$102M budget bill introduced

House Ways and Means Committee chair Rep. Ray Basa (Cov-Saipan) introduced yesterday the long-awaited fiscal year 2012 budget bill of $102 million, a little over a month before the start of the new fiscal year on Oct. 1.

Basa’s introduction of the budget bill came a day after Lt. Gov. Eloy S. Inos told reporters that the Fitial administration has now been preparing for another partial government shutdown for a lack of a budget bill four months after Gov. Benigno R. Fitial submitted his $102 million budget proposal on April 1.

“Time flies. We were so preoccupied with a lot of things. Priority kind of shifted. I understand the lieutenant governor’s concern. We’re cognizant of that,” Basa said in an interview before yesterday afternoon’s House session.

But because Basa introduced the bill during yesterday’s session, the House could not act on it right away and will have to wait for the next session.

House Bill 17-215 is expected to be acted on by the House during a session scheduled for Tuesday, said Rep. Ray Yumul (R-Saipan).

Basa said with the local casino bill’s passage by the Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation yesterday, the leadership and the whole House can now focus on the budget bill.

He said he hopes that the House and Senate will work together to pass a bill that’s acceptable to both houses and the governor.

Senate President Paul Manglona (Ind-Rota) said the Senate has just been waiting for the budget bill from the House, and also hopes that there will not be a repeat of last year’s partial government shutdown.

An intense deadlock between the House and Senate led to their failure to timely pass a budget last year, resulting in a partial government shutdown that forced over 1,000 government employees to be out of job for more than a week until a budget was passed and signed.

The lieutenant governor said if there’s going to be a repeat of a partial government shutdown, there will be more people out of jobs until a budget is passed because the Fitial administration will impose a stricter policy determining those who are non-critical employees.

The Constitution requires that a budget bill be passed before the start of the fiscal year. Otherwise, there will be government shutdown until a budget is passed. Exempted from the shutdown are critical services such as those involved in public health and public safety. Lawmakers will also not receive their salaries until they pass a budget.

During the public comment in yesterday’s session, Northern Marianas College president Dr. Sharon Hart requested House members to give NMC a “minimum of $5.2 million” under the FY 2012 budget.

Hart’s personal testimony followed a letter she sent to Gov. Benigno R. Fitial also requesting for more money for NMC in the next fiscal year.

Basa’s HB 17-215 proposes a $4,018,800 budget for NMC.

Hart, in her testimony, said a proposed budget of at least $5.2 million will allow NMC to maintain its accreditation, meet the Maintenance-of-Effort level required by the U.S. Department of Education, and prevent the risk of losing some $6 million in federal grants, among other things. Hart was accompanied by other NMC officials.

It was only NMC that offered a public comment during the House session.

A protest that was planned by some citizens didn’t materialize. Some individuals were trying to organize a protest in front of the Legislature on Capital Hill from 1pm to 4pm yesterday, but no one actually showed up to protest the budget bill.

Two police officers from the Department of Public Safety were at the Legislature to ensure peace and order.

Basa’s bill retains the unpaid legal holidays and 16-hour work cuts biweekly at least for the first quarter of FY 2012, but the work cuts could continue if no additional revenue will be identified.

The government’s estimated revenue for FY 2012 is $120.679 million.

Because it anticipates that the Department of Public Health will be turned into a corporation by Oct. 1, a DPH budget is no longer included in the total projected revenue and spending except for a $5 million “seed” money for the department.

Of the $120.679 million, $102 million is the net budgetary resource available for appropriation.

The rest is reserved for bond repayments and other government obligations.

Under the bill, the government reserves $4.75 million in utility payments for the whole year.

HB 17-215 gives a budget of $4 million to the Judicial Branch whose full-time employee number is capped at 66. Of the $4 million, over $3.1 million will be for personnel and $892,666 for operations.

The Legislature’s budget is proposed at over $4.509 million. The number of FTEs is capped at 199, including the 20 House members and nine Senate members.

Of the total budget, over $2.637 million will be for personnel and over $1.872 million will be for operations.

The House leadership account remains at $138,000, lower than the governor’s proposed $300,000.

The Senate leadership account is lower, at $110,396.

Lawmakers will not have a change in their constitutionally protected annual salary of $39,300, but employer contribution to the Retirement Fund will increase.

The Executive Branch’s proposed budget is over $29.394 million and the number of FTEs is capped at 907.

Rota’s budget is at over $4.474 million with 252 FTEs.

Tinian’s budget, meanwhile, is over $4.361 million and with 186 FTEs.

Saipan and the Northern Islands are proposed to have a budget of over $1.219 million and with 51 FTEs.

Besides a proposed budget of over $4.018 million for NMC, the budget bill also offers over $5.030 million for the Marianas Visitors Authority with 36 FTEs; over $27.905 million for the Public School System with 879 FTEs; and $175,393 for the Board of Education with three FTEs.