THE House of Representatives on Friday unanimously passed an amended version of Senate Bill 23-37, which would allow the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. to pay the commercial rate for electricity, water and wastewater. CHCC currently pays the much higher government rate.
Early this year, the Commonwealth Utilities Corp.’s accounts receivable report stated that CHCC owed CUC $60.5 million.
Co-authored by Sen. Jude U. Hofschneider, Senate Vice President Donald Manglona and Senate Floor Leader Corina Magofna, S.B. 23-37 goes back to the Senate.
According to the bill, if CHCC is designated as a commercial entity, the base rate for its power consumption would be 8.8% lower per kilowatt hour; water charges would be 98.4% lower; and wastewater would be 95.6% lower. Once S.B. 23-37 becomes law, CHCC should be billed as any other healthcare provider in the CNMI, at a fair and reasonable utility rate, the bill stated.
It was Rep. Vincent S. Aldan who offered a floor amendment to remove the retroactive effect of the bill. The bill, as passed by the Senate, would waive any late fees or penalties assessed to CHCC from fiscal year 2011 to present.
Aldan’s floor amendment provides that “all late fees and penalties shall cease upon this Act becoming law. Provided further, this provision shall not be retroactively effective.”
The House unanimously adopted the floor amendment before passing the bill.
S.B. 23-37 states that it is “critically necessary to advance the significant and legitimate public purpose of ensuring the continued operations of CHCC and access to quality healthcare for all residents of the Commonwealth. CUC has threatened to disconnect CHCC from utility services for CHCC’s failure to pay its utility bills at the higher government utility rate.”
Any disconnection of CHCC from utility services “would create a broad and general social health crisis throughout the Commonwealth,” the bill stated.
It added that charging CHCC the commercial rate “is an appropriate and reasonable way to advance the stated public purpose because the current government utility rates for CHCC are unreasonable and unsustainable in light of CHCC’s status as an autonomous public corporation.”
CHCC Marketing & Community Relations Officer Lee Tenorio, on behalf of CHCC, expressed support for the bill. He said it would allow CHCC to deliver essential medical and public health services as the islands’ largest healthcare provider without the direct burden of government utility rates.
S.B. 23-37, he added, “presents a very timely opportunity for immediate solution.”
He said CHCC fully agrees with the findings of the bill, saying that the proposed application of commercial electric, water and wastewater rates will significantly help the only public hospital in the CNMI, its clinics, including Tinian and Rota health centers, as well as all out-patient specialty care services.
“It will also work to ensure [a] balanced application of commercial rates to our [healthcare] system as currently we are the only healthcare provider being assessed government rates while other medical providers including private renal centers are being fairly charged commercial rates,” he added.
