THE House leadership on Tuesday reiterated its opposition to the 100% reprogramming authority that the Senate leadership wants to grant Gov. Ralph DLG Torres in order to provide a $1,000 bonus for each retiree.
Led by Speaker Edmund S. Villagomez and Vice Speaker Blas Jonathan Attao, the House leadership also presented in a press conference House Bill 22-95 which identifies from fiscal year 2022 budget the funding sources for the retiree bonus.
Authored by Rep. Donald Manglona, H.B. 22-95 would create a new business unit for the retirees’ bonus by reappropriating the FY 2022 allocations for Micronesian Legal Services, the governor’s discretionary account, the governor’s office, the finance department and the Marianas Visitor Authority.
Also present in the press briefing held in the House chamber were House Floor Leader Ralph N. Yumul, Reps. Leila Staffler, Sheila Babauta, Corina Magofna, Richard Lizama and Joel Camacho.
Villagomez said the House “strongly supports” the $1,000 bonus for the retirees, but “we are doing things the right way.”
He said he appreciates the Senate adopting Senate Joint Resolution 22-09 which approves the governor’s request to create a new business unit in the FY 2022 budget, for the $1,000 retiree bonus.
But the speaker said Section 7402 of the Planning and Budgeting Act prohibits reprogramming “to any account which has been zero-funded by the Legislature or to any account for which the Legislature has not made an appropriation.”
He said the law further states, that “any person who reprograms government funds or knowingly receives reprogrammed funds in contravention of this subsection shall be held personally liable for the amount of the reprogrammed account.”
The speaker said retirees themselves could be held liable for reprogramming funds into an unfunded business unit in the budget law.
He said the House has “no issue” with the Senate move to increase the proposed retirees’ bonus from $500 to $1,000 but the Senate included 100% reprogramming authority “which we have issues with,” the speaker added.
“We are the purse, we should control the purse,” he said adding that when the House rejected the Senate version of House Bill 22-91 which would give the governor 100% reprogramming authority, the House didn’t really kill the bill.
The speaker named Attao, Manglona and Magofna as the House conferees, and invited the Senate “to come and meet with us so that we can face the differences that we have in regards to the retirees’ bonus.”
Different situation
S.J.R. 22-09 states that the Senate previously exercised its authority in granting the governor 100% reprogramming power by adopting S.J.R. 19-4 on Sept. 24, 2015.
But Attao said the intent of the S.J.R. 19-4 which, he added, was adopted five days before the end of the fiscal year, was not to create a business unit and was not to put additional monies into a new business unit because it was understood at the time it should be done by appropriation.
Attao said S.J.R. 19-4 increased the governor’s reprogramming power from 50% to 100% so that the CNMI government could tap the lapsed funds from the prior fiscal year to address the 10% co-share for the Federal Emergency Management Agency funding following Super Typhoon Soudelor.
The situation, he said, “was a little bit different back then. We were acting on an emergency session to address the issue of the 10% co-sharing.” If the legislature did not address it, all the lapsed monies would have gone to deficit reduction, he added. So rather than tapping the next fiscal year’s money, the legislature at the time acted on the joint resolution so that the governor could address the 10% cost for recovery from Super Typhoon Soudelor, Attao said.
What’s next
Magofna said the House conferees are ready to meet with their Senate counterparts to approve a version of H.B. 22-95 acceptable to both chambers.
She is encouraging their Senate counterparts to “take the time to meet with us so that we can address all the issues and all the concerns that they may have, iron out all the details and just come to an understanding so that we can move forward with this bill.”
If the Senate decides not to go into conference committee, Magofna said, “the next step for us would be to take action on H.B. 22-95 which is now on calendar for action. The House may hold a session anytime soon to act on the H.B. 22-95. So that would be the next step.”
Nothing to do with impeachment process
Attao said the House position on the governor’s request for 100% reprogramming authority has “nothing to do” with the impeachment trial in the Senate.
“I think this is a totally different issue from the impeachment process. This is $1,000 that we are trying to get into retirees’ hands. This has not thing to do with the governor’s impeachment hearing that is going to happen in the Senate. This is a separate issue and all the Senate has to do is come down and sit at the same table with House conferees,” he said.
He believes that it won’t take long for the conference committee to come to an agreement.
Staffler reiterated that the House leadership does not want the governor to have 100% reprogramming authority.
“One of the issues that we had in relation to the impeachment process is the governor’s decision-making and spending of local funds that we do have, that are very limited and precious. And so for those reasons we want to make sure that all funds that are in CNMI are spent with the input of this body because that is our constitutional duty,” Staffler said.
“We are [also] trying to protect the retirees from the unintended consequences of making decisions like this,” she said, adding that some retirees had to pay back in a very short period of time overpayments of their pension.
If it happens again, she said it will be an undue hardship for them. “We do not want to make that kind of mistake again,” she added.
On Dec. 10, 2021, the governor announced that retirees would receive a $500 holiday bonus while residential households would get a $500 voucher for utilities.
Eligible residential households have already received their utility vouchers, but the holiday bonus for the retirees requires a joint legislative resolution as recommended by the Office of the Attorney General and the NMI Settlement Fund trustee, the administration said.
On Dec. 15, 2021, the Senate 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 Dec. 20, 2021, the House leadership declined to act on the joint resolution, saying they needed “more information” from the administration.
Speaker Edmund S. Villagomez and Vice Speaker Blas Jonathan Attao field questions from members of the media during a press conference in the House chamber on Tuesday.
