HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	14
THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2021
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

requesting a review of the efficacy of the technology resources of the department of labor and industrial relations.

 

 

 

        WHEREAS, unemployment insurance applications received by Hawaii during the COVID-19 pandemic are being processed on a government mainframe computer system that was installed in the early 1980s and is fragile and slow, with technology so obsolete that it predates using a mouse; and

 

        WHEREAS, a long-term fix beyond the recent scramble of system patches reportedly won't come until 2021, at the earliest; and

 

        WHEREAS, the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations has tried to control the mainframe traffic by creating separate online portals, with the mainframe regularly updating those portals with the latest data, but the mainframe was never designed to be a web service; and

 

        WHEREAS, the department largely places the blame for its current predicament on its federal counterparts at the United States Department of Labor, who state officials say have failed to provide adequate funding to modernize states' unemployment information technology systems; now, therefore,

 

        BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2021, the Senate concurring, that the Auditor is requested to conduct a review of the efficacy of the technology resources of the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations; and

 

        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Auditor is requested to make recommendations on how the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations may improve its services to the public and what other resources may be needed to implement those recommendations; and

 

        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Auditor is requested to submit findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2022; and

 

        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Auditor and Director of Labor and Industrial Relations.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title:  

Auditor