Previous Story
Law allocates $1.4M for tobacco programs
|
Posted on May 07 2009
Gov. Benigno R. Fitial on Wednesday signed into law a bill appropriating over $1.4 million of tobacco control funds for fiscal year 2009.
House Bill 16-129, introduced by Rep. Joseph Deleon Guerrero and eight other House members, is now Public Law 16-39.
Fitial said while the measure appropriates money to worthwhile causes from the Tobacco Control Fund, it passed the House of Representatives on Oct. 31, 2008 and the Senate on April 15, 2009, six months into FY 2009.
As such, monies previously appropriated under Public Laws 14-80, 15-65 and 15-109 have already been allotted for each quarter that has passed this fiscal year.
“The monies appropriated under this act will be allotted prospectively and proportionately based on available funding as of the effective date of this act,” the governor told House Speaker Arnold I. Palacios and Senate Pres. Pete P. Reyes.
Fitial said in approving the measure, he’s assured that the Legislature will correct the deficiencies of the legislation by amending the effective date of the appropriations and by clarifying that P.L. 15-109, the Post-Secondary Teacher Education Program Scholarship and Medical School Professionals Scholarship, are not affected and remain intact.
The bill provides $900,000 to the Department of Public Health’s six programs: the Diabetes Prevention and Control Program ($535,000); the Community Guidance Center’s Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services ($250,000); mammogram film reading and interpretation ($39,000); the purchase of a network-attached storage for the Cancer Registry ($1,000); the Commonwealth Cancer Coalition ($50,000); and the Comprehensive Cancer Control Program ($25,000).
The bill also appropriates $325,000 to the Public School System for the development of a comprehensive school health education program, for Project Familia, and for the Teen Talk program. In addition, $39,000 was set aside for the youth centers on Saipan. The bill also gives $75,000 each to Rota and Tinian’s Tobacco and Substance Abuse prevention programs.
