MEMBERS of the House of Representatives on Thursday commended each other after they unanimously passed a compromise version of the fiscal year 2022 budget measure or House Bill 22-74, HD3, SD1, CCS1.
The bill, which has also been passed by the Senate, proposes to appropriate $103.3 million in projected local revenue for CNMI government personnel and operations in fiscal year 2022, which starts on Oct. 1, 2021.
In addition to local funding, the CNMI government, in FY 2022, will spend $175 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds provided by the federal government.
The bill now goes to the desk of Gov. Ralph DLG Torres who has to sign a new and balanced budget by Oct. 1 to avoid a partial government shutdown.
Present in the House session were Speaker Edmund S. Villagomez, House Floor Leader Ralph Yumul, Reps. Edwin Propst, Tina Sablan, Sheila Babauta, Joseph Leepan Guerrero, Celina Babauta, Donald Manglona, Leila Staffler, Angel Demapan, John Paul Sablan, Joel Camacho, Vicente Camacho, Denita Yangetmai and Roy Ada. Vice Speaker Blas Jonathan Attao and Rep. Patrick San Nicolas attended the session via Zoom while Reps. Joseph Flores and Richard Lizama were excused.
After the roll-call vote to pass the bills, the members gave each other a round of applause.
Prior to the roll-call vote, Manglona, who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee, said removing the Senate proposal to concur with the governor’s ARPA spending plan will make H.B. 22-74 “in line” with the current law governing government employees’ salary increases and overtime pay.
Manglona said the budget bill “mandates accountability and transparency” and restricts overtime pay to those who are eligible to receive it.
More importantly, he said, the budget measure also requires that any changes made to the governor’s ARPA spending plan will require a joint resolution to be passed by both the Senate and the House.
The most “contentious” provision of the budget measure was the $2.6 million that the House proposed as subsidy for the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. The Senate wanted it removed.
The bicameral conference committee eventually agreed to reduce the subsidy to $1,083,249 and allot $1.5 million for Rota and Tinian.
Rep. Angel Demapan asked if these changes were communicated to CHCC.
Rep. Tina Sablan said yes, the committee was in communication with CHCC Chief Executive Officer Esther Muna.
Sablan said there was some disappointment that the final figure was not what was initially proposed by the House. But she said $1 million is still better than the $86,000 subsidy that the administration originally proposed for CHCC.
Sablan said she also hopes that there would be other opportunities to increase the funds allocated for CHCC either through a local delegation bill or through the tobacco tax hike measure pending in the Senate.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Donald Manglona, center, speaks during a House session on Thursday. Also in photo are Rep. Joseph Leepan T. Guerrero, left, and House Floor Leader Ralph N. Yumul, back to the camera.
