House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Rep. Ramon S. Basa, Covenant-Saipan, has scheduled a meeting for Friday and House Bill 17-22, also known as the Austerity Holidays and Unpaid Legal Holidays Act of 2010, is on top of the agenda.
Speaker Froilan C. Tenorio, Covenant-Saipan, who promised to enact a budget for fiscal year 2010 30 days after their Jan. 11 inauguration, is calling for a session.
H.B. 17-22, which Basa sponsored, calls for the declaration of unpaid austerity holiday once every two weeks or per payroll and unpaid legal holidays throughout FY 2010 which ends this Sept. 30.
Public servants won’t be paid for six legal holidays during the period if the bill is enacted into law.
These include President’s Day, Good Friday, Commonwealth Covenant Day, Memorial Day, Independence/Liberation Day and Labor Day.
Basa said the cash-strapped CNMI government’s $17 million deficit for FY 2009 has negatively affected its finances.
He said the austerity Fridays and holidays will stop the financial bleeding of the government in this time of economic crisis.
“The Legislature further finds that a biweekly government shutdown and unpaid legal holidays would save the CNMI millions of dollars in both personnel and operational costs and equitably reduce government employee work hours. This action would serve a compelling government interest in furthering the financial integrity of the commonwealth,” the lawmaker said in the findings of his bill.
“It is the intent of the Legislature that the government’s normal pay period be reduced to 72 hours every two weeks unless a legal holiday is within the same pay period, it will be reduced to 64 hours for that particular pay period,” he added.
The measure will apply to both exempted and civil service employees if passed into law.
The salaries of the governor, lt. governor, lawmakers, justices and judges are constitutionally protected from any paycut measure.
