House announces budget reductions

The Hawaii House of Representatives today announced its plan to deal with the economic and state budget crisis which includes salary reductions for permanent and session staff. There are no furloughs or layoffs. Effective between the dates of January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2010, reductions will be as follows:

· A 5% salary reduction for all permanent full-time staff employed by the House.
· A 15% salary reduction in session staff funding levels for all House committee chairs.
· A 20% salary reduction in session staff funding levels for all other House member offices.
· A 15% salary reduction for session staff in all House agency offices.

The House also significantly reduced other administrative expenses, including technical support services, for a combined 9% reduction of the total House of Representatives operating budget. This amounts to a cost savings of $1,026,570. (The House budget will be reduced from $11,403,163 in 2009 to $10,376,593 in 2010.)

Speaker of the House Calvin Say and Majority Leader Blake Oshiro met with House staff members this afternoon to announce salary reductions.

“The House staff works very hard for the membership and for the institution, but given the state’s fiscal crisis, it is necessary to reduce our expenses just as we are asking every other state agency to do,” said Speaker Say. “This was not a rash decision. We deliberated on the best plan for the House and decided that salary reductions rather than furloughs would work best for our responsibilities, especially during the legislative session.”