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‘Pass budget first before any other acts’
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Posted on Apr 07 2006
A Saipan senator has introduced legislation that would hold off any more legislative actions until a new budget is passed.
Democratic Sen. Maria Frica Pangelinan authored Senate Bill 15-42 to prohibit the Legislature from addressing other matters until it has passed a balanced budget.
This comes in support of a call made by Rota Sen. Paul A. Manglona for the Legislature to first pass a fiscally responsible budget before entertaining a bill that would reduce government wages by 10 percent.
“The Legislature finds that the Commonwealth can better manage its financial affairs by having a new balanced budget for every fiscal year. Notwithstanding the political and programmatic obstacles that frequently hinder due consideration of a proposed balanced budget, this act requires the conscientious effort of individual legislators to work together to make the enactment of a balanced annual budget for the Commonwealth government the highest priority above all other legislative matters,” reads a portion of S.B. 15-42.
The bill would require each house to dispose of any measure beginning August 1 of each fiscal year until a new budget has been enacted.
On Thursday, Manglona said the Legislature had no real basis to cut government wages without first passing a budget.
“To pass wage reduction legislation without first considering budgetary needs, and identifying available government resources, would be to disregard our fiduciary responsibility at the expense of our hard working government employees,” Manglona said.
The senator maintained that a budget would give lawmakers a better idea of how to manage resources and whether a wage reduction was necessary.
“It would be a shame to pass this legislation in its current form only to find in the coming months that a 10-percent reduction was either too little, or too much, to affect the necessary changes in government spending,” he said.
The senator, in a separate letter, asked Senate legal counsel Antonio Cabrera to draft an amendment to the Senate’s wage cut bill mandating that a budget be passed before wage reductions could take effect.
