THE House of Representatives, in its next session, will discuss House Resolution 22-3, which proposes stricter rules regarding the members’ subsistence allowance.
Edmund S. Villagomez
Speaker Edmund S. Villagomez in an interview on Tuesday said the resolution is already on the calendar for adoption.
But House Floor Leader Ralph N. Yumul, who chairs the House Committee on Rules, said in a separate interview that his committee is expecting recommendations or floor amendments from the minority bloc.
Yumul will introduce H.R. 22-3, which is co-authored by Reps. Tina Sablan and Sheila Babauta who are also members of the Rules Committee.
Aside from imposing stricter rules to “deter” abuse of public funds, H.R. 22-3 also proposes a 50% reduction in subsistence allowance for representatives of the Third Senatorial District.
From $5,000 a month, the subsistence allowance for the 18 House members who live on Saipan will be reduced to $2,500.
The two representatives from the First and Second Senatorial Districts or Rota and Tinian will each continue to get a $5,000 subsistence allowance, “to defray the cost of office and related expenses, including by reason of attending to official legislative business on Saipan or in the member’s respective senatorial district.”
In addition, H.R. 22-3 proposes that “each member who draws an allowance pursuant to this section shall submit to the Speaker and file with the House clerk a quarterly statement detailing amounts drawn and expenses incurred related to the allowance, including request, memos to the Department of Finance, corresponding receipts and public purpose justifications.”
“These statements must be submitted within 30 days after closing of each calendar year,” the resolution stated.
“The statements shall be public records,” it added.
“Failure to submit quarterly statements required under this subsection shall result in deductions from the member’s salary in the amounts of allowance disbursements for which there is no documentation or public purpose justification.”
H.R. 22-3 likewise prohibits any member from commingling the subsistence allowance with personal or political campaign funds.
A member who opts to draw an allowance pursuant to the rules may open a separate bank account, in the member’s name, to deposit and manage allowance funds during the member’s term in office.
