By Moneth G. Deposa
Variety News Staff

PUBLIC School System officials will attend the Senate session on Tinian this week to make sure that the measure restoring the $6 million PSS budget cut is passed.
PSS acting finance director Tim Thornburgh said yesterday that they will lobby for the passage of H.B. 15-242.
“We will be attending the Senate session on Tinian and as we did in the House…we want to see the passage of this important bill,” Thornburgh said.
Last week, the House of Representatives unanimously passed H.B. 15-242 which reduces by 5 percent the budgets of autonomous agencies and corporations to restore the cuts made on the spending levels of PSS and Northern Marianas College.
In an interview on Friday, Senate Floor Leader Felix T. Mendiola, Covenant-Rota and chairman of the Committee on Fiscal Affairs, said they study the bill.
“We will carefully screen these things out. If we see that (the 5 percent reduction) will hurt certain agencies like the Commonwealth Ports Authority, we will have to amend the bill,” the senator said.
In case the Senate votes against the bill’s passage, Mendiola said they may look to the federal Compact-Impact money which is under the governor’s discretion.
This fiscal year, Gov. Benigno R. Fitial allocated $2 million from the annual $5.1 million Compact-Impact money to PSS.
The rest of the money went to the Departments of Public Health, Public Safety and Corrections.
“The governor has the power to decide on the Compact money,” Mendiola said, adding that his committee will invite members of the House Ways and Means panel as well as the Office of Management and Budget to discuss more Compact-Impact assistance for PSS.
Mendiola said they have asked the agencies to be affected by H.B. 15-242 to submit financial status reports —including the Marianas Public Land Trust, the Department of Public Lands, CPA, the Commonwealth Development Authority, the Office of the Public Auditor and the Commonwealth Utilities Corp.
“I do agree that we need to do something for PSS without fail…and I will ask OMB why we’re releasing (Compact-Impact monies) incrementally instead of giving the $2 million to PSS which will immediately alleviate the pain that it’s going through,” Mendiola said.
He said he’s not saying that they will oppose the bill.
There is, he added, $2.7 million in “untouched” Compact-Impact money that they want to transfer to the general fund.
He said the amount was appropriated for MPLT in the past but was never used.
Thornburgh said PSS favors the passage of either H.B. 15-242 or H.B. 15-255 which is the emergency reprogramming authority.
“These are two pending bills in the Legislature that will address PSS needs. We’re counting on these two…because the Compact money is federal money that needs approval of the (federal government) and it may take time to get that approval,” Thornburgh said.