Countdown to possible shutdown begins

A countdown to another possible partial CNMI government shutdown begins as the House of Representatives rejected yesterday afternoon the Senate’s substitute budget bill that cut and reallocated over $2 million among agencies and sets aside $2 million more in new income, barely two weeks before the start of fiscal year 2012 on Oct. 1.

The House and Senate immediately moved into a conference committee, which is expected to settle the budget differences between the two houses of the Legislature before the shutdown provision of the Constitution kicks in.

House Speaker Eli Cabrera (R-Saipan) and Senate President Paul Manglona (Ind-Rota) separately said they’re hoping the committee could come up with a compromise budget bill soon.

“I am hoping they (conference committee) will come up with something by the end of next week, Sept. 23,” Cabrera told Saipan Tribune.

But the eight-member conference committee led by House Ways and Means Committee chair Rep. Ray Basa (Cov-Saipan) and Senate Fiscal Affairs Committee chair Sen. Jovita Taimanao (Ind-Rota) isn’t expected to meet formally as one panel until Monday, Sept. 19.

Taimanao, however, said she and Basa will begin meeting in the soonest possible time.

‘Unrealistic’

From hereon, government employees are counting the days until the joint conference committee comes up with a compromise $102-million spending package that both houses can pass and send to the governor before Oct. 1.

“Every day that the House and Senate do not come to an agreement (on the budget) is another day toward that dreaded day of shutdown,” Rep. Tony Sablan (R-Saipan) said.

Sablan voted “yes” to a motion to reject the Senate’s substitute budget bill, citing “multiple concerns” in the latest version of the measure including “zeroing out” the operational budget of all lawmakers.

“I think that members can accept zeroing out the leadership account but not the individual lawmakers’ operational account. The Legislature is a Constitutionally-created institution that needs funds to operate. I hope people sit back and reassess where we are now,” he added.

He also said the results of the 2010 Census pointed to a decrease in population in the three major islands, yet the Senate wants to increase the budgets for Tinian and Rota, for example, by $362,719 and $250,000, respectively, compared to the House’s proposal.

Rep. Joseph Palacios (R-Saipan) said he voted “yes” to rejecting the Senate substitute budget bill because it’s “very unrealistic.”

“You might as well close the offices of the Legislature if you’re not going to give an operational budget,” he said.

He said he has no problem giving more to the Public School System and Northern Marianas College but only if PSS and NMC would also show that they are trying to live within their means.

Palacios cited PSS conferences and events which he said are held in hotels instead of using government venues such as the Pedro P. Tenorio Multi-Purpose Center in Susupe.

“If you are holding your conference in Laolao Bay [Golf Resort], I know that’s not free. Somebody is paying for that, maybe the taxpayers,” he said, as he extends his challenge to all agencies to start using government facilities for their meetings and other events if possible.

Rejection vote

House Floor Leader George Camacho (Ind-Saipan) made a motion to reject the Senate’s substitute budget bill.

Of the 19 members present, 12 voted “yes” to reject the Senate version of the budget bill and seven voted “no” to its rejection. Rep. Froilan Tenorio (Cov-Saipan) was the only one absent.

The 12 who voted “yes” to reject the Senate’s version of the budget bill were Basa, Camacho, Rep. Fred Deleon Guerrero (Ind-Saipan), Rep. Sylvester Iguel (Cov-Saipan), vice speaker Felicidad Ogumoro (Cov-Saipan), Rep. Joseph Palacios (R-Saipan), Rep. Ray Palacios (Cov-Saipan), Rep. Edmund Villagomez (Cov-Saipan), Rep. Ray Tebuteb (R-Saipan), Rep. Ralph Demapan (Cov-Saipan), Sablan, and Cabrera.

The seven who voted against rejecting the Senate substitute budget bill and who, in essence, accepted the senators’ proposals, were Rep. Janet Maratita (Ind-Saipan), Rep. Teresita Santos (Ind-Rota), Rep. Stanley Torres (Ind-Saipan), Rep. Trenton Conner (R-Tinian), Rep. Ray Yumul (R-Saipan), Rep. Frank Dela Cruz (R-Saipan), and House minority leader Joseph Deleon Guerrero (R-Saipan).

Torres said the only reason why he voted “no” to the Senate bill was “to call the Senate’s bluff” on zeroing both the leadership account and the individual lawmakers’ allocations. But he said he knew the Senate version will be rejected easily at the House.

Besides Basa, the other House conferees that the speaker appointed were Demapan, Fred Deleon Guerrero and Yumul.

During the session, Cabrera asked whether Yumul was still interested in joining the conference committee after voting “no” to the motion to reject the Senate’s version of the budget bill. Yumul said “yes.”

Conner said he thinks that for the conference committee to be more representative of all the islands, the House conferees should include the representatives from Rota and Tinian.

“All the House conferees are from Saipan, unlike the Senate where the three islands are represented,” Conner added.

Yumul said he would have wanted the budget bill to be sent to the governor right away, considering that the governor has 20 days to act on it.

The House minority leader, for his part, said there’s pressure for the conference committee to work out a compromise bill.

“We should have learned our lesson already,” he said, referring to last year’s partial government shutdown because of a budget deadlock between the House and Senate.

The Senate president, meanwhile, said his appointees to conference committees remain the same, led by Taimanao, along with Senate Vice President Jude Hofschneider (R-Tinian), Senate floor leader Pete Reyes (R-Saipan), and Sen. Ralph Torres (R-Saipan).

Preparation begins

Press secretary Angel Demapan reiterated that as early as August, the Fitial administration started preparing for a possible shutdown.

“While we certainly would like to avoid another shutdown, we will continue to take this approach so long as a budget remains to be enacted. Nonetheless, the governor and lieutenant governor would like to see our lawmakers come to terms on a budget that is realistic and sufficient to sustain government operations,” he said.

Demapan said Gov. Benigno R. Fitial and Lt. Gov. Eloy Inos are hoping that the Legislature would avoid a shutdown.

“Many families are already struggling with the reduction in work hours; a shutdown would just compound these families’ burdens more,” he added.

The Senate’s version of the budget bill cuts $343,351 from the Offices of the Governor and the Lieutenant Governor and the “Total Other Offices of the Governor and Lt. Governor.”

Demapan said the administration’s allocations, as proposed in the governor’s proposal, already takes into account all austerity measures.

“Any further reductions would eventually hinder the departments and activities under the executive branch,” he added.

Any partial government shutdown will result in the temporary unemployment of over 1,000 government employees, most of them already dealing with a 16-hour pay cut biweekly and delayed payrolls since last year.

The Senate’s substitute budget bill cuts the funds of the Legislature and the Executive Branch by over $2 million and moved the amount to PSS, NMC, Rota and Tinian programs, among other entities.

Besides the reallocated funds, PSS and NMC also got an additional $1 million from senators who incorporated future collections from the “$150 CNMI education funding fee” under the federalization law.