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House withdraws veto override of transport bill
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Posted on Nov 16 2005
A motion to override the Gov. Juan N. Babauta’s veto of the transit authority bill was withdrawn during a House session yesterday.
House members found that the Public School System had asked for the disapproval of House Bill 14-318 for fear that the new office would take away PSS federal funds that currently support the busing of students from home to school and back home everyday.
H.B. 14-318 would have created a CNMI Office of Transit Authority. One of its major responsibilities would have been securing and managing grants from the Federal Transit Administration.
During the session, PSS federal programs advisor Tim Thornburg informed lawmakers that, contrary to the bill’s claim, the Commonwealth have been able to avail of FTA grants.
PSS, he said, has applied for and received consolidated grants from FTA that utilize the four formula grants made available to the CNMI annually from 1994 to the present. In the last fiscal year alone, PSS received almost $980,000 from FTA.
This grant money is spent only on the purchase of buses and bus maintenance contracts.
Thornburg added that PSS requires FTA funding for at least two more years to complete the purchase of new buses needed to replace school buses that are now 10 years old.
He said PSS had asked Babauta to veto H.B. 14-318 because the measure made no mention of transporting over 4,000 students from home to school and back home daily.
After a lengthy discussion, Rep. Clyde Norita withdrew his motion to override the veto. He also agreed to incorporate PSS’ concerns and reintroduce the bill at a later time.
Babauta had vetoed Norita’s bill for a different reason and that is the Legislature’s purported failure to identify funding for the office, particularly the 20-percent local matching fund required by FTA grants.
Thornburg said yesterday that the governor’s veto message was “inaccurate,” as FTA normally waives the local match requirement for its grants.
