THE House of Representatives will pass on Tuesday House Bill 22-74, which proposes to appropriate $103.3 million in local revenue for fiscal year 2022.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Donald Manglona prefiled H.B. 22-74 or the Appropriations and Budget Authority Act of 2022 on Friday.
The Torres-Palacios administration also submitted its expenditure plan for $175 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds.
This will allow the CNMI government to spend a total of $273.8 million in the next fiscal year, which starts on Oct. 1, 2021.
The CNMI received a total of $481.87 million in ARPA funds, and the rest of it will be spent in fiscal year 2023.
The House will convene at 1:30 p.m., Tuesday, and is expected to pass the budget measure, which identifies $144.8 million in local revenue, $103.3 million of which is available for appropriation including $4.4 million for the Department of Public Lands.
The FY 2022 budget bill suspends the following earmarks: tobacco control tax revenue, cigarette tax for solid waste, the customs and immigration quarantine revolving fund, the hotel occupancy tax for the Marianas Visitors Authority, the Office of the Public Auditor fees, the local revenues earmarked for the Public School System technical education program, the revenues earmarked for tax enforcement, the cigarette tax for group health and life insurance, the cigarette tax for cancer fund, the hotel occupancy tax for retirees, the alcohol container tax for retirees, the alcohol container tax for MVA, and the retirees’ share of electronic gaming fee collections.
H.B. 22-74 also states that “any payments funded directly or indirectly by federal or local funds, made in excess of base salaries, to include but not limited to overtime, supplemental time, premium pay, extra pay or other such payments must comply with all applicable federal and CNMI laws and regulations. Any person that authorizes or receives any payments in violation of this provision shall be personally liable for any and all such payments. This provision shall be enforced by the CNMI Office of the Public Auditor or the CNMI Office of the Attorney General.”
It also requires that all reprogramming of funds “shall be reported in writing to the presiding officers of the Legislature, chairperson of the House Committee on Ways and Means and chairperson of the Senate Committee on Fiscal Affairs within 30 days after the end of each quarter of the fiscal year. Such reports shall include a description of each item reprogrammed, the reason for each reprogramming, the change in the approved budget caused by reprogramming, the cumulative amount of all reprogramming during the fiscal year, and such other information as may be requested by the chairpersons. The governor shall submit to the presiding officers and chairpersons, an annual summary of all reprogramming activity within 60 days after the end of a fiscal year.”
In addition, the FY 2022 budget measure includes a provision that states: “All appropriations and allocations of general revenue and local funds made in this Act were done based upon the legislatively approved concurrent resolution (HCR 22-1, HD1, SD1) and the governor’s American Rescue Plan Act spending plan as set forth in Volume 4 of the governor’s annual budget submission of April 2021 as amended by [his] July 2021 submission. Therefore, absent legislative consent in the form of a House Joint Resolution, the governor shall make no changes to the outside-sourced funds submission or the outside-sourced funds as listed in Chapter VIII, that may directly or indirectly affect the appropriation made herein. Provided, however, the expenditure authorities of all branches, municipalities, departments, agencies, instrumentalities, and offices, to which ARPA funds are allocated, may reprogram funds allocated for personnel expenses to non-personnel expenses in accordance with the CNMI Planning and Budgeting Act as set forth in Title 1 Section 7402.”
Chapter VIII pertains to funds from outside sources. Among these is the Commonwealth Worker Fund in the amount of $2.1 million, which is appropriated as follows:
• Northern Marianas Technical Institute — $500,000
• Northern Marianas College — $1.2 million
• Latte Training Academy —$400,000
Once passed by the 19-member House, now controlled by a coalition of eight Democrats and two independents, the budget bill will go to the Republican-led Senate, which is expected to pass its own version of the measure.
Without a new and balanced budget before Oct. 1, 2021, there will be a partial government shutdown.
