THE House of Representatives on Tuesday passed House Bill 22-74, which proposes to appropriate $103.3 million in local revenue for fiscal year 2022, which starts on Oct. 1, 2021.
All the House members also agreed to attach to the bill a spreadsheet that takes into account the American Rescue Plan Act monies that will fill the funding gaps in local appropriation for certain government agencies and operations.
Authored by House Ways and Means Chairman Donald Manglona, H.B. 22-74 identifies $144.8 million in local revenue, $103.3 million of which is available for appropriation including $4.4 million for the Department of Public Lands.
Gov. Ralph DLG Torres has also submitted a spending plan for the $175 million in ARPA funds for FY 2022.
The combined local revenue projection and ARPA funding amount to $278.3 million in FY 2022.
The budget bill now goes to the Senate, which is expected to pass its own version.
A balanced budget must be enacted before Oct. 1, 2021 to avoid a partial government shutdown.
In honor of Rep. Blanco
At the beginning of their session, the House members observed a moment of silence in honor of their late colleague, Rep. Ivan A. Blanco who passed away on July 23, 2021 at the age of 44 (not 45 as earlier reported.)
His framed photo and flowers were placed near his seat, and his name was included in the attendance roll call.
Prior to the discussion on the budget bill, Manglona noted that “my dear colleague, Rep. Blanco, played a key role in the work of the committee.”
Blanco was the vice chairman of Ways and Means.
“As you know, Rep. Blanco chaired the Ways and Means Committee in the previous Legislature,” Manglona said. “Because of his expertise and his experience as well as his relationship with each agency, I knew I could trust and rely on him,” Manglona added.
Thanks to ARPA
Manglona said his committee faced a tough challenge in allocating the limited locally generated financial resources and ended up with budget “that is very much like last year’s.”
He commended the “great work of U.S Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan and those who assisted” is passing ARPA, which provided the CNMI close to half a billion dollars in federal assistance.
Forensic audit
Prior to the passage of H.B. 22-74, the House adopted the floor amendment offered by Vice Speaker Blas Jonathan Attao, requiring that $100,000 of the funds appropriated to the Legislative Bureau “shall be used to fund a forensic audit of all funds appropriated and received by the CNMI from September 2018 to the end of the fiscal year 2022. The forensic audit shall be conducted by a forensic accountant or other qualified certified public accountant and its findings shall be made public and presented to the Legislature no later than 180 days after it is awarded the contract by the Legislative Bureau. All audited entities are hereby required to fully cooperate with said audit. The auditor shall report to the presiding officers if any entities fail to cooperate with the audit.”
Transparency
For her part, Rep. Tina Sablan, a member of the Ways and Means Committee, said the House version of the budget bill includes administrative provisions that will help ensure greater transparency and accountability for public funds.
These include:
1) Requiring the secretary of Finance and all expenditure authorities to submit quarterly fund status reports.
2) All overtime, extra pay, premium pay, etc., regardless of the source, must be in compliance with applicable federal and CNMI laws and regulations and persons authorizing or receiving unlawful payments shall be personally liable.
3) Reprogramming authority is limited to what is allowed in the Planning and Budgeting Act, and the governor must provide written notice and a report of all reprogramming activities to the legislature.
4) No public funds shall be used to pay for the utilities of any elected officials at their residences.
5) Limits on the governor’s emergency powers consistent with the Constitution, and access to funds only within the executive branch.
7) The allocations of American Rescue Plan Act funds may not be altered without joint legislative approval, except that expenditure authorities may reprogram funds from personnel to operations, consistent with the Planning and Budgeting Act.
In addition, Sablan said the Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation shall administer the CNMI medical referral program, and all funds allocated and appropriated for the program.
She said resources are also identified to fund the following critical studies and mandate reports to the Legislature:
1) Desk audits of the Department of Public Safety and Department of Corrections, to be conducted by the Office of Personnel Management;
2) A forensic audit of all federal and local funds received and expended since March 2020, to be conducted by a qualified forensic accountant or certified public accountant who is contracted by the Legislative Bureau;
3) A feasibility study on whether to relocate Hopwood Middle School or rebuild at the existing campus, to be conducted by the Public School System; and
4) A market feasibility study on the casino gaming industry in the CNMI, to be conducted by the Office of Planning and Development.
From left, Speaker Edmund Villagomez, Vice Speaker Blas Jonathan Attao, Reps. Donald Manglona and Tina Sablan confer during a break from Tuesday’s House session. Also in photo are House clerk Linda Muna and legal counsel Joe Taijeron.
Rep. Roy Ada, left, looks at the picture of the late Rep. Ivan Blanco at the beginning of the House session on Tuesday.
