House overrides budget veto

Apreviously absent lawmaker showed up. Another changed his vote. That’s all it took to finally muster the 14 votes necessary to overturn the governor’s veto of the $156.76 million Fiscal Year 2009 budget.

It was the House’s second and final attempt to override Gov. Benigno Fitial’s veto of the revised budget, 162 days into the current fiscal year. The Senate earlier overrode the veto. With both chambers passing the override, House Bill 16-223 officially becomes law.

Fourteen of the 20 members voted yes, the minimum number needed for an override. Reps. Victor Hocog, Oscar Babauta, Joseph Camacho, and Stanley Torres voted against it.

Raymond Palacios and Justo Quitugua, who both voted no on the last attempt to override, were absent during yesterday’s session.

House Speaker Arnold Palacios said he would not use the word happy for the outcome, but said the House of Representatives completed what it needed to.

“I think in the end we’ve done our job,” he said.

In December, Fitial vetoed the Legislature’s first budget of $165 million, citing an $8 million drop in projected local revenue. The House failed to override that veto.

After the first veto, Fitial slashed government spending across the board by 5.5 percent. Using the 5.5 percent cut as a guide, the House introduced a new budget of $156.76 million, with $148 million from local revenue. The budget does not include austerity measures like unpaid holidays, something Fitial called for when he vetoed the first budget and was the reason he gave for vetoing the second budget last month.

Last week the House failed to override the veto, with only 12 members voting yes. Yesterday’s vote was the House’s last chance for an override.

“We exhausted our chance,” Palacios said. “I’m relieved. We’ve gotten a budget out of the 16th Legislature, albeit not everyone is happy about it, but we have a spending plan.”

Reps. David Apatang and Edwin Aldan cast the two votes necessary to pass the override. Apatang was absent during last week’s attempt, while Aldan voted against the override.

Aldan, who was not present when the House initially passed the $156.76 million budget, said that after reviewing the bill over the weekend he decided to change his position.

“Like other members, I was concerned about the need to have some kind of spending guideline,” he said.

Charles Reyes, press secretary for the Governor’s Office, said the new law presents a difficult situation. Finance Secretary Eloy Inos has a number of concerns, which will be discussed in more detail at a press conference today, the press secretary said.

“It’s a pretty grave situation for the reasons we said before,” he said, noting there are no austerity provisions in the law.

The specific breakdowns for each department have not been made clear, he said.

“They expect the Executive Branch to make those decisions. Obviously, those are going to be some very painful decisions to cut costs,” he added.

There are several reasons why the House might have gone ahead and passed the override, Reyes said.

“Maybe they don’t believe the financial projections,” he said. “Some of them may be skeptical of our assertions and our information of the financial information. They may think that’s not really the case, and that’s not true. We have good numbers here to rely on that they should appreciate.”

Also, he said, the lawmakers may not fully appreciate what the consequences and implications are of passing the budget.

However, he said a more cynical possibility for the override might be political.

“From their standpoint, they may want to put the governor in a very difficult situation, where he will have to make cuts that a budget override calls for, which is unfortunate,” the press secretary said.

Reyes said there has been a lack of trust among some lawmakers throughout the budget process, and this being an election year has made it more difficult.

Rep. Ray Yumul, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said he would now sit down with the Office of Personnel Management and Inos to discuss how the new law will affect full time employees. With no budget in place, the government had been on continuing resolution. The decreased budget will mean there will be fewer full time employee positions funded. When asked if employees will get laid off, Yumul said he does not know.

Esther Fleming, the governor’s special assistant for administration, who had been present during past override attempts, said yesterday that she would not comment until she met with Fitial and Inos. But she did say “drastic” changes would need to occur with the new law in place.