GOVERNOR Ralph DLG Torres expressed dismay with the House of Representatives’ failure to act on Senate Joint Resolution 22-05 which would allow CNMI government retirees to receive $500 bonuses.
“It is very unfortunate,” the governor said in a media briefing on KKMP Tuesday morning.
“If you really care for the retirees, why don’t you act on the resolution? We have the funds and yet they did not act on it,” he added.
Torres said S.J.R. 22-05 is not an appropriation bill, but resolution giving the governor authority to pay the retirees their bonuses.
The Senate on Dec. 15 adopted the joint resolution which approved the governor’s request to reprogram $1.3 million from the general fund to pay each retiree a $500 bonus in time for the holidays.
On Monday, the Democrat-independent leadership of the House said the joint resolution needed “further review,” and “more information” from the Department of Finance and the administration.
Finance Secretary David Atalig on Monday said his office is ready to present documents and additional information requested by the House.
He said the joint resolution would give the governor reprogramming authority for $1.3 million only — “we are not asking to increase the budget.”
“To all the retirees, I am sorry that you are not getting your bonuses,” the governor said. “I gave you my word. The funds are there.”
House review
On Monday, the House leadership said they would ask the administration to provide the following information:
1) The actual general fund collections and expenditures including encumbrances for the two months ending November 30, 2021, as well as the cumulative surpluses or deficits for the past months of fiscal year 2022.
2) The funds’ status report as of December 15, 2021 for activities in the general fund and the ARPA funds that will be affected by reprogramming $1.3 million.
3) The funds’ status report as of December 15, 2021 of the funding sources under the Department of Finance in FY 2022.
4) The business unit numbers and the names of the programs or activities that will be affected by reprogramming $1.3 million.
Vice Speaker Blas Jonathan Attao said they are not against assisting the retirees, adding that they “support our retirees.”
“Unfortunately as we are all aware, all distributions of funds shall begin in the House of Representatives,” he said, adding that it is the authority of the House to move funds appropriated in a fiscal year budget.
Attao noted that in a letter to the presiding officers of the Legislature, the governor indicated that the discretionary accounts under the Offices of the Governor and Lt. Governor as well as the Department of Finance will be reprogrammed.
But he said the documents pertaining to those accounts were not provided to the Legislature.
Attao said the governor’s letter likewise indicated that the administration will be “supplanting or backfilling” those accounts with ARPA funds.
“We all know that under ARPA, we cannot use any of the funds to address pensions which in this case is the $500 bonus to the pensions that the retirees are receiving,” he said.
“We do not know which programs or activities in the FY 2022 budget will be affected, or whose funding levels will be reduced by $1.3 million,” he added.
He said if the governor will transfer money from ARPA into the general fund, “it will actually increase our general revenues by…$1.3 million. So we would still have to amend the budget.”
Moreover, he said of the additional $1.3 million, “25% of that will be obligated to the Public School System so that would still leave the account for the retirees’ bonus short by 25%.”
Rep. John Paul Sablan then asked what course of action they should take on S.J.R. 22-5. Speaker Edmund S. Villagomez replied, “For now, I’d like to keep it on our agenda for further review.”
Rep. Tina Sablan echoed Attao’s concerns.
“The vice speaker did an excellent job laying out already about this governor’s request to create this new program and issue these retiree bonuses,” she said.
“My impression is that the governor made this promise to retirees…but without actually checking to make sure that the funds were available in the first place and we now know ARPA comes with many restrictions,” she added.
She wants to know whether the governor’s proposal is feasible, “and if the government can really use ARPA to ‘backfill’…the shortfall that would be created by this reprogramming from the general fund. Without even knowing what the governor will be reprogramming funds from [and] which accounts would be affected…it is really difficult for the Legislature and unreasonable for the governor to ask the Legislature to approve the joint resolution without further information.”
“We hope to get that information as soon as possible,” she added.
