THE House of Representatives may have to scrap a measure approving the salaries of the past administration’s employees that exceeded the cap prescribed by law.
H.B. 13-131 introduced by House Speaker Heinz S. Hofschneider “would be killed,” according to the author himself, if the Senate would amend the measure to also sanction the salaries of current employees that, according to the findings of the Office of the Public Auditor, exceeded the ceiling.
“If the Senate decides to amend the salary exemption and include those contracts that have exceeded the law on Jan. 14 to date, then the House has no other choice but to kill the bill. And that is the position of the House,” said Hofschneider, R-Saipan.
The speaker made the statement in reaction to the request earlier made by Lt. Gov. Diego T. Benavente to the Senate to convince the House to also sanction the salaries of current employees that exceeded the cap.
Senate President Paul A. Manglona, R-Rota, believed that the salaries of the employees under the present administration should also be sanctioned. He said the Senate Committee on Fiscal Affairs was coordinating with the House Committee on Ways and Means to address the issue on the salary cap.
Benavente, in an interview yesterday, said that the administration only has four employees receiving salaries beyond the cap. He said the reason why they have these four employees is due to the practice made by the previous administration which did not seek legislative approval.
“This is the result of the same reason why the salaries of 175 employees of the previous administrations were not sanctioned,” he said.
He said that if the bill would be scrapped, “whatever liabilities and situation that the four employees will face without the sanctioning of the Legislature would also be faced by the individuals who were not sanctioned previously.”
But the lt. governor said he is still hoping that “the Legislature will act to resolve this matter for the best interest of everyone.”
Hosfchneider said the House could not just give “blanket sanctions” to the salaries of the 18 employees of the present administration found to be receiving salaries beyond the cap.
He said “it is not enough” for the governor to submit specifications and certifications of the employees exempted from the salary ceiling.
He said the House should first review particular requests for sanctions and find out if at “this state of the economy,” the sanctions would justify the necessity to lift the cap for the purpose of accomplishing effective delivery of public services.
“Other than that…blanket sanction is out of the question as far as the House is concerned,” he added.
House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Stanley T. Torres echoed Hofschneider’s position. He said the bill would “die” if the Senate amends it.
“And this is not because we are just being critical of the administration. What we want is to go through the proper and legal process. The House is waiting for certifications and justifications from the governor on the lifting of the cap for these employees before we decide on whether we need to sanction them,” said Torres, R-Saipan.
But Torres said the House had not received justifications from the Office of the Governor.
“Sometimes, simple procedures become a major issue, especially when they are not addressed,” he said.
