When a top public official in Hawaii is suspected of on-the-job wrongdoing, the first ramification is often some extra vacation time at taxpayer expense.

Plenty of those folks have been placed on paid leave in recent years, including the now-convicted former Honolulu police chief and his wife, a former deputy city prosecutor.

It may be going too far to say that high-level crime pays in Hawaii, but perhaps it’s time for it to hurt a little bit more.

As Civil Beat reported Tuesday, 25 states have passed laws allowing government agencies to revoke the pensions of those found guilty of felonies committed in office.

Hawaii should be one of them, but it’s not.

There have been plenty of legislative proposals in the islands to allow revocation of the pensions and sometimes health care benefits of the convicted. But they always seem to fall into that black hole on Beretania Street where good ideas are killed quietly by committee chairs year after year, often without any public discussion.

The latest measure was co-introduced by none other than House Speaker Scott Saiki last session. House Bill 1264 would have authorized courts to revoke the retirement benefits of state and county employees convicted of job-related felonies.

It was commendable of Saiki to sponsor such a measure after he helped shoot down similar legislation proposed by then-Gov. Linda Lingle in 2003. But one does have to wonder, if the speaker felt strongly about a bill he co-introduced, why didn’t he twist some Senate arms to at least get it a public hearing in that chamber?

Regardless, the measure will resurface during the 2020 session, and some key lawmakers are indicating that in the wake of the Honolulu scandals, it just might pass both chambers this time around.

It’s unclear whether Gov. David Ige would sign it. His office told Civil Beat the idea “deserves consideration.”

A little more front-end leadership from the governor on this issue would be nice.

Again, half the states have already taken similar steps. While most can revoke pensions only if the crime is related to the job, some can do so for other felony convictions as well.

There is some question about whether a move to revoke the pensions of crooked officials in Hawaii would require a state constitutional amendment. Sen. Karl Rhoads, chair of the Judiciary Committee, doesn’t think so.

But in a 2007 opinion, a Legislative Reference Bureau attorney said that might be the best approach. He quoted from the state constitution: “Membership in any employees’ retirement system of the State or any political subdivision thereof shall be a contractual relationship, the accrued benefits of which shall not be diminished or impaired.”

If this does require a constitutional amendment, so be it.

Another issue to consider is whether convicted pension recipients should still be entitled to any money they paid into the pension systems themselves. We believe that they should.

But the bottom line is that people convicted of on-the-job felonies should not continue to enjoy the benefits of positions they’ve disgraced.

This is a chance to do the right thing — and send a message that Hawaii will do everything possible to punish the betrayal of public trust.