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New law exempts NMHC staff from salary cap
Gov. Eloy S. Inos has signed into law House Bill 18-211, which exempts officials and employees of the Northern Marianas Housing Corp. from the salary limits imposed by the Compensation Adjustment Act.
H.B. 18-211, which Inos signed on Friday, is now Public Law 18-74.
The House of Representatives passed the bill last November, while the Senate passed it in December.
The measure states that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development requires all Public Housing Authorities like NMHC “to provide on an annual basis data on the compensation for their top 5 highest compensated employees to ensure that pay ranges are commensurate with the size and number of housing units in housing authorities in uniformity with federal standards.”
NMHC director Jesse Palacios earlier said that keeping NMHC salaries in line with federal standards is important in retaining his staff.
Palacios said that NMHC lost three of its staff—all of whom hold master’s degrees—because of the agency’s current low salaries.
“It’s really good for our staff…good for our staff who have the training, experience, and institutional knowledge. We will now be able to retain them rather than see them look for other jobs with higher pay. It’s more of continuity for us, too. We invested in our staff so we want our staff to also remain at NMHC,” he said.
Rep. John Paul Sablan (R-Saipan), along with Reps. Roman C. Benavente (Ind-Saipan), Lorenzo I. Deleon Guerrero (Ind-Saipan), Ralph N. Yumul (Ind-Saipan), and former representative Janet U. Maratita introduced the bill.
The lawmakers supporting H.B 18-211 noted that the NHMC is federally funded and that removing salary limitations will not “hurt local coffers.”
The NHMC, established by Executive Order 94-3, is an autonomous government agency that responds to the housing, mortgage and community development needs of the people of the Commonwealth through the administration of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development programs. (Joel D. Pinaroc)
