STORY SUMMARY>>>
There's growing concern at the state Capitol about a plan that would change how applications for social programs are processed by the Department of Human Services.
Instead of more than fifty eligibility offices statewide, applications for things like food stamps and low-cost health insurance (Med-Quest) would be handled by two main processing centers in Hilo and Honolulu.
The Hawaii Government Employees Association spoke out against the proposal during an informational briefing Monday by the House Human Services Committee, saying two to four hundred of their members could end up losing their jobs.
“To close actual offices on the different islands and just create these processing centers in the name of trying to be more efficient is just very concerning to us,” said HGEA Field Services Officer Sanford Chun. “While they're trying to be efficient, they're also…going to be cutting several hundred positions.”
Those responsible for recruiting clients in need of social programs also spoke out against the plan.
“A majority of our families are homeless and for not them being in shelters they won't have access to computers, they won't have access to telephones, or to fax machines,” said Kanani Kaaiawahia Buluwan, executive director of Waianae Community Outreach. “And so where is the human-in-human service?”
Rep. John Izumo, the democrat who chairs the Human Services Committee, called the DHS plan short-sighted.
“We're going to do what we can to defend these services,” Mizuno told Khon2. “This is for our most needy, especially because crime is on the rise and they're going to be more requests for services because of the fiscal recession.”
In a written statement DHS Director Lillian Koller defended the proposal to consolidate eligibility offices, saying her department had been trying to contact HGEA for the past two weeks.
“This consultation has barely begun and no decisions have been made,” she wrote. “It’s unfortunate that the union has chosen a public forum to speak prematurely with legislators and alarm DHS employees about potential layoffs when we haven’t even met with HGEA representatives to consider the various options…”
DHS workers within the Benefit, Employment and Support Services Division as well as the Med-Quest Division suffered a round of job cuts as recently as last year when Gov. Linda Lingle ordered layoffs to help save the state money.
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