REPRESENTATIVE Donald Manglona on Friday introduced House Bill 22-48, which proposes to reappropriate funds that Gov. Ralph DLG Torres line-item vetoed in Public Law 21-35 or the fiscal year 2021 budget.
In the $96 million FY 2021 budget, the governor line-item vetoed the $260,933 that the Legislature approved for the Northern Marianas Technical Institute; the $100,000 for Micronesian Legal Services, and the $8,001 for the Division of Environmental Quality on Tinian.
He said although the Northern Marianas Technical Institute (formerly the Northern Marianas Trades Institute) is now a public entity, no accounts for personnel were allocated for the agency for FY 2021 as the agency’s transitionary period had not been completed and no transition report had been submitted to the executive and legislative branches as required by Public Law 20-92.
As for the Micronesian Legal Services, Torres said it is “a non-profit organization which, as I have previously indicated in my…budget submission, cannot be funded through the fiscal year 2021 budget appropriation.”
He also noted that DEQ on Tinian is a federally funded program and all its activities are “carried by the program.”
The governor stated in his transmission letter that “with these line-item vetoes, there now exists additional funding in the amount of $368,934 for appropriation.”
The intent of Manglona’s H.B. 22-48 is to reappropriate that amount for the following agencies:
• CNMI Medicaid Office in the amount of $50,000 to cover the 10% Commonwealth match to fund an additional 13 employees.
• Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. in the amount of $100,000 specifically, 1) $50,000 for Rota inter-island medical referral stipends for patients and escorts and 2) $50,000 for Tinian inter-island medical referral stipends for patients and escorts.
• CNMI Medical Referral Office in the amount of $218,934.
Donald Manglona
