3 petitions from active Fund members; Fitial reviews HB 17-226

Gov. Benigno R. Fitial is still reviewing a bill that would allow active or non-retired members of the NMI Retirement Fund’s defined benefit plan to withdraw up to 50 percent of their contributions regardless of years of service and without penalty, even as over a hundred active members led by Joe Pangelinan and Mark Staal are petitioning the governor to sign House Bill 17-226, among other things.

“This bill is still undergoing legal review. Once this review is completed, the administration will be able to take a position that is in the best interest of the Commonwealth,” press secretary Angel Demapan said.

There are three main petitions being circulated by the active Fund members, including the one addressed to the governor.

This main petition urges the governor to sign into law HB 17-226, and to help allocate permanent funding for the current retirees.

“The rationale: Given the $3 million-plus judgment on the government to repay the Fund, it is up to the government to salvage the Fund for the current retirees, not the active employees who are currently paying into a system they will never benefit from,” Staal said.

A second petition is very similar to the first one, except it’s addressed to the court.

A third petition is addressed to the court on behalf of persons under 15 years of service in an effort to preserve the 15-year rule, but also to eliminate the six-month clause.

Active employees Staal, Pangelinan, Phyllis Ain, and Paul Joyce presented their personal stories then invited comments, questions from the audience.

The major themes of their discussions included having active employees continue to pay into the Fund “with no sight of return on their investment,” said Staal.

“By paying into a mandatory pension fund, most employees have foregone social security payments for their entire professional lives. Adding insult to injury, they have been expected to continue to pay in even though under Chapter 11, an automatic stay has further prevented them from accessing their withdrawals,” Staal added.

The active members pointed out that, although the Fund has a legal obligation to protect active employees investments, no information session or other public session has been made available to them.

The next meeting of active members will be on May 22, at 6:30pm, at the American Memorial Park.

Around the same time that active members were meeting, the Commonwealth Retirees Association was also holding its own meeting.

CRA, just like the Senate earlier that day, solidified their position supporting the U.S. Trustee’s motion to have the Fund’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing withdrawn.

House Speaker Eli Cabrera (R-Saipan) said he personally supports having the bankruptcy filing withdrawn but the full House leadership has yet to discuss the matter.