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The state of Hawaii is taking an old-fashioned approach to paperwork.

Why do something once when you can do it twice might be the slogan of the , thanks to the and lawmakers.

Even in the face of rising demand for federal food assistance, the union and the Legislature refused to update the application system to make it unnecessary for state employees to retype the entries.

The system could be a test for new Gov. Neil Abercrombie, who’s facing a tight budget and looking for places to save money. No tangible benefit is provided by doing the work twice, except the preservation of some jobs in the department. And many needs are crying out to be met with any money that can be freed up.

In fiscal year 2010, Human Services provided money for food to 133,043 residents through the state’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), essentially 10 percent of the population. The program helped 66,885 households. The average monthly payment per person was $215.

On Oct. 1, eligiblity requirements were dramatically eased and the number of applicants is expected to increase substantially in coming months. Because of its antiquated approach to paperwork, the state is likely to find itself falling further behind in meeting the need. That means it will be subject to federal fines.

Federal guidelines dictate that recipients of SNAP must get aid within 30 days of submission of their application. Hawaii hovers around a 78 percent efficiency rate, meaning that 22 percent of applicants wait beyond the monthlong period.

When a state falls below an 80 percent efficiency rate for timeliness in distributing benefits, the federal government penalizes it with fines.

Human Services does not have spare money in its budget to hire extra staff to handle the increase in registration.

Legislature Rejected Changes

In May, the state Legislature rejected an initiative that would have consolidated the SNAP system and expedited delivery of benefits by streamlining the online application process, among other administrative changes.

Today applicants must fill out online forms, print them and then mail them to one of 31 processing centers around the state. Once they are received, a Human Services employee manually reenters the information into a computer, conducts an interview and determines if an applicant is eligible.

Had the May initiative been approved, it would have tightened the system by closing the 31 smaller processing centers and merging them into two major centers with an “assembly line” mentality. A spokeswoman for human services, Toni Schwartz, says the two centers – modeled after a program in New Mexico – would have decreased average wait times for benefits from 30 days or more to six days or less.

Human services also says the move would have saved taxpayers $8 million a year by enacting layoffs and reducing administrative costs. The key would have been a move to an entirely electronic, updated system.

When the Legislature passed a bill stopping the changes, Gov. Linda Lingle vetoed it, but the Legislature overrode her veto.

The reason for the override, Human Services said, was that HGEA did its job by fighting to keep the department from laying off approximately 230 employees and maintaining the status quo.

Union says Program Wouldn’t Have Worked

Nora Nomura, deputy director of the HGEA, says that the updated program was rushed and unsupportable.

“The problem was that they tried to implement it so quickly that they didn’t help, and all they knew was that they wanted to shut down all the welfare offices and create these two processing centers,” Nomura said. “Basically they didn’t have the technology, they didn’t have any infrastructure in place.”

Nomura told Civil Beat that Human Services could have streamlined its SNAP program at any time it wanted and that the centralized system was unnecessary.

“If they wanted to streamline, why weren’t they doing that before, to implement a calling system, to implement better technology?”

Lillian Koller,¹ director of the Human Services Department, said at the time that HGEA and the Legislature put personal interests ahead of hungry families.

In a May press release, she said, “State government should have acted boldly to address the mounting demand for health care, food and other vital public assistance. Unfortunately, the Legislature put the interests of union workers above the needs of Hawaii’s most vulnerable children and adults. That is directly contrary to our mission at DHS.”

Human Services told Civil Beat that even though the program was rejected, it has taken steps to minimize the negative impacts on SNAP recipients.

For example, in December, 2009, it created the option for applicants to be interviewed by phone if they choose. A useful option for residents that live, say, in Hana on Maui and the closest processing center is hours away.

The department also abolished an “asset test” when the federal guidelines were expanded in October to help remove a layer of bureaucracy. The new rules allow individuals and families that fall within 200 percent of the , $12,460 of annual income in Hawaii for a single person, to be eligible for food stamps. Prior to October, the limit was 130 percent. (The department has not yet released enrollment numbers for October.)

It also says it is working to enable online submission in the near future, although it could not offer a tangible timeline.