$102M budget OK’d; shutdown averted

A partial government shutdown has been averted following the House and Senate’s passage last night of a $102-million budget bill that the governor is expected to sign shortly or before the start of fiscal year 2012 on Oct. 1.

In back-to-back sessions late afternoon yesterday that lasted until evening, the House and Senate passed a compromise budget bill that increased the appropriations for the Public School System, Northern Marianas College, the Commonwealth Election Commission, the Joeten-Kiyu Public Library, and lawmakers’ individual operational account.

The House passed the budget bill at 5:42pm by a vote of 19-1. The only “no” vote was by Rep. Froilan Tenorio (Cov-Saipan), who didn’t want the nine-member Senate to have the same leadership account as the 20-member House of $138,000.

The Senate passed the budget bill at 6:31pm by a vote of 9-0.

The crowd in the House and Senate galleries applauded when the votes were counted.

House Bill 17-215, House Substitute 1, House Draft 5, Senate Substitute 1, Conference Committee Substitute 1 now goes to the governor for action.

Press secretary Angel Demapan, when asked for comment prior to the Legislature’s back-to-back sessions, said if and when the Legislature passes the budget bill Friday as planned, “the administration will immediately conduct a final review and examination to ensure that the government’s new spending plan is balanced and sufficient for the government’s operations throughout [fiscal year] 2012.”

“Following completion of its review, the administration will act on the bill accordingly,” Demapan said.

Rep. Ray Basa (Cov-Saipan), chairman of the conference committee, thanked his fellow conferees for working diligently to come up with a “fair, realistic and balanced budget bill.”

During the session, Basa said over 1,000 government employees now don’t have to worry about a shutdown.

Sen. Jovita Taimanao (Ind-Rota) thanked the Senate and House for their trust in the conference committee. Just like Basa, she thanked her fellow conferees, the legal counsels and the legislative staffers for working together on a compromise budget.

She said she and Basa agreed that for the 2013 budget, the House Ways and Means Committee will immediately work on the spending measure as soon as the governor submits it on April 1.

Taimanao, during the Senate session, said the Senate was pushed against a wall, given the limited time it had to go over the details of the budget bill.

Rep. Sylvester Iguel (Cov-Saipan), a conferee, said the budget bill “may not be perfect, but it’s a budget that we can work with.”

Another conferee, Rep. Fred Deleon Guerrero (Ind-Saipan), said he’s happy that the compromise budget bill is passed.

“I hope that the governor signs it as soon as he gets it, since he worked side by side with us on the budget,” he told Saipan Tribune.

He was referring to acting governor Eloy S. Inos, who attended some of the meeting of the conference committee.

Rep. Rafael Demapan (Cov-Saipan) said while he’s glad that the budget bill is now on its way to the governor, he is still worried about the 16-hour cuts.

“We should continue to work on restoring the normal 80 hours every two weeks. I will continue to find ways to generate additional revenue so we can restore normal work hours for our employees,” he said after the Senate passed the budget.

Besides Basa, Taimanao, Deleon Guerrero, Demapan, and Iguel, the other conferees were Senate Vice President Jude Hofschneider (R-Tinian), Senate floor leader Pete Reyes (R-Saipan), and Rep. Ralph Torres (R-Saipan).

At the House session, members—except for Tenorio—took turns commending the eight-member conference committee for working together to come up with a compromise budget bill that they hope the governor will sign soon. Senators did the same.

Commonwealth Election Commission executive director Robert Guerrero said his agency’s budget was almost restored to its 2011 level. Lawmakers gave the commission $265,866.

Guerrero said this is because the 2012 election needs to be funded partly in the fiscal years 2012 and 2013 budgets.

Joeten-Kiyu Public Library John Oliver Gonzales thanked the Legislature for increasing the library’s budget, compared to the House’s earlier proposal. The library’s funding is now $217,299.

“Our budget is restored to the level of five years ago. We supported our request with data. Everything’s data-driven,” he said in an interview in the Senate chamber last night.

The House and Senate approved a $30 million funding for PSS, and $5.2 million for NMC so both could meet their federal maintenance-of-efforts requirements.

The approved compromise bill also gives the 29 lawmakers an annual allocation of $78,000, the same amount they’re currently receiving. However, this amount could still be subjected to cuts down the road.

The Senate earlier zeroed out this account, along with the Senate and House leadership accounts but the conference committee restored the funding.

The Executive Branch’s funding is down to $28.33 million, from over $29 million in the House and Senate versions of the budget bill.

Under the budget bill, not less than $500,000 collected from the $150 CNMI education funding fee under U.S. Public Law 110-229, will go to NMC. This is paid by employers for every foreign worker hired.

The Legislature gave the Marianas Visitors Authority $2.175 million, but agreed that House Bill 17-179, which sits in the Senate, should be passed to give additional funding to MVA.

Last night, senators held off action on the tourism bill for further review.

This bill seeks to charge passengers from non-U.S. destinations a new $15 “travel promotion fee” and provide tourism incentive to those bringing in additional tourists to the CNMI from Asian destinations.

Under the budget bill, $10 million is set aside for the government’s employer contribution to the NMI Retirement Fund.

The Executive Branch’s budget is $28.330 million, while the Legislature, $5.448 million. The Judiciary’s budget remains at $4 million.

Rota and Tinian’s budget is over $4.544 million each, while Saipan and the Northern Islands’ budget total over $1.439 million.

Lawmakers also approved $10,000 for judgments, reduced to $12,000 the funding for the Micronesian Legal Services, increased the funding for Medical Referral to over $2.321 million, and provided a $77,162 funding for substance abuse prevention.

They increased by three the number of personnel allowed for government corporations, including an increase of two for the NMI Retirement Fund and one for the Public Utilities Commission.

House floor leader George Camacho (Ind-Saipan) said the conference committee “put a self-imposed deadline and worked diligently. And it shows in the report they produced.”

Senate President Paul Manglona (Ind-Rota) and other senators were listening in on the House session in the president’s conference room, while House Speaker Eli Cabrera (R-Saipan) and other House members were in the Senate gallery during the Senate session.