Heinz to Stanley: Look into Compact money issue

House Speaker Heinz S. Hofschneider has directed the House Ways and Means Committee to look into the issue surrounding the recent $2 million Compact Impact money that Gov. Juan N. Babauta had allocated to finish the construction of the Tinian High School.

Similarly, the House Speaker also directed the committee chairman, Rep. Stanley S. Torres, during Wednesday’s session to come up with a report on the monies available to the House of Representative, in anticipation of the 6.57-percent reduction in the lower chamber’s third and fourth quarter allotments.

It will be noted that the Saipan and Northern Islands Delegation, of which Hofschneider and majority of House lawmakers are members, had questioned the allocation of the $2 million Compact Impact money to Tinian, saying it is Saipan that has sustained the most impact from the Compact of Free Association. The delegation had also questioned Babauta’s authority to unilaterally assign the money to Tinian on the grounds that it is solely the Legislature that has the power to appropriate the funds.

“I would like to ask you work with the chamber’s legal counsels in looking into the application of the reimbursement of the money from the Compact Impact and to what extent the restriction on the usage of Compact Impact applies,” Hofschneider told Torres.

At the same time, the Speaker directed Torres to find out whether this fiscal year’s continuing resolution specifically identifies the $2 million for the construction of the Tinian High School. This follows his earlier contention that if the money is already included in the continuing resolution, then the Governor has the authority to allocate the money. If not, only the Legislature can appropriate the fund.

As for his instructions on the budget situation of the House, this comes on heels of the Office of the Attorney General’s ruling that the Governor has the authority to proportionately cut the budget allotment across the three branches of government.

“According to the Attorney General, the Governor has the authority to reduce or to cut [the budget] if the revenue decline is $200,000 or 3 percent or more. The Attorney General’s opinion is also consistent with the position of the House that the proportionate cut has to be across the board. With this new development, we can expect a lesser percentage in terms of the cut,” Hofschneider said.

The Babauta administration had earlier disclosed that it would reduce the budget allotments of all agencies except for the Public School System. This would have resulted in an 8.02-percent cut across all other agencies. With the AGO’s ruling, though, the cut would only be 6.57 percent.

In line with this, Hofschneider directed Torres to look into the reprogramming of House funds that has so far been executed by the second branch. He said this is to ensure compliance with the restrictions on moving funds that are available to the lower chamber.

Torres later said that, since the Speaker’s instructions were verbally relayed to him during the session, he would have to wait until he is furnished a copy of the transcript of the session for him to act on Hofschneider’s request.

“I have already asked the Legislative Bureau to furnish me a transcription of the session. I have also asked for an official copy of the AG’s report. When I get these documents, I will then sit down with committee,” said Torres.

He added that, besides these, Hofschneider also requested him to communicate with the Department of Finance for the possible submission to the Legislature of a monthly report on the revenue collections.