LIEUTENANT Gov. Diego T. Benavente is hoping that the Legislature would still consider expanding the reprogramming authority of Gov. Juan N. Babauta at least for the solid waste management program. Otherwise, he added, the government won’t be able to operate the new landfill at Marpi.
“The matter with solid waste is a very serious concern. And I hope that the Legislature can look into that and allow us (to further reprogram funds). We need to make sure that the landfill is fully funded or that we have the funds for the operations of the landfill,” said Benavente in an interview on Friday.
The House last month shelved House Joint Resolution 13-5 which seeks to expand Babauta’s authority to reprogram funds beyond the 25 percent cumulative reprogramming authority prescribed by law.
House Speaker Heinz S. Hofschneider, R-Saipan, and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Stanley T. Torres, R-Saipan, said they had to recall action on the resolution because it was “ill-drafted” and the governor’s current reprogramming authority “is already sufficient.”
Although Benavente, chairman of the Solid Waste Task Force, agrees that “the present authority has been enough to make the necessary reprogramming,” he said the Legislature should still expand the authority or the CNMI would face a big problem with its waste disposal.
“At some point, the Legislature has to grant some authority to allow us to reprogram an account for solid waste. If (they) don’t, we won’t be granted the permit to open the landfill, which means we won’t have any place for solid waste,” said Benavente.
Waste from the Puerto Rico dumpsite will be transferred to the Marpi landfill when it opens this December.
Senate President Paul A. Manglona, in a separate interview, said he was surprised to learn that the House did not act on the resolution. “All the time I thought it was adopted. Before the Senate adopted it, we even included stringent provisions in the resolution so that the reprogramming authority will not cover travel or official representation accounts,” Manglona, R-Rota, said.
Manglona said the Senate Committee on Fiscal Affairs chaired by Senate Vice President Jose M. Dela Cruz, D-Tinian, will look into the possibility of expanding the governor’s reprogramming authority.
“That’s a very critical project. The committee will communicate with the House on this matter and I am confident that both Houses will cooperate to address the concerns raised by the administration,” Manglona said.
Asked in an earlier interview if the House’s decision to shelve the resolution was a way to “get back” at the executive branch for reducing each lawmaker’s budget allocation by 16.3 percent, Torres said: “It’s not the main factor in our decision, but it could be related to that.”
He said that even without expanding the governor’s authority to reprogram funds, Babauta can still exercise such authority even beyond the limit.
“He has proven it through abusing his discretion. He cut the judiciary’s budget by more than 8 percent. He disproportionately cut the Legislature’s budget by 16.3 percent. So I think, there’s no longer a need to expand his reprogramming authority,” Torres said.
Yesterday, he said the administration must first inform the Legislature where the task force will get the money for the landfill operation before they decide on expanding Babauta’s authority.
“We want to know from what agency they will source the funds. We want to know first, who’s going to be hit the most,” he said.
