Wage cut public hearing set

The Legislature announced the schedule for a joint public hearing on the bills seeking to cut government salaries.

The House Standing Committee on Ways and Means and the Senate Standing Committee on Fiscal Affairs will conduct public hearings on Rota, Tinian, and Saipan.

The first hearing will be held at 6:30pm, April 10, 2006, at the Rota Judicial Complex. The Tinian hearing will be held at the court house at 6:30pm, April 11.

On Saipan, the public hearing will be at 6:30pm, April 12, at the Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio Multi Purpose Center in Susupe.

The bills to be discussed are House Bill 15-115, Senate Bill 15-40, and an amended version of the same Senate bill.

H.B. 15-115 seeks to reduce by 10 percent the uniform salary schedules for civil service personnel, as set forth in Title 1 Section 8213 of the Commonwealth Code.

Introduced by Rep. Absalon Waki Jr. and four other House leadership members, H.B. 15-115 states that the salary reduction “is necessary to prevent further deterioration in the Commonwealth’s financial situation, and hopefully prevent a reduction in the government workforce.”

Senate Bill 15-40, authored by Sen. Felix Mendiola, cites the same purpose—“to ensure the continuity of essential public services without resorting to a reduction in government workforce.”

But S.B. 15-40 is different from H.B. 15-115 in that the Senate bill includes civil service and all other government employees, although it specifically exempts government positions whose salaries are constitutionally protected.

“[T]he salary of the governor, lieutenant governor, resident representative to the United States, and Commonwealth judges and justices shall not be so reduced, unless [they] in writing voluntarily accept a salary reduction of 10 percent,” the bill states.

An amended version of S.B. 15-40 will also be considered.

The new version states that: “Although the salary of the governor, lt. governor, judges and justices, and resident representative to the United States are protected under the Constitution from any reduction while in office, the Legislature firmly believes that all must share in this difficult burden and challenges these officials to assist by voluntarily forfeiting 10 percent of their salary. This act exempts only those employees whose services are deemed absolutely critical to the health, safety and welfare of the people of the Commonwealth.”

Mendiola’s amended bill would exempt “medical doctors, nurses, lab technicians, x-ray technicians and all other medical professional; classroom teachers, school principals, vice principals and all other employees of the Public School System; police officers, firefighters, emergency medical technicians and correction officers.”