THE House of Representatives on Wednesday unanimously voted to override Gov. Arnold I. Palacios’ veto of House Local Bill 23-6, which would appropriate $62,518 in gambling revenues for Tinian.
All the 17 House members present voted yes to override the governor’s veto. Rep. Patrick San Nicolas, the bill’s author, and Reps. Roy Ada and Manny Castro were excused.
The governor vetoed the local appropriation for Tinian Mayor’s Office and Tinian Athletic Sports Association because the Department of Finance had said that there were no funds available.
It turned out, however, that Finance was referring to a different account for Tinian.
Last week, the Tinian Municipal Treasury informed the House of Representatives that there were sufficient funds from gambling revenue collections on Tinian available for reappropriation.
Citing the Tinian Treasury’s “more accurate” information, the House overrode the governor’s veto.
H.L.B. 23-6 would re-appropriate Tinian’s unspent gambling revenues collected as far back as 2018. These included poker fee collections on Tinian and the leftover of Tinian’s share of the Saipan casino license fee that Imperial Pacific International paid in 2018.
The local bill proposes to allocate $40,000 of the funds for the personnel and operation costs of the Tinian Mayor’s Office; $20,018 for the mayor’s discretionary funds; and $2,500 for the Tinian Athletic Sports Association.
The House of Representatives holds a session on Tuesday.
