SNILD passes local bill that re-appropriates $300K
The Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation passed on Wednesday a local bill that will re-appropriate $300,000 to pay for outstanding medical referral obligations, for road anti-skid resurfacing, and for a ponding basin.
Seventeen SNILD members voted “yes” and only Rep. Roy Christopher A. Ada (R-Saipan) voted “no” to a motion to pass House Local Bill 23-36, Draft 1.
During the discussions on the bill, Ada said the Northern Marianas Housing Corp. had opposed this legislation because it takes away money that was initially allocated to help families seeking affordable housing solutions.
“For that reason, I will not be supporting this,” he said.
Ada was referring to NMHC corporate director Jesse S. Palacios’ written comments on House Bill 23-36, in which Palacios stated that the money being considered for re-appropriation involves the $300,000 seed money that was initially intended to be allocated to NMHC for its rental and/or home loan programs. Palacios had pointed out that this money is a “unique opportunity” for the CNMI to provide decent, safe, and sanitary housing and could potentially make a substantial difference for families aspiring to become first-time homeowners or for existing homeowners in need of critical home repairs to make their homes typhoon-proof.
HLB 23-36, introduced by Rep. Angelo Atalig Camacho (Ind-Saipan), aims to divert the use of money allocated in Saipan Local Law 21-13 to pay for outstanding medical referral obligations and fund road and drainage upgrades in Kagman.
Under House Local Bill 23-36, of the $300,000, $60,000 will be used to pay for outstanding medical referral obligations owed the Saipan Employment Agency & Services Inc. The remaining $240,000 will be used for road anti-skid resurfacing on Chaha Road in Kagman 1 and for a ponding basin in Kagman 3.
Rep. Blas Jonathan T. Attao (Ind-Saipan) said it was the 21st Legislature that appropriated $300,000 to assist families with home damage from Super Typhoon Yutu. Attao said many on Saipan couldn’t qualify for a Small Business Administration loan and couldn’t get assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency so the Legislature allocated the money to NMHC so they can address the needs of people that couldn’t qualify for these benefits.
Attao said they appropriated these funds to assist and they had a meeting with NMHC regarding these monies to give them the funds so that they can provide the program for the people.
“Unfortunately, it never kicked off,” said Attao, adding that it was surprising to him to read a news article about NMHC going against the legislation that appropriated the funds to them almost four and a half years ago when people actually needed it.
He said the program never kicked off at NMHC and NMHC didn’t even try to get the administration to work on the program to provide these monies for people that needed assistance back then.
Fast forward four and a half years later and now NMHC is challenging the funds from being reprogrammed, Attao said, knowing the fact that they got over $240 million in 2020, with over $100 million of that meant to assist homeowners, first-time homeowners rebuilding homes, and refurbishing homes.
He said NMHC is now coming after the $300,000 that could have been used in 2019 and 2020 after they received over $240 million.
“So that argument is very moot,” Attao pointed out.
He said NMHC should be concentrating on moving these projects forward so these homes can be done for people rather than going back to argue about the $300,000 that’s been removed from NMHC, knowing the fact that those monies were available back in 2019 and 2020 so they can address the needs of people back then after the typhoon.
“There’s no disrespect to their position but it’s kind of funny that you’re [going to] fight for $300,000 now when you had it back then that you’re going to utilize for our people,” he said.
Camacho, who is the author of H.L.B. 23-36, said he just wants people to understand that this is a funding source that they saw fit to re-appropriate. He said they’re not simply just going to take any funding from a different entity if they felt it unsuitable.
He said this appropriation would mean a lot to the people of Precinct 5, adding that there’s been over 10 vehicular accidents on that specific road. Camacho said they’re just thankful that there hasn’t been any fatality.
He said the funding is also going toward the much-needed rehabilitation for a ponding basin located in Kagman 3, where he had the opportunity to witness firsthand the flooding in private properties.
Angelo Atalig Camacho
