CITING the economic downturn due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Gov. Ralph DLG Torres on Friday said the Commonwealth needs revenue-generating legislation.
He said the pandemic is a collective issue. “At the end of the day, it’s our issue. One government, one CNMI,” he added.
He noted that it is the Legislature that has the authority to pass revenue-generating bills.
“Nobody wants to raise taxes, [but] we all want to get revenue in… Unfortunately, we do need to change the way we’re doing things because right now there’s no tourism,” he added.
The governor said that he has written a letter to Senate President Jude U. Hofschneider and House Speaker Edmund S. Villagomez regarding the need to have an open discussion on revenue-generating measures.
“I’m here to support revenue-generating bills,” he said, noting that he is aware that there are already discussions between Hofschneider and Villagomez.
Torres said he hopes that those bills will be passed immediately and alleviate the shortfall in the government’s revenue collection to help prevent job losses.
He said the government needs at least $5.7 million to retain the 180 furloughed employees included in the reduction-in-force procedures.
“We continue to look at other sources, but at the end of the day, tourism is our industry and I hope that the Legislature can [also] assist us in improving our economy and, of course, our revenue,” Torres said.
He said department heads and the Office of Personnel Management, with guidance from the Office of the Attorney General, are now assessing every position within the executive branch.
“Unfortunately, we have to do this because we just don’t have any tourists coming in and our revenue is not able to sustain…[the retention of the] 180 [employees],” he added.
