(22nd House of Representatives) — The unanimous passage of Senate Joint Resolution 22-09 will further delay the bonus disbursement for CNMI retirees promised by Gov. Ralph DLG Torres as it suffers from the same fundamental flaw as its predecessors, the House leadership said.
As previously identified by House Speaker Edmund Villagomez, Section 7402 of the Commonwealth Code, which covers Reprogramming Authority within the Planning and Budgeting Act, clearly prevents the transfer of funds into an unfunded business unit:
“No funds may be reprogrammed to any account which has been zero-funded by the legislature or to any account for which the legislature has not made an appropriation. Any person who reprograms government funds or knowingly receives reprogrammed funds in contravention of this subsection shall be held personally liable for the amount of the reprogrammed account.”
The House leadership hoped to avoid another delay to the proposed retiree bonuses when Speaker Villagomez requested for a bicameral conference with Senate leadership to resolve the outstanding issues with the Senate proposals.
In Thursday’s session, Senate President Jude U. Hofschneider repeated his refusal to appoint conferees to address the issues related to the retiree bonuses and pushed ahead with legislation that reinforced the disconnect on Capital Hill.
CNMI retirees were initially promised bonus payments when Governor Torres announced his plan in his government-paid media availability that aired last December. Secretary of Finance David DLG Atalig said governor could have allocated the $500 bonus under his 25-percent reprogramming authority back in December if he would have approached the Legislature to establish an appropriately funded business unit.
Last month, House Ways and Means Chairman Donald Manglona pre-filed bipartisan House Bill 22-95 to allocate the initial $1.3 million identified in H.B. 22-91 as well as an additional $1.3 million reappropriated from the governor’s discretionary account, the Office of the Governor and the Department of Finance. The House deferred action on the legislation in a good faith attempt to work with their counterparts in the Senate to find a mutually agreeable solution.
Governor, Senate fail to act
Despite the unanimous passage of House Joint Resolution 22-12 two months ago, Senate leadership and Governor Torres remain silent on the call for the issuance of a new local stimulus payment of $500 per resident and $500 per dependent.
House Health and Welfare Chairwoman Tina Sablan introduced the bipartisan legislation to match the eligibility guidelines from the previous federal stimulus packages but the Senate has yet to take any action on it.
“At this point, it seems clear the governor is not interested in providing additional support to our people who are struggling with the highest fuel prices in our history and suffocating under the weight of rampant inflation. This is an allowable use of the ARPA funds and the governor knows it, yet he continues to turn a deaf ear to those who need it most,” she said.
H.J.R. 22-12 also strongly urges the economic impact payments to be made directly to qualified households instead of limiting spending options to local vendors that accepted Visa debit cards, as with the previous local stimulus distribution.
Edmund S. Villagomez
