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Bill lifts payment requirement for CHCC credit
A House of Representatives committee supported a Senate bill that lifts the payment requirement of the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. when it adopted the bill for House passage Wednesday during a meeting.
The House Ways and Means committee Wednesday discussed and adopted Sen. Sixto K. Igisomar’s (R-Saipan) Senate Bill 20-58 unanimously. The bill lifts the payment requirement for the corporation to the Commonwealth government.
CHCC, who has a credit line with the Marianas Public Land Trust, would not be required to pay the remainder if S.B. 20-58 is enacted. Ways and Means chair Rep. Angel A. Demapan (R-Saipan) in Wednesday’s meeting noted that MPLT held the position that lifting the payment requirement of CHCC was inconsequential to the agency.
“It is inconsequential to them because it is money that would have left MPLT [to go into] the general funds,” Demapan said after reading to the committee MPLT’s comments.
In an interview, Demapan noted that the bill effectively removes the repayment provision.
“There is a repayment provision in existing law that CHCC should repay the line of credit to the government,” said Demapan. The line of credit is interest earned by MPLT, which is then transferred into the general funds.
“Under the current structure, CHCC, when they draw down from the line of credit, have to repay it back to the government. Repaying the government for interest that is transferred to the government and then appropriated back to CHCC is kind of [redundant],” he added.
According to Demapan, the intent of the bill was to remove the redundancy and help provide financial relief to CHCC by lifting the obligation from their books, to which he noted that a remaining balance of $2.8 million remains.
“It’s almost as if we are appropriating the money to CHCC anyway,” said Demapan, clarifying that the remaining balance of $2.8 million would be written off of CHCC books if the bill is enacted.
“…At the end of the day, the money is within the same government,” Demapan said, adding that if the goal was to help CHCC improve healthcare services, then the committee supports the bill.
The committee adopted the bill unanimously and would be discussed on the House floor in a future session.
