THE House of Representatives is expected to adopt on Friday stricter rules on its members’ subsistence allowance.
Ralph Yumul
House Floor Leader Ralph N. Yumul, who chairs the House Committee on Rules, will introduce House Resolution 22-3, which his committee has endorsed for adoption.
The resolution is co-authored by his fellow committee members, Reps. Tina Sablan and Sheila Babauta.
The new rules aim to “deter” the abuse of public funds. H.R. 22-3 also proposes a 50% reduction in the subsistence allowance for representatives of the Third Senatorial District. From $5,000 a month, the subsistence allowance for the 18 House members who live on Saipan will be reduced to $2,500.
The representatives from the First and Second Senatorial Districts will each continue to get a $5,000 subsistence allowance, “to defray the cost of office and related expenses, including by reason of attending to official legislative business on Saipan or in the member’s respective senatorial district.”
The current rules adopted two years ago require that a report on the expenditures of subsistence allowance shall be submitted to the House speaker.
H.R. 22-3 proposes that “each member who draws an allowance pursuant to this section shall submit to the Speaker and file with the House clerk a quarterly statement detailing amounts drawn and expenses incurred related to the allowance, including request, memos to the Department of Finance, corresponding receipts and public purpose justifications.”
These statements must be submitted within 30 days after closing of each calendar year, the resolutions stated, adding that “the statements shall be public records.”
“Failure to submit quarterly statements required under this subsection shall result in deductions from the member’s salary in the amounts of allowance disbursements for which there is no documentation or public purpose justification,” the resolution stated.
It will likewise prohibit any member from commingling the subsistence allowance with personal or political campaign funds.
“A member who opts to draw an allowance pursuant to the rules may open a separate bank account, in the member’s name, to deposit and manage allowance funds during the member’s term in office,” the resolution stated.
