SENATOR Celina R. Babauta on Friday pre-filed Senate Bill 23-26 which would reduce the salaries of Commonwealth Casino Commission members.
Public Law 18-56, which legalized casino gaming on Saipan, allows members of the casino commission to receive an annual $65,000 salary.
The commission, whose office shut down on Jan. 19, 2023, due to lack of funding is funded by the $3.15 million regulatory fee that the lone exclusive licensee, the Imperial Pacific International, has failed to pay.
S.B. 23-26 states that “the compensation of the Commonwealth Casino Commission exceeds that of many other instrumentalities of the Commonwealth government. Yet, with the license of the sole casino licensee being suspended, the funding mechanism for this generous compensation is now effectively defunct.”
According to the bill, Section 8247 of the Commonwealth Code would apply to the casino commissioners.
That provision caps the salaries of members of government boards and commission to “not more than $60 for a full-day meeting and no more than $30 for a half day or less meeting; provided that the compensation shall not exceed a maximum of $6,000 per year.”
S.B. 23-26 would also prohibit the casino commissioners from “double-dipping.”
In addition, the bill would strike out a provision in P.L. 18-56 that allows the casino commissioners to perform their duties in the event of a budgetary crisis and exempt them from austerity measures.
Celina R. Babauta
