“I AM 100% blaming it on the leadership of the House because it took them this long to pass this budget,” Gov. Ralph DLG Torres said on Tuesday during a press conference regarding a potential partial government shutdown.
Asked if he takes any blame, Torres said, “Give me one reason why I should… I gave [them the] budget [on April 1]. I did my constitutional obligation.”
The current fiscal year ends on Friday, Sept. 30.
If no budget is enacted into law on or before that date, non-essential government agencies must shut down and no funds may be expended from the general fund, except to provide for essential services.
On Saturday, Aug. 27, the House of Representatives unanimously passed House Bill 22-116, appropriating $109.7 million in local revenues and $52.6 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds for fiscal year 2023.
The Senate on Friday passed its version of the budget which the House rejected on Tuesday. The House and the Senate must now convene a joint conference committee to come up with a version of the budget acceptable to both chambers.
“I am legitimately warning the community that there might be a potential shutdown,” the governor said. “It is not fair for any government employee to [worry] whether there is going to be a shutdown or not. I want all the government employees to know that we’re very disappointed with the House leadership, that this budget has been given to them and it took them all the way until Aug. 27 to pass it…on a Saturday. That is my message to everyone,” Torres said.
“[The House] took their time. Who is to blame? That leadership. You [have] to take ownership, whether you did it right or you did it wrong. And they passed that budget on a Saturday? What happened to transparency and accountability all these months?”
The governor said he has not talked to the House leadership but has spoken with the Senate.
“My door is open…. If they come over and if they call me, I’ll be more than happy to talk to them, always,” he said, referring to the House leadership.
As for the Senate, the governor said, “Obviously, I want to give them praise and embrace all of them — it took them less than a month to come up with their version and they passed a budget that is best for the community, best for the government. I am hopeful, but at the end of the day, if it doesn’t work out, then I will be calling for a shutdown.”
He added, “To everyone, it’s not fair for the House to hold this budget bill, and to pass it in late August or early September, and then expect the government to just sign it in a day. It’s just very — it’s really negligent on their part. And I want to thank the Senate for passing a balanced budget.”
Essential or non-essential
Torres said the essential government employees who will continue to report for work will be those in public health and law enforcement.
Office of the Governor legal counsel Gilbert J. Birnbrich said the number of non-essential employees that may be “furloughed” is likely to be in the thousands.
“Just to elaborate a little further, we are beginning preparations for a potential government shutdown. Many people in this government, or in the office, were there two years ago when we had the midnight budget passed, and we had to contemplate and prepare for a possible government shutdown. I know the last time we had an actual government shutdown [in 2010], I was at the Attorney General’s Office, and we had been prepared for that. So, we have certain procedures. We are meeting tomorrow with a group of government officials, staff, and we are going to review and go over the list of all essential government employees, and we’re going to see who’s essential, update our list and have it prepared, ready to go just in case,” Birnbrich said.
Compromise
Governor Torres said the Legislature does not have the authority to reprogram the American Rescue Plan Act funds and the Compact-Impact funds.
He said the House leadership’s attempt to reprogram those funds is “totally illegal.”
“[They] don’t have the authority and, again, if we’re going to continue arguing back and forth, [it is] going to be September 30 [soon],” he said.
Torres said it would have been a balanced budget if the House had sourced 80% of government employees’ pay from local funds and 20% from ARPA funds, but the House did the reverse.
“That’s the biggest issue that we have here…. My compromise is that the Senate has passed a budget, whether [or not] I agree with it 100%…it’s definitely a budget that will move forward and is more balanced than…what the House passed,” Torres said.
He said although the House version shows an increase in funds appropriated to certain departments and agencies, such as the Carolinian Affairs Office, this increase is only due to the House reprogramming or allocating ARPA funds that are not within their authority to reprogram or allocate.
“To arbitrarily say that they have the authority and I don’t — that’s not the right way; that’s wrong,” said the governor.
Birnbrich said, “As we’ve said before, I believe the authority to disperse the funds resides in the executive, resides in the governor for ARPA funds. I know [the House cites] the National Conference of State Legislatures, but…every state has their own laws, their own constitution. We believe that under our laws, that power resides with the governor.”
Tobacco, beverage tax
Regarding the proposed tax on tobacco and sweetened beverages in the House bill, Torres said those provisions should be removed.
“How do you propose to include this into the budget when…it’s not even law yet? And you’re trying to…appropriate funds for it?” he asked.
“As we’ve explained before,” Birnbrich said, “we believe the Constitution is pretty clear… The House ignored the Constitution… I think the Senate legal counsel got it right. It seems they agree with our position that we couldn’t include that [provision] in [the budget bill], and the Senate did the right thing and took that out of their version of the budget bill.”
Lavish spending
Asked about the administration’s “lavish spending” as claimed by the House leadership, Torres said the House, in its version of the budget bill, increased its own budget by $1.2 million.
“I think they [have] to look at themselves first before they start attacking others,” he added.
As for the new vehicles of the Department of Public Safety, the governor said, “Those that are attacking DPS, when they need something, when a family member [has] an emergency, who do they call? 9-1-1. Who is there to help? [The Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services], police officers, and so forth. So, is it lavish when you have to update all of [DPS’s] vehicles? Is it lavish when you have to update their computers? Is it lavish when you have to do all of this in order for your department to provide better services? How do you provide essential services if all of your equipment is 20 years old or 10 years old?”
“Regardless of what it is,” he added, “every one of us here needs to update our equipment in order for us to provide better healthcare, better public service, better 9-1-1, better EMT vehicles, ambulances. We need to update all of our vehicles and update all the training for every government employee, then you can ask for a better service. So, I think that [the House] increase of $1.2 million, I think that’s what you call more lavish because they cut other services and they increased their requests and their own budget for discretionary [funds]. Do you call that lavish?”
As for his Cabinet members supposedly receiving raises in the administration’s proposed budget, Torres said, “I mean, if you want to talk and start blaming people, I think you should man up and name the people who got a raise in the Cabinet. So, who?”
“Trust me,” he added, “if there’s one [member of the Cabinet who got a raise], [the House will] be happy to announce who [it is]. But for somebody at the Legislature to just arbitrarily say, ‘Oh, they’re giving so much raises to the Cabinet’ — man up and mention who the Cabinet member is. Do an [Open Government Act]. They got all of the OGAs in the world. Why don’t they do an OGA? So, they can man up on what they’re talking to the community about.”
Torres said his administration’s proposed budget used the same language in the fiscal year 2022 budget which the Legislature passed.
Politics
“What kind of politics are they playing?” the Republican governor asked, referring to the Democrat and Independent-led House.
He said he blames the House majority, not the House minority, for the budget that the House unanimously passed on Aug. 27.
“Obviously, you look into the committee. Who chairs the committee? I mean, if you want to talk politics, it’s a political year. Passing this kind of budget later in the year should never be [partisan]. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a political year or not. It is the right thing to pass the budget earlier…and [to] never jeopardize any government employee. Whoever voted for it, they’ll respond to that,” he added.
The House Committee on Ways and Means is chaired by Independent Rep. Donald M. Manglona who is running for senator on Rota.
“I don’t know what politics they’re playing,” Torres said. “But definitely, I’m not playing politics when it comes down to people’s lives. Never have I [done so]. So, I would ask them, what kind of politics are they playing when they are risking people’s livelihood [and their ability to put] food on the table? Why did they wait this late?”
Torres said once the Legislature finally passes a balanced budget, he will review it with the Office of the Attorney General and the Office of Management and Budget before signing it into law.
He said he would need at least three days to review the budget bill.
“The earlier they pass the budget, the better,” he added.
Gov. Ralph DLG Torres speaks during a press conference on Tuesday regarding a potential partial government shutdown.
Office of the Governor legal counsel Gilbert J. Birnbrich responds to a question regarding the administration’s proposed fiscal year 2023 budget.
