OF the more than $700 million in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance funds that the CNMI government received through the American Rescue Plan Act, the local Department of Labor has disbursed over $300 million, Labor Secretary Vicky I. Benavente told the House Ways and Means Committee on Friday.
Although the application period ended in October last year, U.S. Labor gave the CNMI until June 2023 to administer PUA benefits, she said.
“We are mandated by the U.S. Department of Labor to finish this program by June 2023. That’s a year from now,” Benavente said.
To date, she said about $400,000 a week is disbursed to qualified PUA applicants who have just turned in documents or have completed the submission of the required documents.
She said right now, there are still 1,900 applicants waiting to receive their PUA. Some of the applicants have issues with their original applications, she added, and these include overpayment or missing documents, inaccurate or wrong information.
FY 2023 budget
As for CNMI Labor’s budget, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Donald Manglona noted that the department requested $1.18 million for fiscal year 2023, but Gov. Ralph DLG Torres proposed $846,000 only for the department. However, Manglona said his committee is expecting a revised budget from the governor by July 1.
He said the governor’s proposed budget for CNMI Labor in FY 2023 does not include funding for operation.
The local Labor department’s budget in the current fiscal year ending on Sept. 30 is $1.7 million, Manglona said.
Benavente told the committee that the Workforce Investment Agency and Occupational Safety and Health Administration are 100% federally funded, and the rest of her department’s divisions and programs also receive federal funds.
For FY 2023, she said her department’s $1.18 million budget request will allow CNMI Labor to “fill positions that will help us carry out initiatives with our educational partners and other initiatives that the department wants to continue like the expansion of its employment services division as well as the enforcement division.”
