(Press Release) — With the Senate scheduled to act on another joint resolution to address the legislative disconnect over the retiree bonuses, Sen. Paul A. Manglona calls upon his fellow elected leaders to quit playing games and honor their respective commitments to the Commonwealth.
After two failed attempts to create an unfunded business unit for the retiree bonuses promised by Gov. Ralph DLG Torres in December, Senate President Jude U. Hofschneider pre-filed Senate Joint Resolution 22-09 to grant the governor’s request to reprogram $2.6 million from within the executive branch.
Senator Manglona, a minority bloc member, said this effort is destined for failure yet again because the legislation contains the same fatal flaws as its predecessors, unfunded business units.
“What game are we playing that we’re going back to another resolution again? Are we seriously trying to delay this further? We already know we can’t get the bonuses to the retirees through the creation of an unfunded business unit,” Manglona said.
He said the Senate leadership is actively working against the passage of the proposed retiree bonus by preventing the two houses from working together to resolve the outstanding issues.
“Our retirees are forced to wait again and again because the Senate leadership would rather play politics than appoint conferees to do the real work of the Legislature,” Manglona said. “How can we expect to get the cooperation of the House to get this passed when Senate President Hofschneider flat out refuses to even name conferees to discuss the matter? This is not what our forefathers wanted from us when they created our Commonwealth.”
The Senate is scheduled to act on S.J.R. 22-09 on Thursday, March 10, during a session on Tinian at 1:30 p.m.
Paul A. Manglona
