Gov. Linda Lingle, seeking leverage with public-sector labor unions, said yesterday that she and her Cabinet would take two furlough days a month starting in August to help with the state's budget deficit.

The furloughs would extend through June 2011 and, combined with a previous 5 percent pay cut, would save the state $1.2 million. Two furlough days a month and the previous pay cut are equivalent to a 13 percent salary reduction this fiscal year and a 13.7 percent cut next year.

Public-sector labor unions on Monday offered to take a 5 percent pay cut to help with the deficit. Randy Perreira, the executive director of the Hawai'i Government Employees Association, said the unions considered the offer fair because it was the same salary reduction the governor, lieutenant governor, state administrators, judges, lawmakers and mayors were taking at the time.

"I want to thank the Cabinet members for their sacrifice. I know it will have an impact on them and on their families," Lingle said at a news conference at the state Capitol. "But we'll get through this, and we will be stronger on the other side."

Lingle said the move was not in reaction to the unions, but she hoped it would show the public that "we are leading by example."

J.N. Musto, executive director of the University of Hawai'i Professional Assembly, said he did not know what the governor was trying to accomplish by her announcement and believes it will have no effect on the outcome of collective bargaining negotiations.

"I have no idea what she is trying to do," he said.

Musto said the governor has invited union leaders to a meeting in her office on Tuesday, where the state is likely to respond to the unions' formal and informal offers.

Lingle said the state has made progress on its response, and hoped to meet with the unions early next week, but a spokesman for the governor said her schedule has not been finalized.

Lingle said she would not make any further announcement about potential layoffs until next week. The governor had initially planned to give unions a list of workers facing layoffs by the end of last week.

TACTICAL PROPOSAL

While the amount of money saved from the governor's executive furlough order is small in relation to a $786 million budget deficit through June 2011, the proposal has tactical and political significance. Rank-and-file state workers and others have complained that the governor and lawmakers were not taking as deep a pay cut as the governor had wanted for state workers.

Lingle had ordered state workers to take three furlough days a month — equivalent to a 13.8 percent pay cut — but a Circuit Court judged ruled this month that furloughs should be subject to collective bargaining.

Lingle's new executive order applies to 42 executive branch officials, including Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona, her department directors and top administrators. The governor said it is likely they all would still come to work on furlough days even though they would not be paid.

"Knowing the people in this room," she said of the Cabinet members who joined her for the announcement, "it will not reduce the services to the people of Hawai'i at all. They won't notice it. Our directors work every day of the week, I know because I'm in e-mail communication with them every day at all times of the day or night."

State House Minority Leader Lynn Finnegan, R-32nd (Lower Pearlridge, 'Aiea, Halawa), said the six House Republicans have agreed to take a voluntary pay cut equivalent to the two furlough days. She urged House and Senate Democrats to do the same.

"Personally, this will be a hardship on my family, but I realize the outcome of negotiations will be hard for many of Hawai'i's families, too," Finnegan said in a statement.

AUTHORITY QUESTION

Lingle's new executive order, approved by state Attorney General Mark Bennett, cites the governor's executive authority under the state Constitution and her administrative discretion in state budget and labor law.

But some legislative staffers questioned whether the executive order conflicts with a provision in the state Constitution related to the salary commission. Salaries of the governor, lieutenant governor, top administrators, judges and lawmakers have been set by the salary commission, and the Constitution states that such salaries should not be decreased during a term of office "unless by general law applying to all salaried officers of the state."

State Senate President Colleen Hanabusa, D-21st (Nanakuli, Makaha), cited the constitutional restriction earlier this year after critics urged the Legislature to give up a 36 percent pay raise that took effect in January.

Hanabusa, in an opinion column in The Advertiser, said the Constitution requires the Legislature to either accept or reject the salary commission's recommendation in its entirety. She explained that lawmakers could not give up their raise without affecting raises over the past two years for the governor and other top executive and judicial branch officials.

"We cannot accept the salaries for some positions and reject others, or approve the raises for only some of the years provided for in the recommendation," Hanabusa wrote.

The constitutional restriction was the reason the 5 percent pay cut and salary freeze passed by lawmakers last session and signed into law by the governor applies equally to top officials in the executive, legislative and judicial branches.

Legislative staffers recognize, however, that it is doubtful one of Lingle's own Cabinet members would file a lawsuit claiming the executive order on furloughs is unconstitutional.