THE Senate has passed a bill that would designate the Northern Marianas Technical Institute as a qualified educational institution that can receive education tax credit or ETC donations.
Authored by Senate Vice President Justo S. Quitugua, S.B. 22-78 proposes to amend Title 4, Division 1, Chapter 2, Section 1205 of the Commonwealth Code.
According to the bill, as a private entity, NMTI was considered a qualified educational institution and was able to benefit from ETC donations.
However, Public Law 20-92 re-established the trade school, now known as NMTech, as a government entity. New legislation is needed so that NMTech can receive ETC donations.
As the law currently stands, a person may claim cash contributions made to qualified educational institutions as a nonrefundable credit against the person’s wage and salary tax or earnings tax.
The qualified educational institutions are the Public School System, Northern Marianas College, the Commonwealth Museum of History and Culture, the Northern Marianas Humanities Council, the Joeten-Kiyu Public Library, the Northern Marianas Sports Association, and an educational institution in the CNMI that has been issued “a letter of determination granting tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code by the Division of Revenue and Taxation prior to the date of the donation for which the tax credit is taken.”
S.B. 22-78 was introduced on July 18, 2022, and was referred to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, and Welfare for review.
All eight members present for the Senate session on Nov. 3 voted in favor of the bill’s passage. Senate Floor Leader Vinnie F. Sablan was absent.
The bill now goes to the House for action.
