Legislature gets power back on

Power was back on at the Legislature on Capital Hill late Friday afternoon and operations returned to normal yesterday.

A staff said most of the offices conducted their own “general cleaning” activities.

The legislative building houses the offices of members of the House of Representatives and the Senate.

The building was out of power for three weeks, while the Governor’s Office—where the Executive branch of the CNMI government is housed—was using a generator.

Early Monday, it was “back to business” for lawmakers, according to Rep. Antonio P. Sablan (Ind-Saipan).

One major inconvenience of having no power, Sablan said, is that constituents had to go to different locations to air their concerns to lawmakers.

“We were even supposed to relocate, but it is a good thing that power was restored Friday,” he said, adding that lawmakers had to use the Superior Court in Susupe to hold a session and meetings.

He clarified that it was Chief Justice Alexandro C. Castro who invited lawmakers to use one of the courtrooms for free.

Earlier, House Speaker Joseph P. Deleon Guerrero (Ind-Saipan) said he requested the Federal Emergency Management Agency and then acting governor Ralph DLG. Torres to have a generator installed at the Legislature.

“I made a verbal request to the FEMA and to the acting governor. I believe all requests must be made by governor to the FEMA,” he said.

Budget meeting

Sablan, meanwhile, said the members of the conference committee for both the House and Senate are set to hold their first meeting this Thursday, Sept. 3.

The committee will tackle and review the proposed government budget for fiscal year 2016.

The House of Representatives and Senate both agreed on the draft $145-million budget, but each presented radically different appropriations for certain CNMI government agencies.

One major difference is $5.6 million that the Senate “moved around” so that more can be given to law enforcement agencies, particularly the Department of Public Safety.

The House eventually rejected the Senate version of the budget.

Reps. Sablan, Felicidad Ogomuro (R-Saipan), and Angel Demapan (R-Saipan) are the House’s conference committee members.

Their counterparts in the Senate are Sens. Justo Quitugua (Ind-Saipan), Frank Cruz (R-Tinian), and Jude Hofschneider (R-Tinian), who chairs the Senate Committee on Fiscal Affairs that conducted the budget review for the Senate.

As with previous legislatures, the conference committee will seek to hammer out a compromise budget.

The budget that will be approved will then be sent to both the House and the Senate before being transmitted to Gov. Eloy S. Inos for signing.

“The top concern, I believe, will be the earmarked funds and how to allocate them,” Sablan said, explaining that this earmarked funds are “outside” the $145-million proposed budget.

He said the conference committee might take several meetings before a budget can be agreed upon.

“But we want to give the governor a few weeks to review the budget,” Sablan said.

As mandated by the CNMI Constitution, the government should have a budget by the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, or risk having to shut down operations.