The witnesses in the chamber to testify and answer questions were temporary Public Auditor Ronald Yow, chief of finance from the Office of Administrative Service, Robert Fathal, acting director of the Office of Planning and Budget, Kensley Ikosia, Assistant Attorney General Ray Johnson, co-sponsor for Resolution 8-8 John J. Masiwemai, and proponent of Bill 8-3, Sen. Clement Mulalap.
Resolution 8-8 urges the governor to adopt and promulgate amendments to the Yap State Public Service System Regulations concerning the maximum accumulation of employee annual leave. It was jointly introduced by Jesse Raglmar-Subolmar and John J. Masiwemai.
The resolution aims to save the excess leave that, currently, is forfeited.
Each public service employee, according to the current regulation, can earn annual leave up to and may exceed 360 hours; however, at the end of the calendar year, any leave in excess of 360 hours are forfeited or “thrown away.”
The resolution, according to Senator Masiwemai, is simply to save those excess hours from being forfeited and have them placed as sick leave for the employee.
This is to further assist the employee should he or she should need to use a large amount of sick leave.
There are procedures to follow in order to use annual or sick leave, with which the employee and their supervisors have to comply.
The discussion on this issue included the current abuse of the “sharing leave” policies, and the committee pointed out that managers and administrators have the duty to maintain control and prevent abuse of this policy, the system, and the original intent of both annual and sick leaves.
The procedures and regulations for using annual and sick leave may be obtained from the Office of Personnel at the Office of Administrative Services.
The committee will take all comments and remarks into consideration when it is time to review the merits of the resolution.
After a five-minute break, the committee then took up Bill 8-3, which will amend Title 13 of the Yap State Code by adding a new Section 508 to prohibit the use of public funds to purchase alcoholic beverages, and for other purposes. It was introduced by Clement Mulalap.
Chairman Raglmar-Subolmar reiterated the intent of the bill and stated that it was self explanatory.
The temporary public auditor requested clarification on certain language in the bill, citing that it is difficult at times to look into revenue generating government component units and decide if they are included under the term “government offices” and “public funds.”
The sponsor of the bill clarified that government component units are still considered government and public funds would still refer to revenue they earn; however, he concluded that the committee should make a decision in their consideration of the bill on how to define certain terms in the language of the bill.
According to Senator Mulalap, the main intent is to comply with the official stance of the government that spending needs to be cut and the state should take the opportunity to put hard policies in place that align with the various public statements that the state officials have been making over the years.
The bill is only reflective of the policies that are thus voiced.
Raglmar-Subolmar expressed his appreciation for the witnesses’ presence and announced that the committee is open to any written comments from the witnesses or the general public on this issue, as well as the previous measure that was under discussion during this hearing. The hearing concluded at 3:30 p.m.
