Authored by Senate Vice-president Jude U. Hofschneider, S.B. 21-56 unanimously passed the Senate and now goes to the House of Representatives.
Senate Floor Leader Justo Quitugua was excused during the session on Tuesday.
The bill states that the mandates of Public Law 16-48, which created the Office of Grants Management, apply to the first and second senatorial districts or Rota and Tinian as well.
Since the creation of the grants office, the mayors of Tinian and Rota have submitted countless requests for assistance, funding, equipment and training for their respective municipalities, the bill stated.
Although the grants office has provided some assistance, equipment, program, funding or recipients were not always consistent with the mayors’ policies, the bill added.
It states that the mayor “has the ultimate responsibility to provide essential public services to the people in their municipalities. They should determine what the Office of Grants Management assistance is needed and where such assistance will go.”
S.B. 21-56 proposes that the administrator of the Office of Grants Management-State Clearing House “shall have expenditure authority for all funds relating to the office, provided that the respective mayors of Rota and Tinian “shall concur on all OGM-SCH applications, programs, and grant funding for the first and second senatorial districts.”
