Senate passes Fund ‘rollover’ bill, three other measures

By a vote of 7-1, the Senate passed yesterday a sixth legislation that seeks to prolong the life of the NMI Retirement Fund by allowing active members to “roll over” their contributions to the defined contribution plan without a need to resign from government and not “withdraw” their contribution from the Fund as the original House bill had intended.

Senate President Paul Manglona (Ind-Rota) said the Senate amendments strike a balance among concerns raised by everyone involved-the retirees, the non-retired members of the Fund, Fund officials and lawmakers in general.

Senators believe that allowing members to withdraw their contributions from the Fund will deplete the pension agency’s resources for retirees’ pension.

Under the Senate-amended bill, non-retired members of the defined benefit plan will be able to refund their employee contributions regardless of years of service without penalty and without the need to sever employment with government, and roll them over to the DC plan that senators say is like a 401(k) program.

This way, active members who choose to roll over their contributions will still have their contributions intact under the DC plan if and when the Fund collapses.

Sen. Jovita Taimanao (Ind-Rota) and Sen. Juan Ayuyu (Ind-Rota) offered separate floor amendments that members adopted before acting on the main motion to pass the measure.

The amended bill-House Bill 17-226, House Draft 1, Senate Substitute 1-now goes back to the House to act on the Senate amendments.

House Speaker Eli Cabrera (R-Saipan), author of HB 17-226, said yesterday he has yet to see the Senate’s amendments to his bill so he can’t say whether he agrees or not with the version that’s coming back to the House.

Manglona, in an interview, said that HB 226 will address concerns of active Fund members who fear losing their retirement contributions by giving them an option to roll over to the DC plan to protect their contributions that they would need in their golden years.

Hardship loan

Manglona said the Senate is aware of other active members who want to withdraw their money so they would have instant cash, and this was addressed in the bill by allowing members to borrow up to 50 percent of their contributions under the “hardship loans” program.

“That means medical needs and postsecondary education needs for their kids so in a way you have access to cash because you can borrow up to 50 percent of whatever that goes into your DC. That wasn’t there before,” Manglona said.

Senate floor leader Pete Reyes (R-Saipan), the only senator who voted “no” to the bill, said the bills and initiatives passed are not enough to save the Fund but are only “band aid solutions.”

“We failed miserably because we’re not doing enough to save the Retirement Fund,” he told Saipan Tribune.

Reyes reiterated that passing a bill allowing casinos to legally operate in the CNMI will help prolong the Fund’s life, along with the restoration of 80 hours biweekly among government employees and the payment of land compensations.

“I believe it’s time now that we start being flexible enough to understand the Retirement Fund is in desperate need of being saved. We haven’t tried casino. If it goes down underwater and we can’t save it [Fund] anymore, I want to be able to say that at least we have tried casino because if we don’t, I’m going to regret that I did not even make an attempt to try to save it because right now we’re not doing everything that we can,” he said.

Manglona said the catch is that if non-retired Fund members withdraw their contributions and roll over to the DC plan, the government employer contribution will remain with the Fund.

Non-retired members of the Fund, led by Joe Pangelinan, pushed for the passage of the original bill but were open to a compromise of allowing 50 percent of their contributions to be withdrawn.

Larry Cabrera, chair of the Commonwealth Retirees Association, in speaking before senators, recommended floating a multimillion bond to help the Fund.

3 other bills passed

The Senate passed three other bills during their last session for the year yesterday.

These include Sen. Luis Crisostimo’s (Ind-Saipan) Senate Bill 17-46, SD1, Rep. Ray Yumul’s (R-Saipan) HB 17-139, HD2, and Sen. Henry San Nicolas’ (Cov-Tinian) SB 17-74.

The three bills passed by a vote of 8-0 each. Crisostimo was still absent yesterday for medical reasons.

Crisostimo’s SB 17-46, SD1 requires the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. to pay or credit landowners for easements and takings or permit an affected landowner to use CUC services pending resolution of their land compensation. The bill now goes to the House.

Yumul’s HB 17-139, HD2 allows the government to have access to dormant and inactive bank accounts and unclaimed funds, and is considered a revenue-generating measure. This bill now goes to the governor.

San Nicolas’ SB 17-74, meanwhile, reduces the fees for agricultural leases on Tinian from $5 to $3 per hectare, or from $50/$100 a year depending on the property rental size to only $25 a year. This reduction does not apply to anyone who has a business license to sell produce or meat. The bill goes to the House.