‘Doing bonuses the right way’

It might seem like the House of Representatives is delaying the proposed $1,000 bonuses for government retiree, but Speaker Edmund S. Villagomez (Ind-Saipan) said that’s not the story at all as they are working on doing things the right way.

Speaking at a press conference in the House chamber, vice speaker Blas Jonathan T. Attao (R-Saipan) also pointed out that Senate Joint Resolution 19-04, which the Senate had cited as precedent to support the position that the Senate has the authority to introduce a joint resolution approving Gov. Ralph DLG Torres’ request for reprogramming authority to fund the bonuses, was adopted during an emergency session due to the impacts of Super Typhoon Soudelor.

At the same press briefing, Rep. Corina L. Magofna (D-Saipan) said they are still hoping that the Senate will appoint committee conferees so they can compromise on the legislation governing the bonuses. If not, Magofna said, the House’s next step is to act on House Bill 22-95 that was authored by the House conference committee’s chairman, Rep. Donald Manglona (Ind-Rota).

Villagomez

The Senate recently adopted another resolution, Senate Joint Resolution 22-09, to approve the bonuses, but Villagomez said the joint resolution has another flaw—it created a business unit for the bonuses, but with zero funding.

He said Commonwealth Code Section 7402 holds people liable for reprogramming funds into an unfunded business unit.

He said the Senate had previously introduced a substitute bill where they increased the $500 bonuses to $1,000. Villagomez said they have no issues with that increase, but the Senate included a clause providing 100% reprogramming authority for Torres, which the House opposes.

Villagomez said they rejected the Senate’s version of the bill, but did not just kill it; rather, they offered to go into a conference committee to resolve their differences. He said he appointed conferees and invited the Senate to appoint their conferees and meet with them so they can fix their differences in regards to this retirees’ bonuses.

Villagomez said one of the arguments that was brought up recently was Senate Joint Resolution 19-4, which the Senate relied on in its latest joint resolution. That joint resolution, which was introduced by Sen. Victor B. Hocog (R-Rota) and adopted during the 19th Legislature, was to address the issue that the CNMI were then facing under Super Typhoon Soudelor.

That resolution was introduced on Sept. 24, 2015, which Attao said is five days before the end of fiscal year 2015. He said the resolution’s intent was not to create a business unit and was not to supply additional monies into a new business unit.

“Because we all understand that that should be done by appropriation,” he said.

He said Senate Joint Resolution 19-4 was to address the 100% reprogramming authority, increasing the 50% reprogramming authority that the governor had back then to 100% to address a 10% cushion that the CNMI had to pay in regards to the effects of Soudelor.

“So that was the reason that the resolution was adopted. That resolution was adopted in an emergency session. We didn’t have [electric] power here in the Legislature or majority of the north side of the island of Saipan,” he said.

Attao said the Senate adopted the resolution and the House went into session right then and there to adopt it so the CNMI can address the 10% costs that the CNMI government had to pay at that period of time.

Now the Senate’s argument is that it’s been done before where they allowed the Senate joint resolution to give the reprogramming authority to the governor, he said. “The situation was a little bit different back then. We were acting on an emergency session to address the issue of the 10% cost sharing,” Attao said.

To date, there are no Senate conferees as the Senate instead went ahead and adopted Senate Joint Resolution 22-09 in their last session on Tinian.

Magofna, who is vice chair of the conference committee, said they are ready and waiting for the Senate to appoint their conferees so they can address all the issues and concerns and move forward with the legislation for bonuses.

Magofna said it appears that some senators are unhappy and dissatisfied with the funding sources for the bonuses that the House had identified.

She reminded the Senate that, although they have some reservations about the funding sources that the House identified, Finance Secretary David DLG Atalig himself stated that anything that was reported on any of the business units or departments will be backfilled by the American Rescue Plan Act funds.

At the Senate session on Tinian when the Senate adopted Senate Joint Resolution 22-09, Hocog pointed out that the House conferees had proposed to remove $850,000 from the Marianas Visitors Authority’s $3.1 million budget in fiscal year 2022, yet there was no discussion with the MVA managing director or its board of directors whether that would cripple MVA’s activities and operations.

At the Senate session’s public comment portion, Tinian and Aguiguan Mayor Edwin P. Aldan said if the House’s version as proposed by the conferees continues to be the route for the bonuses’ legislation to take, it will impact the Tinian municipality.

Aldan urged the Senate to reject the House’s intent to use Hotel Occupancy Tax funds for the bonuses and identify an alternative funding source for the bonuses so he can continue to promote, rebuild, and enhance Tinian’s tourism industry.