Department of Finance officials, led by Secretary Tracy B. Norita, appear at a budget hearing before the House Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday.
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TO comply with Public Law 15-2, also known as the Public Lands Act of 2006, the Department of Finance will fund the accounting staff of the Department of Public Lands, Finance Secretary Tracy B. Norita told the House Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday.
The committee chair, Rep. John Paul Sablan, asked Norita about the four DPL employees who will be funded by Finance, as disclosed by DPL Secretary Sixto Igisomar during Tuesday’s budget hearing.
Norita explained that this arrangement is in accordance with Public Law 15-2, which established the DPL Operations Fund. Section 103(c) of the law requires the Department of Finance to maintain a fund that is separate from and apart from the general fund, specifically for the following purposes:
All revenues received by DPL, from any source, shall be deposited in DPL Operations Fund bank account(s) located in FDIC-insured banks in the Commonwealth.
All appropriations by the Commonwealth shall be allotted for authorized expenditures as approved in the budget.
All debts, liabilities, obligations, and operational expenses of the department shall be paid from the DPL Operations Fund.
No expenditures outside the approved budget, and no debt, obligation, or liability, shall be incurred or created in any fiscal year in excess of the specified amounts.
The expenditure authority of all funds collected or appropriated for DPL shall rest with the secretary of DPL or their designee.
Norita told the committee that this effort began during the tenure of former DPL Secretary Teresita Santos. She said the Attorney General’s Office has been involved to help define the roles and responsibilities of both DPL and Finance as “co-trustees” of the DPL Operations Fund.
She added that meetings were held with DPL officials, including the accounting staff, to inform them that they will eventually transition to Finance to ensure compliance with the law.
Norita said that in the presence of an assistant attorney general, she and other Finance officials discussed the transition with Igisomar.
“In the past, we were not able to transition them because they were not funded under Finance — they were funded under DPL. And as long as they were funded under DPL, they could not perform any work outside of DPL functions,” she said.
Now, she added, the new DPL secretary understands that Finance will include DPL’s accounting in its budget to complete the transition. Norita also said Igisomar has expressed his support for the transition so that the departments can remain in compliance with the law.
Finance’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2026 is $10.8 million. Its current FY 2025 budget amounts to $8.6 million.
Norita said her department chose to focus the budget hearing on Finance’s goals rather than just the numbers, noting that “regardless of funding, we still have work that needs to be done.”
