THE House of Representatives on Tuesday did not act on Senate Joint Resolution 22-9, which would have authorized the release of the retirees’ bonuses that were first announced before the Christmas holidays.
Instead, by a vote of 14 to 1, the House passed House Bill 22-95 to amend the fiscal year 2022 budget and reappropriate funds for the retirees’ bonuses.
Authored by Rep. Donald Manglona, H.B. 22-95 would reappropriate the allocations for Micronesian Legal Services, the governor’s discretionary account, the governor’s office, the Department of Finance and the Marianas Visitors Authority to fund a total of $2.6 million for the retirees’ bonuses.
These, however, were among the line-items vetoed by the governor when he signed into law the FY 2022 budget bill.
Rep. Patrick San Nicolas cast the lone dissenting vote on Tuesday.
Those who voted in favor of H.B. 22-95 were Manglona, Speaker Edmund S. Villagomez, Vice Speaker Blas Jonathan Attao, Rep. John Paul Sablan who served as acting House floor leader, Reps. Roy Ada, Sheila Babauta, Joel Camacho, Vicente Camacho, Richard Lizama, Corina Magofna, Edwin Propst, Leila Staffler, Denita Yangetmai and Joseph Flores.
House Floor Leader Ralph N. Yumul, House Minority Leader Angel Demapan, Reps. Tina Sablan and Celina Babauta were excused. Rep. Joseph Leepan T. Guerrero was not in the chamber during the roll call vote.
Fastest way
San Nicolas, in his remarks, told his colleagues, “I don’t know why we cannot act on this,” referring to Senate Joint Resolution 22-9 which he said has been “vetted out for legal sufficiency” by the Office of the Attorney General.
San Nicolas said adopting the joint resolution is the fastest way to provide the bonus for which the retirees have been waiting since December.
He said he cannot support the reappropriation of fiscal year budget funds as proposed in H.B. 22-95 because as Tinian Mayor Edwin Aldan has pointed out, it could have a “devastating effect on the municipality of Tinian and the CNMI tourism industry,” referring to funds that would be taken from MVA.
He also said that H.B. 22-95 still requires the approval of the Senate, and this will mean a further delay in the release of the bonus.
‘Not touching HOT’
But according to Attao, the House proposal will not take away funds from the Marianas Visitors Authority.
He said MVA’s funds are derived from the hotel occupancy tax or HOT collections which are an “outside” revenue source. The House doesn’t appropriate HOT which is a direct appropriation from the general fund, Attao said. “We are not touching HOT,” he added.
The vice speaker also believes that S.J.R. 22-9 is “in violation of the law,” and that lawmakers would be liable to pay back the $2.6 million while retirees would be liable to pay back the $1,000 bonus.
“Let’s do it right,” Rep. Richard Lizama said.
Rep. Donald Manglona, who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee, said even if they adopt S.J.R. 22-9, “we still have to go back and do a House bill to amend the budget act to put $1 in [the new business unit] and allow the governor to reprogram funds.”
He said H.B. 22-95 would create a new business unit for retirees’ bonuses and identify the funds that would go to that business unit.
For retirees
Rep. Joseph Leepan T. Guerrero said he wants retirees to receive their holiday bonus.
“How certain are we that once we act on [the House bill] the Senate is not going to sit on it while the retirees are suffering?”
He said the House and the Senate should “sit down together and iron out their differences and push this out because the retirees are in need of this money.”
For her part, Rep. Corina Magofna said it was the governor who made the promise to the retirees. Why didn’t he consult with the House first so that we could have discussed issues and we wouldn’t have to go “back and forth” with the Senate? Magofna asked.
Rep. JP Sablan noted that S.J.R. 22-9 no longer includes a proposal to give the governor 100% reprogramming authority which the House opposes.
“So what does that tell us?” he asked. “They are in agreement with us with the issue at hand.”
JP Sablan said the House “should not be cheerleaders [of the] Senate…. Let’s do the right thing. We are given that institutional power that any appropriation starts from here and not from the Senate. Let’s abide by the Constitution and let’s support H.B. 22-95.”
Rep. Patrick San Nicolas speaks during the House session on Tuesday.
Rep. Donald Manglona explains the intent of House Bill 22-95.
Speaker Edmund Villagomez and Vice Speaker Blas Jonathan Attao confer during the House session on Tuesday.
