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SNILD changes funding measure
The Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation changed Thursday at the Ways and Means Committee a local funding measure after it was discovered that the delegation had previously appropriated monies from the same source.
Rep. Janet Maratita’s (R-Saipan) House Local Bill 21-5, which seeks to appropriate $227,000 in bond interest income collected for Saipan that the Commonwealth Development Authority wants to use for the repair of facilities that were damaged by Super Typhoon Yutu, was adjusted after it was found out that House vice speaker Lorenzo Deleon Guerrero’s HLB 21-1 appropriated $195,000 from the same bond interest money to repair the Kagman Road pathways.
“We just allocated the remaining balance of $76,000 to the projects that are already included in that bill,” committee chair Rep. Ivan Blanco (R-Saipan) noted in an interview.
Additional amendments included language that provides Precinct I representatives the flexibility to decide where to allocate the funding.
“…Th[at] gives them flexibility,” Blanco said.
The bill ultimately passed the committee through a voice vote with no opposition.
