INCREASING CONNECTIVITY AND ACCESSIBILITY TO YOUR GOVERNMENT

A transparent and more efficient government service has been one of the hallmarks of the Lingle-Aiona Administration.  Significant strides have been made in automating the ability of citizens to access government data, renew permits and licenses on-line, and enforce existing sunshine requirements for government operations.  Building upon these efforts, the Administration is proposing three additional measures to streamline government operations and increase accessibility to State government.

Automating employment programs

The State Department of Labor and Industrial Relations will launch a $5 million project to automate three important employment programs.  The first is the workers' compensation payment system that ensures employees are treated promptly for work-related injuries.  The program covers the costs of medical care as well as lost wages and focuses on getting the employee back into the workforce in a timely manner.   The project will enable electronic filing of worker injury reports by employers, workers' compensation costs paid by insurance carriers, and medical reports from health service providers.

The temporary disability compensation program, usually referred to as TDI, will also be automated.  The law requires that records be stored for 30 years.  Automation will help with the location and retrieval of historical records that now can take extended periods of time.

Additionally, the State’s prepaid health care system will be automated to allow employers to file their coverages and carriers with the State Department of Labor.  Because of the extensive nature of this program covering all full-time workers in the State of Hawaii, automation of basic prepaid health care data will help the Labor Department better carry out its oversight role in this arena.

Automating the Bureau of Conveyances

The Administration has been working for over a year on proposals to improve the operations and efficiencies of the office responsible for logging and recording all land-related transactions within the State of Hawaii.  It is generally recognized that automating the receipt and recordation of land documents can significantly improve the operations of the Bureau and the Land Court. 

Our proposal would allow both the Bureau and the Office of the Assistant Registrar to accept electronic documents for recordation and to also accept electronic signatures on these documents.  This will permit faster indexing and retrieval of these vital land records. 

Web Access to Your State Government

The Lingle-Aiona  Administration was the first Governor’s Office to set up a Governor’s website refreshed regularly with information about the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and key events happening throughout the State.  This effort, began over 5 years ago, has been expanded to include e-newsletters, webmail, and now webcasts of news conferences and major announcements by the Governor and Lieutenant Governor. 

This year we are ramping up this initiative with a new look and enhanced interoperability of the State’s internet-based websites.  There will be linkages between the Governor’s site and department sites and quick ways to navigate between sites.  Additionally, frequently visited sites will be easily accessed with current information and coming events.

In the 21st century modern technology gives us to tools to allow all citizens to participate in and know about their government.  The Lingle-Aiona Administration is at the forefront of using these tools  and encouraging wide citizen participation in the activities and operations of governing this beautiful State.