A federal judge has struck down a state law that bars non-residents from applying for state and county jobs in Hawai'i.

U.S. District Judge David Ezra recently invalidated Hawai'i's pre-employment residency requirement for government positions. Ezra ruled that the law was unconstitutional and violated a person's fundamental right to travel.

Last year, the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai'i and the law firm Davis Levin Livingston Grande filed a lawsuit to stop enforcement of the law. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of several Mainland residents who were not allowed to apply for government jobs here.

On Feb. 1, Ezra granted the plaintiffs a preliminary injunction and ordered the state and counties to stop enforcing the law. Ezra wrote that the law was "discriminatory on its face" and "constitutionally suspect and virtually indefensible."

Ezra recently upheld that ruling.

Attorney General Mark Bennett yesterday said Ezra's decision was expected, although he said the judge was incorrect and the state will appeal the ruling to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Since February, Bennett said the state has been accepting job applications from out-of-state residents.

This past legislative session, Gov. Linda Lingle introduced a measure that would have removed the residency requirement from the law. At the time, Bennett said Lingle felt the law "did not make sense for Hawai'i."

The Legislature did not pass the measure and although Lingle does not agree with the residency requirement, he said the state will continue to defend it.

"My job as the attorney general is not to make judgments about which laws I defend based on whether I think they're good policy or not," Bennett said. "My job is to defend the laws of the state of Hawai'i if I believe that a reasonable argument can be made for their constitutionality. In this case I believe that far more than a reasonable argument can be made for their constitutionality.

"You wouldn't want a system where an attorney general decided which laws to defend and which not based on his own personal view of whether they were good laws or not."

Lois Perrin, ACLU of Hawai'i legal director, praised Ezra's decision. She said the state and counties have more than 400 vacant jobs and it "makes no sense to keep well-qualified people from even applying for jobs when the state is hurting from long-standing vacancies."

The law was enacted in the 1970s as a way to discourage people from moving to Hawai'i. At the time, legislators were concerned that an influx of new residents would tax the state's resources.

Over the years, the law was amended to its current form, which requires residency at the time of application. The law allows for exemptions for police officers, University of Hawai'i employees, teachers, clinical psychologists and veterinarians.

Lydia Hill, a Massachusetts resident and a plaintiff in the case, said she was "delighted with the ruling."

"There is now no lawful reason as to why Hawai'i cannot tap into the governmental expertise and experience of those of us who have learned how to effectively and successfully administer municipalities on the Mainland," said Hill, a government administrator.

Reach Curtis Lum at culum@honoluluadvertiser.com.