Senate OKs budget revision, with changes

The Senate unanimously adopted yesterday morning the Senate Fiscal Affairs Committee’s proposed changes in the House of Representatives’ bill that would revise the budget law for the CNMI government’s operations for fiscal year 2023.

With all nine senators voting “yes” during a special session, House Bill 23-31, House Substitute 1, Senate Substitute 1, as amended, passed the Senate. The bill back to the House for adoption of the new changes bill.

Senate Fiscal Affairs Committee chair Sen. Donald M. Manglona (Ind-Rota) offered a last-minute change to the bill to add two unfunded full-time employees to the Department of Commerce. The senators adopted the amendment and passed the legislation.

Manglona later explained that the major changes in the bill pertained to the reallocation of funds. He pointed out that some of the funds in the House’s version of the bill projected revenues beginning May 1, 2023.

However, after Gov. Arnold I. Palacios announced that the work hours of all civil service employees will be reduced starting April 24, 2023, Manglona said the Senate Fiscal Affairs Committee took the allocation of those hours between March 1 and April 15 and reallocated that.

Manglona said they also addressed Rota and Tinian’s law enforcement personnel to make sure they are 100% funded—just like Saipan law enforcement personnel.

Additionally, he said, they also used gave funds to the Substance Abuse Prevention Program and provided an additional $200,000 to Medical Referral, in addition to the $1 million that was identified by the administration.

“Additionally we provided funding to the operations of the Executive Branch as well as two municipalities for the two districts,” Manglona said.

Last March 17, the House unanimously passed House Bill 23-31, House Substitute 1, to repeal and re-enact the budget law for fiscal year 2023 (Public Law 22-22). House Ways and Means Committee chair Rep. Ralph N. Yumul (Ind-Saipan) is the author of the bill.

Palacios earlier asked the Legislature to revise the fiscal year 2023 budget, noting that just after the first quarter of fiscal year 2023, a large portion of the funds from the American Rescue Plan Act that were available for appropriation in fiscal year 2023 have already been expended and are no longer available for the rest of fiscal year 2023.