In an interview on Tuesday, Demapan reiterated that Gov. Benignor R. Fitial is the only authority who can designate essential services during a state of emergency.
However, he added, the administration and the judiciary came into an agreement in identifying essential personnel for the courts.
“The administration had already discussed the matter with the judiciary and we were in agreement that they would come out with their own schedule for a skeleton crew,” Demapan said.
He said there are conditions that should be met.
He noted that the judiciary has reduced hours and the number of employees who can report for work.
Those working for the judiciary during the shutdown period have “staggered hours,” Demapan said.
“There is a good faith effort that we see — the judiciary is trying to make sure that the job gets done,” he said.
Also on Tuesday, the Senate sent the Department of Finance a memorandum asking for the inclusion of the secretaries of the legislators on the list of “essentials,” but Finance forwarded the memo to the administration, saying that only the governor can decide who are “essential.”
More essentials
The governor amended, for the fourth time, his executive order to add more individuals to the list of “essential personnel.”
Fitial included the Department of Public Health’s Medicaid Division staff members: accounting technician, accountant, eligibility worker, Medicaid administrator and administrative assistant.
Also included were the department’s vital statistics division’s statistics specialist but on-call basis only.
Fitial also listed the scholarship administrator who will work only on Oct. 7, 8, 12 and 13.
Due to the Legislature’s failure to pass a new budget, the governor declared state of emergency last week, and listed essential services that will remain open during the government shutdown period.
Press Secretary Angel A. Demapan earlier said that some agencies and programs have to meet some requirements, and this is why the administration has to expand the list of essential services.
