Senate panels approve 3-year Department of Health hiring pilot after debate over civil‑service protections

The joint Senate committees on Health and Human Services and Labor and Technology voted to pass a three‑year pilot that would allow the Department of Health to use a streamlined, delegated hiring process for certain classifications, citing long‑running vacancies and the need to maintain public‑health capacity.

Supporters said the pilot reduces delays in hiring and preserves civil‑service protections by checking qualifications before an offer is made. "We did a pilot with 1 aspect of what is in the bill," a Department of Health representative told senators, describing a process in which the department forwarded all applicants to hiring programs and reviewed minimum qualifications only for the candidate selected by the program.

The measure drew caution from Brenna Hashimoto, director of the Department of Human Resources Development, who told the committee that while DHRD already provides multiple…