The Senate Committee on Labor and Technology voted to advance Senate Bill 1233 as Senate Draft 1, instructing staff to add appropriation language and positions requested by the department in the committee report.

Senate Bill 1233 would establish a state internship and workforce development program within the state's human-resources department to match interns with vacancies across state agencies and to create pathways to civil-service employment. "The beauty of putting something like this in DHRD is that we obviously know where the vacancies are," said Brenna Hashimoto, director of the Department of Human Resources Development, who testified in support of the measure.

Nut graf: The department said it can help place interns and convert successful placements to civil-service appointments, but it asked the committee to fund staff needed to run and coordinate the program. In written testimony and oral remarks, the department said it anticipates needing five full-time equivalent positions to operate the program and estimated salary costs.

Hashimoto told the committee the department anticipates about 50 to 75 interns at a time and requested approximately five FTE—four human-resources specialists and one account clerk—to operate and support placements, outreach, onboarding, training and mentor support. She said the department did not include funds for the interns themselves in the request. The department provided a rough salary total of $330,000 for those positions.

Sen. Moriwaki and other members pressed on whether the program could be carried out without new staff; Hashimoto said it likely could not be and that the department could continue partnering with the Department of Labor but could not fully run the program without the requested resources. Committee members voted to move the bill forward with amendment language to include appropriation authority and DHRD's requested positions in the committee report; Chair Aquino, Sen. Ihara and Sen. Moriwaki recorded aye votes; Sen. Fevella was excused.

Ending: SB1233 now proceeds to the full Senate with the committee's recommendation and the inclusion of requested staffing language to be reflected in the committee report.