The House committees advanced a reclassification measure for Hawaii Emergency Management Agency supervisory positions and deferred most other emergency-preparedness bills for further work.

In a voice and roll-call sequence on Jan. 29, the House moved House Bill 10-59, a department-backed request to convert certain Emergency Management Specialist (EMS) positions (levels 5 and 6) from civil service to exempt status, out of committee with the chair's recommendation and technical amendments noted. Chair Belotti announced the committee would defer decision making on the other emergency-management bills to a later agenda.

Why it matters: Agency managers said lengthy hiring processes and low advertised pay have left supervisory EMS posts vacant and hampered operations. Supporters argued reclassification would let the agency use grant funds to supplement salaries and recruit experienced supervisors quickly. Opponents said exempt status removes civil-service protections and urged that the repricing and hiring processes for civil-service posts be fixed instead.

Hawaii Emergency Management Agency (HIEMA) Administrator James Barrows described persistent vacancies at the EMS 5 and EMS 6 levels and said the agency has tried existing civil-service options without success. "For the two years I've been at HIEMA, I've been able to hire in civil service four people," Barrows said. "Of the 45 civil-service slots, nine are vacant at the EMS 6 and 5 levels." He added that the agency planned to offset some of the salary cost using FEMA mitigation and public-assistance grant funds.

The Hawaii Government Employees Association told lawmakers that exempt employees are at-will and lose grievance protections. An HGEA representative urged the committee to use Act 234's repricing tools and to shorten hiring timelines rather than broadly convert civil-service positions to exempt status.

On other measures, the committee took extended testimony and questions but deferred decisions. Topics included:
- Community readiness centers (House Bill 10-60): HIEMA described a pilot plan to establish "readiness centers" that would act as local hubs for backup communications, power, and modest emergency supplies. Barrows said the agency hopes to identify 10 communities to start, with an eventual statewide target of about 100. "Ideally for every community throughout the state," he said, adding the administration expects to begin with 10 communities under a federal grant and expand from there.
- Shelter inventory (House Bill 883) and hurricane-shelter hardening (House Bill 357, House Bill 358, and related measures): Agency witnesses said counties currently maintain shelter assessments and that HIEMA can publish consolidated information without new law if the committee wants it done quickly. Testifiers and state officials debated the cost of hardening public buildings: Barrows and other witnesses estimated $12 million to harden a typical school cafeteria to withstand a category-3 storm and said a category-5 retrofit could more than double that cost.
- Grants to fortify low-income housing (House Bill 353): Public-health and disaster-preparedness witnesses supported targeted grants. Dr. Keoni Dudley described proposed grant amounts ranging "between $25,000 and $50,000" for single-family retrofits and up to $10,000 per apartment unit for sliding doors and windows.

No final votes were taken on the deferred bills. Chair Belotti said decision making on those measures would be scheduled for the end of the 10:30 a.m. agenda on Friday, Jan. 31, giving members time to propose technical amendments.

Votes at a glance
- House Bill 10-59 (convert EMS 5/6 positions to exempt): Committee action adopted; motion to pass with amendments approved (committee recorded ayes by chair, vice chair, Representatives Hashem, Ichiyama, LaMasao, Morikawa, Poli Poi, Shimizu and Souza; Representative Woodson excused). Outcome: approved.
- House Bill 10-60 (community readiness centers): deferred for later decision making.
- House Bill 883 (shelter inventory): deferred for later decision making.
- House Bill 357 (hurricane shelter retrofit funding): deferred for later decision making.
- House Bill 353 (grants for low-income owner/condo retrofits): deferred for later decision making.
- House Bill 358 (public buildings built to withstand Category 5 winds): deferred for later decision making.

What lawmakers said: Representative Belotti, the committee chair, said she wants members to submit amendment proposals over the next day. Major General Steven Logan of the Department of Defense and HIEMA witnesses said they would continue outreach to county fire and emergency chiefs before final committee action.

Next steps: The committee scheduled decision-making on most emergency-preparedness bills for the end of the Friday, Jan. 31, session. Lawmakers asked the Labor Committee to examine implementation of the state's repricing statute as part of the record on the EMS reclassification bill.

Ending: Members left the hearing with multiple follow-up tasks: draft technical amendments, gather cost estimates for hardening projects, and have agency and stakeholder talks about the scope and administration of community readiness centers and shelter inventories.