SPECIAL Assistant for Management and Budget Virginia Villagomez is asking the Legislature to provide Gov. Arnold I. Palacios with additional reprogramming authority so that the administration can adequately fund the retirees’ 25% benefit, the Group Health and Life Insurance or GHLI for active government employees and retirees, and the Health Network Program or medical referrals.
Section 501 of Public Law 23-4, or the fiscal year 2023 budget, gives the governor 50% reprogramming authority for executive branch departments, agencies and offices.
In her letter on Monday to House Speaker Edmund S. Villagomez and Senate President Edith Deleon Guerrero, the OMB chief requested the adoption of a joint resolution giving the governor reprogramming authority “in excess of 50% cumulative” pursuant to P.L. 23-4.
Villagomez said the request “is to cover three specific critical expenses” associated with the underfunding of the GHLI program, the retirees’ 25% and patients being referred to off-island medical facilities for critical care not available in the CNMI.
A draft joint resolution states that the funding for the GHLI for active employees and retirees, and the payment for the retirees’ 25% are insufficient.
It also states that the Health Network Program “requires appropriations to support its operations and activities due to the escalation [in the number of] patients being transferred to off-island medical facilities.”
