Gov. Arnold I. Palacios signs the revised fiscal year 2025 budget as Speaker Edmund S. Villagomez and Senate Fiscal Affairs Committee Chair Jude U. Hofschneider look on.
Office of the Governor photo
GOVERNOR Arnold I. Palacios on Friday approved the $139 million revised fiscal year 2025 budget that includes $250,000 for the Commonwealth Casino Commission.
Authored by Rep. Blas Jonathan Attao, the vice chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, House Bill 24-6 is now Public Law 24-1. It increases the fiscal year budget amount from $117 million to $139 million.
The governor specifically proposed the following allotments:
1) $14.8 million for the restoration of work hours to 100% for active employees across all government agencies and instrumentalities.
2) $6.6 million for the payment of 25% of the retirees’ pension benefits.
3) $600,000 for additional allocations to House and Senate members and the restoration of the Legislative Bureau’s operational funds.
The new budget law also allocates $250,000, which “shall be distributed to current and former members” of the casino commission. Since FY 2023, the commission has been without funds after Imperial Pacific International, the only casino license holder, was unable to pay the annual $3.25 million regulatory fee.
Prior to the passage of H.B. 24-6 in the House, Rep. Patrick San Nicolas of Tinian offered a floor amendment to allocate almost half of the $650,000 allotted to the Public School System for its inter-scholastic sports events, specifically for the students’ travel and lodging expenses between the CNMI’s three main islands.
Rep. Denita Yangetmai offered a subsidiary floor amendment to include cultural and academic competitions as recipients of the funds.
Both floor amendments were adopted unanimously. By a vote of 16 to 1, the House passed H.B. 24-6 on Friday.
House Floor Leader Marissa Flores, who described the revised budget bill as “piecemeal,” cast the lone dissenting vote.
She commended Attao for negotiating with his Senate counterpart, Senate Fiscal Affairs Committee Chair Jude U. Hofschneider, and acknowledged the “time sensitivity” of passing a revised budget. However, Flores said, “I cannot vote on this budget in piece and pieces. I [also] need to make it very clear — we cannot hold anyone hostage because of this, and it must be passed for its urgency for all of us.”
Reps. John Paul Sablan, Thomas John Manglona and Elias Rangamar were excused.
Rep. Danny I. Aquino echoed Flores’ concern. He said that among government departments, “the concerns are there about the lack of money, but then I see waste. That is out there. And the people see it. The people are pretty pissed off.”
He said there is a need for more transparency, and “there needs to be more discussions, and the minority [bloc] needs to be involved as well.”
Senate vote
Also on Friday, the Senate passed H.B. 24-6 by a 7 to 1 vote with Sen. Celina R. Babauta voting against it. Sen. Manny Gregory Castro was excused.
In her remarks toward the end of the session, Babauta said the revised budget bill was “unacceptable, illegal and unconstitutional in its current form.”
She said H.B. 24-6 “was negotiated between two individuals with complete disregard for inputs and feedback of the members of the respective committees and this should not be tolerated.”
Babauta, however, clarified that her “no” vote was not in opposition to restoring the government employees’ 80-hour work schedule, funding for medical referrals, or providing additional funds to Tinian and Rota.
She said her “no” vote represented her opposition to providing “backpay” to former casino commissioners, which, she added, is “not an obligation of the central government.” Additionally, her “no” vote was in opposition to the decision not to allocate PSS its constitutionally required 25%.
“This rushed process undermines the fundamental principles of transparency and due diligence that should govern any budgetary decision,” she added.
