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Senate delays action on budget resolution
The Senate has not yet acted on House Concurrent Resolution 20-1 as they await the request made by the Fiscal Affairs Committee for a list of agencies that get non-general fund revenue.
Senate vice president Steve K. Mesngon (R-Rota) said the committee needs more time to clarify certain issues that were raised in last week’s meeting with Finance Secretary Larrisa Larson and Office of Management and Budget special assistant and Capital Improvement Projects administrator Virginia Villagomez.
“We need to do some more clarification since some committee members need additional information. [Committee] members also requested the Finance secretary and OMB to provide us with more information,” said Mesngon.
“That is the reason why we delayed passing HCR 20-1, why we held it back. We discussed it in the committee.”
The committee, chaired by Sen. Jude U. Hofschneider (R-Tinian) asked for the list in order to equally distribute the funds and increase allocation for some agencies.
The CW fund, tobacco settlements, and CIP reimbursements are non-general fund sources. These funds are earmarked for some agencies under the CNMI government.
Rep. Angel A. Demapan (R-Saipan) introduced HCR 20-1 that would approve revenues and resources for the CNMI’s 2018 fiscal year budget, which covers Oct. 1 this year to Sept. 30, 2018.
Gov. Ralph DLG Torres submitted a budget of $145,260,075 after adjustments—like debt service settlement agreement, other revenues that were transferred to other funds, etc. The total identified budget amounted to $$236,770,472.
