THE proposal to repeal the salaries of the Commonwealth Casino Commission members is unnecessary, according to its chair, Edward C. Deleon Guerrero.
During a regular meeting of the commission on Thursday, Deleon Guerrero commented on House Bill 23-107, authored by Rep. Marissa Flores, who wants to scrap the $65,000 annual salary of casino commissioners. Under her bill, they would not get more than $60 for a full day of meeting, but not exceeding $6,000 per year.
Deleon Guerrero said honesty is necessary even in legislation so “we don’t mislead people that the casino commission is using a lot of [government] funds.”
He noted that the casino commission doesn’t get anything from the CNMI government’s general fund. As for the one dollar that the Legislature appropriates for the commission every year, “we never really touch that.”
He said the casino commission is supposed to be fully funded by the regulatory fee paid by Imperial Pacific International, hence H.B. 23-107 would not affect the CNMI government’s finances.
“It has zero impact. And in my opinion, this bill reflects the agenda of its author…so I think it is unnecessary — it has no useful purpose,” Deleon Guerrero said.
Earlier this week, Casino Commissioner Mario Taitano said even if H.B. 23-107 becomes law, it could not be applied retroactively and would not affect the current casino commissioners.
The casino commissioners have not been receiving their salaries for more than a couple of years now due to Imperial Pacific International’s failure to pay the $3.15 million regulatory fee since 2020. The amount has now grown to over $17 million. This does not include the $62 million IPI owes the CNMI government in unpaid casino license fees.
IPI, which has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy with the District Court for the NMI, said it owes its creditors a total of $165.8 million.
