(Office of the Governor) — Acting Gov. Jude U. Hofschneider on Thursday signed into law, House Local Bill 22-23, S1, “To appropriate the sum of $1,000,000 from the exclusive gaming annual license fees allotted to the First Senatorial District under 4 CMC section 2307 (a); and for other purposes.” Introduced by Rep. Donald M. Manglona, House Local Bill 22-23, S1 unanimously passed the Rota Legislative Delegation on December 9, 2021, and is now Rota Local Law No. 22-4.
Acting Gov. Jude U. Hofschneider signs House Local Bill 22-23 on Thursday.
Under Section 2 of Rota Local Law 22-04, the sum of $1,000,000 from the exclusive gaming annual license fees allotted to the First Senatorial District is appropriated by the Rota Legislative Delegation as follows:
(a) Two Hundred Seventeen Thousand Nine Hundred Twenty-Four Dollars 10 ($217,924) for inter-island medical referral stipend for patients and their escorts under the expenditure authority of the CHCC CEO or his/her designee;
(b) Two Hundred Ninety Thousand Dollars ($290,000 for Medical Subsistence Allowance for the Rota hemodialysis and terminally-ill patients under the expenditure authority of the Secretary of Finance;
(c) Sixty-Eight Thousand Dollars ($68,000) to the Rota Liaison Office under the expenditure authority of the Mayor of Rota; 1. Forty-Five Thousand Dollars ($45,000) shall be used for purchased a new vehicle; 2. Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000) shall be used for fuel and lubrication; and 3. Three Thousand Dollars ($3,000) shall be used for office supplies and equipment. 4. Fifteen Thousand Dollars ($15,000) for the Rota Health Clinic assessment of hemodialysis facility and to assess for Medicare compliance and eligibility.
(d) Fifty-Thousand Dollars ($50,000.00) shall be used to purchase a vehicle for the Department of Public Safety-Rota Criminal Investigation Division and for the cost of freight under the expenditure authority of the mayor of Rota;
(e) Three Hundred Seventy-Four Thousand and Seventy-Six Dollars ($374,076.00) for the Rota delegation community program and projects under the joint expenditure authority of the chairpersons of the delegation or their designee. The justification for this appropriation is based on the following:
Art. II, sec. l6(b) of the NMI Constitution provides that each legislative member shall receive not more than $155,000 per year; however, section 16(e) authorizes an adjustment on the ceiling amount based on the U.S. Department of Commerce price index.
The Fiscal Year 2022 Budget Act, P.L. 22-08, provides in section 703 the price index change of 60.335%. This percentage adjustment translates to approximately $248,519 per member. This means that in addition to the $155,000 provided to each member in the FY 2022 Budget, each member may receive an additional $93,519. Similarly, the Legislative Bureau is limited to an annual budget of $2,000,000. See NMI Const., art. II, sec. 16(d). However, with the adjustment authorization in section 16(e), the bureau is budgeted $3,016,435 for FY 2022.
Acting Governor Hofschneider expressed the importance of this bill becoming law because of “the need for patients who stand to benefit from the allocation to defray the cost of healthcare needs and to support other public programs essential to the welfare of the people of Rota. I would also like to express my appreciation to the members of the Rota Legislative Delegation and the staff from the Office of the Governor for their collaboration to achieve this goal today.”
