REPRESENTATIVE Tina Sablan on Friday expressed disappointment with the administration’s failure to transfer funds that the Saipan and Northern Island Legislative Delegation had appropriated for the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp.
During the delegated session on Friday, Sablan noted that Gov. Ralph DLG Torres signed House Local Bill 22-245 on April 13, 2022.
Introduced by Rep. Celina R. Babauta on Oct. 1, 2022, the measure, which is now Saipan Local Law 22-8, allots $2 million in casino gross revenue tax collected from Imperial Pacific International for Northern Marianas College and the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp.
She said it is already June, but CHCC had not received even a penny of the funds.
The local law appropriates half of $2 million for CHCC operations and equipment needs while the other half will assist Northern Marianas College in the reconstruction of its As Terlaje campus.
Of the $1 million allotted for CHCC, $200,000 will be allocated for facility repairs, maintenance and renovation of the hospital’s Building 2 lighting system, the purchase of an AutoCAD program, a blue-print scanner and special plumbing tools; and $242,000 for the procurement of a Vivid E95 Echo Ultrasound Echocardiogram machine and the replacement of birthing beds at the hospital’s labor and delivery unit.
As chair of the Health and Welfare Committee of the House and the local delegation, Rep. Tina Sablan on Friday said she was “really disappointed to share that CHCC has not received even a penny of these funds that we appropriated.”
She asked the Saipan delegation leadership to follow up with the administration regarding the funds the local delegation has appropriated for CHCC.
“You know, we approved it as a body and the governor signed it into S.L.L. 22-8 and they, [CHCC] need those funds to be transferred,” she said.
The delegation chairman, Senate Floor Leader Vinnie F. Sablan, said the delegation leadership will reach out to the administration regarding the status of the funds.
As of 2 p.m. Tuesday, Variety was told that CHCC had not received the funds appropriated by the Saipan delegation.
Tina Sablan
