In his transmittal letter to the chairman of the Saipan delegation, Rep. Ramon A. Tebuteb, R-Saipan, the governor said he approved in part, and disapproved in part, House Local Bill 17-14 now known as Saipan Local Law 17-3.
Offered by Rep. Sylvestre Iguel, Covenant-Saipan, the bill re-appropriates $352,198 of the $500,000 that the 15th Legislature earmarked for the repairs and construction of pavilions at Paupau Beach, various road paving and drainage improvements and repairs for bus shelters in Precinct 4 that were not expended.
The new law re-appropriates the money for Precinct 4 pavilion repairs and road projects and allocates $30,000 for the Department of Public Works to buy heavy equipment parts and for the printing and reproduction of road survey maps.
Part of the amount, $63,400, will be used to buy lot H 316-R5-R/W with the Department of Public Lands secretary as the expenditure authority. The bill did not specify what the lot will be used for.
Additionally, $20,000 is appropriated for the expenses of the CNMI delegates to the Micronesian Games and the remaining balance will be used to finance the road paving of Gloria Drive.
The governor vetoed items B to D of Section 3 of the new law which appropriated $30,000 more for the Micronesian Games, among other projects.
“The remaining appropriations under Section 3, Subsections (B), (C) and (D) reference a local law which is non-existent. This may be a mere technical error in citation; however, I cannot change legislation from the form in which it was passed. I therefore use the line item veto authority granted in Article II, Section 7(a) of the Commonwealth Constitution to disapprove said sections,” he said.
