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Inos approves bill giving $9K allowance for ill Rota patients
Gov. Eloy S. Inos last Friday signed a bill appropriating $9,000 from local license fees for poker and pachinko and slot machines on Rota for the subsistence allowance of residents of the island who are undergoing dialysis and treatment for terminal illnesses off-island.
House Local Bill 18-67 is now Rota Local Law No. 18-18. It passed the Rota Legislative Delegation last Dec. 2.
The bill originally sought to earmark only $4,500 for the subsistence allowance of the patients, but after careful review the delegation found out that more people needed help for their illnesses, hence the doubling of the appropriation.
Under the law, “The monthly subsistence allowance for September 2014 shall be partially paid and not to exceed $200” and the expenditure authority will the Department of Finance.
Rota Legislative Delegation chair Rep. Teresita A. Santos said at last count there are nearly 40 people from Rota currently undergoing dialysis and suffering from other terminal illnesses. Santos is the author of HLB 18-67.
Santos, who will be a first-time senator in the 19th CNMI Legislature come January 2015, said “the introduction of bills like HLB 18-67 occurs only when renewal of poker fees are paid, which appropriation primarily provides funds for dialysis and terminally ill patients.”
