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Senate to tackle bill that guarantees 25% of retiree pension
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Posted on Apr 21 2020
Senate will be deliberating today a bill that would guarantee 25% of retirees’ pension through the allotment of $15 million from the casino license fees.
House Bill 21-76, HS1, which unanimously passed in a House of Representatives session last Thursday, would repeal Public Law 20-10 that designates the casino gross revenue tax collections as the source of money for the retirees’ pension. “Currently, under [P.L.] 20-10, the license fee is being distributed to the senatorial districts, and the retirees’ portion has been, under [P.L.] 20-10, moved to the [Casino Gross Revenue Tax]. Unfortunately, [with] no collections of CGRT, retirees are not getting their full pension,” House Speaker Blas Jonathan Attao (R-Saipan) said during the session. “[Under the new bill] the $15 million in the license fee shall be dedicated strictly for the 25% of the retirees.
“This legislation will dedicate all $15 million of the license fee that is due every end of August early September, and will carry the 25% for the full fiscal year for the retirees,” he added.
Attao lamented that the retirees were not able to get their full pension last week, on April 15, with pension checks short by 25%. Gov. Ralph DLG Torres earlier announced that the government would be unable to pay 25% of pension payments, due to the injunction pushed by members of the Board of Education.
At the House session, Attao stated that the bill is not new, that it was introduced as H.B. 19-21 and H.B. 20-28, in the 19th and 20th Commonwealth Legislatures, respectively, and that both never made it to the governor’s desk for action.
In an earlier interview, the House speaker said that “unfortunately, we got to this point, when we could have prevented this from happening.”
“They [the retirees] have to be paid the 25% no matter what because the Constitution is very clear that the retiree must receive their pension in whole. Although the Settlement Fund is only giving them the 75%. The 25% is the obligation of the central government to make sure that the retirees get their full pension,” Attao added.
