$102M compromise budget bill

After four days of working together from morning to early evening, an eight-member conference committee pre-filed late yesterday afternoon a $102-million compromise budget bill that will pave the way for the House and Senate to act on the fiscal year 2012 spending bill at 5pm today.

Among other things, the conferees led by Rep. Ray Basa (Cov-Saipan) and Sen. Jovita Taimanao (Ind-Rota) agreed to give the Public School System $30 million and the Northern Marianas College $5.2 million so both could meet their federal maintenance-of-efforts requirements.

One of the changes from the previous day is the 29 lawmakers’ annual allocation from $72,000 as agreed upon on Wednesday, to $78,000 yesterday.

This is the same allocation that lawmakers are currently getting, but may be subjected to cuts down the road. The Senate earlier zeroed out this account, along with the Senate and House leadership accounts.

Conferees agreed to reinstate a $138,000 leadership account for the House and Senate. They also agreed to give the Legislative Bureau $1,441,764, as the Senate had proposed.

The committee also cut the Executive Branch’s funding to over $28.33 million, from over $29 million in the House and Senate versions of the budget bill.

If the House and Senate pass the budget bill during their back-to-back sessions today, the bill will make its way to the governor’s desk this weekend for action and prevent another partial government shutdown on Oct. 1.

Acting governor Eloy S. Inos said the administration won’t need several days to review the budget bill since it has been closely monitoring the progress made by the conference committee on the bill.

Conferees asked Inos to join them a few times in their meetings this week to provide clarification and seek input on some items in the budget.

Sen. Jovita Taimanao (Ind-Rota), in an interview yesterday, said that by working together, the conferees were able to complete a report in four days, hoping that the House and Senate will pass the compromise budget bill.

“We will have a timely budget for fiscal year 2012… We learned from experience [of last year],” Taimanao told Saipan Tribune.

Rep. Ray Basa (Cov-Saipan) and Taimanao, along with six other conferees, pre-filed Conference Committee Report 17-6 late yesterday afternoon, recommending passage of House Bill 17-215, House Substitute 1, House Draft 5, Senate Substitute 1, Conference Committee Substitute 1.

Basa earlier said every conferee went into the meeting with the goal of not only passing a balanced budget, but also a one that will prevent a shutdown.

Besides Basa and Taimanao, the other conferees are Senate vice president Jude Hofschneider (R-Tinian), floor leader Pete Reyes (R-Saipan), Sen. Ralph Torres (R-Saipan), Rep. Rafael Demapan (Cov-Saipan), Rep. Fred Deleon Guerrero (Ind-Saipan), and Rep. Sylvester Iguel (Cov-Saipan).

The House passed Basa’s budget bill on Aug. 31. The Senate passed a substitute budget bill on Sept. 13 that the House rejected, referring the bill to a conference committee.

Conferees agreed to earmark not less than $500,000 for NMC collected from the $150 CNMI education funding fee under U.S. Public Law 110-229. This is paid by employers for every foreign worker hired.

They gave the Marianas Visitors Authority $2.175 million, but agreed that House Bill 17-179, which sits in the Senate, should be passed to give additional funding to MVA. This bill seeks to charge passengers from non-U.S. destinations a new $15 “travel promotion fee” and provide tourism incentive to those bringing in additional tourists to the CNMI from Asian destinations. Senate President Paul Manglona (Ind-Rota) said the Senate is poised to pass this bill today.

Conferees also agreed to reallocate Office of the Public Auditor funds derived from the general fund.

The Judiciary’s budget remains at $4 million.

The Executive Branch’s budget as proposed by the conferees is $28.330 million, while the Legislature, $5.448 million.

Rota’s budget is over $4.544 million, the same as Tinian.

Conferees increased Saipan’s budget to over $1.439 million.

They also gave the Commonwealth Election Commission an increased funding of $265,866.

Conferees went with the Senate’s earlier proposal to increase Joeten-Kiyu Public Library’s funding to $217,299 and give $10,000 for judgments.

They also retained the Senate’s proposal to reduce to $12,000 the funding for the Micronesian Legal Services, and increase the funding for Medical Referral to over $2.321 million.

Conferees also honored the Senate’s provision to provide a $77,162 funding for substance abuse prevention.

They also increased by three the number of personnel allowed for government corporations, including an increase of two for the NMI Retirement Fund and one for the Public Utilities Commission.

Rep. Joseph Palacios (R-Saipan) said he’s glad that the conferees were able to reach a compromise on the budget.

“If the House and Senate pass them Friday or Saturday, I don’t think the administration will take days to also act on it because the acting governor has been working closely with the conferees on the budget,” he said in an interview yesterday.

Rep. Stanley Torres (Ind-Saipan) said it’s good to know that the conferees did not take much time come up with a budget. Torres introduced a 2012 budget measure in the form of a local bill.

Without a budget bill passed and signed before the start of the fiscal year on Oct. 1, the shutdown provision of the Constitution will kick in.