by the Honolulu Charter Commission on Jan. 26, 2026.
_____________
Jan. 26, 2026, 2:30 p.m.
Honolulu Hale
To: Honolulu Charter Commission
Dawn Szewczyk, Chair
Sommerset Yamamoto, Vice Chair
From: Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
Ted Kefalas, Director of Strategic Campaigns
RE: P067 and P226 — RELATING TO CIVIL SERVICE EXEMPTIONS
Aloha Chair Szewczyk, Vice-Chair Yamamoto and other members of the Commission,
The Grassroot Institute of Hawaii supports proposed Charter amendments P067 and P226, both of which would expand civil service exemptions for certain city agencies.
City agencies are often understaffed and face hiring backlogs due to low pay scales and slow processes.[1] For departments involved in approving new housing, these bottlenecks translate into long permit delays that increase housing costs.
Creating new exemptions from the civil service system would allow the Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting and the Honolulu Department of Housing and Land Management to bypass the county’s bureaucratic hiring process to onboard staff more quickly. This in turn could help reduce the permitting and project delivery backlog.
Specifically, P067 would exempt the Department of Planning and Permitting, the Department of Housing and Land Management and certain contract work from civil service rules — to the extent allowed by state law.
Hawaiʻi, Maui, and Kauaʻi counties already have the second and third exemptions proposed in P067 in place.[2] A separate state law governs civil service exemptions for the state and the City and County of Honolulu; however, these exemptions are not yet a part of that law.[3]
Grassroot believes that including the language “to the extent allowed by state law” in each of these amendments would be a sufficient “trigger” to allow the city to use the exemptions if state lawmakers amend the appropriate sections of the law.
P226, meanwhile, submitted by the Department of Housing and Land Management, would create exemptions only for that department, which stated in its submittal that it intends to also pursue legislation in 2026 to change state law to give it access to the exemption.
Grassroot urges the Commission to move both proposed amendments to the next round of review.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify.
Ted Kefalas
Director of Strategic Campaigns
Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
_____________
[1] “Audit of Select Management Issues Impacting the City’s Ability to Effectively Hire and Sustain Its Workforce,” Honolulu Office of the City Auditor, Report No. 23-02, June 2023.
[2] 76-77 Civil service and exemptions., Hawaii Revised Statutes, accessed Jan. 21, 2026.
[3] 76-16 Civil service and exemptions., Hawaii Revised Statutes, accessed Jan. 21, 2026.
