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Minority: Prioritize CHCC, schools
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Posted on Jun 24 2019
The minority bloc recommended a number of priorities as the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee wrapped up work on the fiscal year 2020 budget bill.
It has been reported that that the committee already has a final budget product for presentation to the House.
Rep. Tina Sablan (Ind-Saipan), one of two minority members on the committee, said the Commonwealth Health Care Corp. and the Public School System are two critical agencies that need continuous funding. She added that CHCC remains underfunded and the judicial branch also needs to remain open and functioning.
Sablan said that they asked committee chair Rep. Ivan A. Blanco (R-Saipan) and the committee to include funding and language of having a feasibility study for CHCC. “The feasibility study is to look at the options that the Legislature might consider for expanding access to healthcare coverage.”
“Because, it is no secret that CHCC has talked about this for quite a long time…[that] there’s a significant percentage of our population—40 percent of our adults—who have no coverage at all.”
Sablan said this needs a solution. “If they are low income or they can’t afford to pay, then ultimately it is the taxpayers and CHCC that absorbs the costs. So, we think that it is time to start thinking ahead. Thinking long-term and really study our options; see what’s feasible. We can’t continue with this status quo forever.”
PSS is another critical area that needs significant funding, according to Sablan. “We need to make sure our school—PSS and the Northern Marianas College—are prioritized in this budget.”
“Both were heavily impacted by Super Typhon Yutu and both are delivering critical services. They have submitted some bottom line figures that we wanted to make sure do get included in the budget.”
She said the minority also suggested that the salary increases of the governor, lieutenant governor, Cabinet members, and municipal mayors—which recently got pay raises—be rolled back.
