REPRESENTATIVE Tina Sablan has introduced House Bill 22-30, which defines “reasonable allowance” for members of the Legislature.
The measure will allow the Legislature to adopt rules that set the exact amount of “reasonable allowance,” but “such rules must be guided by this Act and must be only for a public purpose as defined by law.”
The 22nd House adopted the previous House rules, which allowed a $5,000 subsistence allowance “to defray the cost of office and related expenses, including by reason of attending to official legislative business on Saipan or in the member’s respective senatorial district.”
H.B. 22-30 proposes that in setting the allowance, the Legislature “shall undertake an analysis of reasonable travel costs and ensure the amount set for allowances is appropriate given the expenses incurred.”
The bill will require lawmakers to document travel activity to accurately estimate an appropriate monthly allowance. It also requires traveling members to ensure compliance with applicable regulations and the law.
It will mandate the Department of Finance to send each member monthly statements showing year-to-date expenditures and obligated amounts.
The quarterly expenditures reflected in the statements “shall be compiled and published as the quarterly statement of disbursements which shall be a public document.”
H.B. 22-30 defines “reasonable allowance” as “reasonable expenditures incurred in support of official and representational duties to the district from which a member is elected.”
Official and representational duties include but are not limited to the following:
a) Relating to the legislative process;
b) Facilitating interaction between constituents and the CNMI government (including but not limited to information on laws, programs, regulations, funding, decisions, and other actions by the CNMI government); and
c) Actions taken as a representative of the district from which a member is elected.
Examples of expenses reasonably related to official legislative duties include but are not limited to the following:
• Office-related expenses, including office supplies, postage, printing charges, newspaper and other publication subscriptions, cellular telephone and internet plans, constituent lists, and legislative newsletters.
• Office equipment and appliances including furniture, computers and tablets, televisions and monitors, cellular telephones, coffee makers and refrigerators. Office equipment and appliances purchased using the allowance are CNMI government property and cannot be used for private business purposes.
• Official duty-related expenses, including leis or mwars (for ceremonial occasions or for those being honored by the Legislature); protocol-type gifts; room/facility rental costs; parking for members and staff attending meetings or functions away from the CNMI; conference registration fees; membership fees and dues to member/governance-related organizations; intrastate and interstate travel-related expenses including airfare, hotel and food, to attend an event having a direct benefit to the Commonwealth, and automobile mileage reimbursement associated with a member’s use of his or her personal vehicle to attend meetings and other events in his or her official legislative capacity (excluding mileage relating to a member’s commute to work).
• Expenses relating to food and beverages for visitors to a member’s office; for constituents and others (excluding legislative staff) who attend official meetings or functions involving a member at which the food and beverages are provided (for example, meetings with constituents, community meetings); and for members and legislative staff who are required to attend the meeting or function at which the food and beverages are provided. These expenses must be reasonably related to a member’s official duties; they also must be reasonable in cost for the given situation.
Public purpose
Sablan also introduced H.B. 22-29, which will repeal Public Law 12-2.
Under that law, expenditures authorized by legislative rules are “expressly declared for a public purpose.”
H.B. 22-29 seeks “to eradicate the unconstitutional public purpose presumption for legislative expenditures.” It states that the CNMI Constitution mandates that the definition of public purpose must be defined by law.
“The relegating of the definition of public purpose from a law to a legislative rule improperly evades the veto power of the governor, evades judicial review, and evades the constitutional mandate that the definition of public purpose must be established by law,” H.B. 22-29 states.
Tina Sablan
