The lifting of the salary caps for various positions in the executive branch is legal, according to the Senate and the Office of Personnel Management.
Acting Personnel Director Juan I. Tenorio said the House of Representatives and the Senate were informed that the Office of the Governor would implement salary adjustments for certain positions prior to the enactment of Public Law 13-1, which returned OPM to the Office of the Governor.
“(T)he governor is in line with what he doing. I don’t think he violated the law,” Tenorio said.
It is up to the Legislature, however, whether it wants to pass a joint resolution to sanction the pay adjustments, he added.
Senate President Paul A. Manglona, R-Rota, yesterday said that P.L. 13-1 superseded any existing provision that prohibits the governor from instituting personnel changes within his office.
Manglona said P.L. 13-1 converted all positions within the Office of the Governor into exempted status.
“Meaning, they are no longer part of the civil service system or classifications They are no longer classified as graded or ungraded positions,” Manglona said.
“The governor under the new law has the flexibility now (to impose changes, including salaries),” Manglona said.
The governor did not approve salary increases but made salary adjustments for particular positions, he added.
