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A 1997 Hawaii Supreme Court ruling — the Kono decision — held that existing contracts with private providers violated state civil service law, placing hundreds of county and state contracts in legal jeopardy and reopening a long-running debate over the proper scope of government outsourcing. Linda Lingle, Mayor of Maui County, argued that contracting out government services to the private sector was an indispensable management tool that had been used legitimately for decades, that the legislature's subsequent two-year moratorium failed to resolve the underlying legal question, and that the bill as passed would force the cancellation of specific contracts, including parks maintenance performed by workers with developmental disabilities on Maui, the only landfill on Kauai, and mental health services for children and adolescents on the Big Island. The host noted that no representative from the opposing side — particularly from the government workers' union — agreed to appear, leaving the episode without a counterargument to Lingle's position. The concrete question at issue is whether the Hawaii legislature should enact permanent legislation permitting counties and the state to contract out government services, or whether civil service law requires that such functions remain with government employees.
Transcript
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Companion newspaper commentaries
Commentaries by the guests, published in The Honolulu Advertiser around the broadcast.
