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$24M bill prioritizes PSS, CHCC, land compensation payments
A bill that provides supplemental funds to key agencies in the CNMI was filed yesterday during the House of Representatives’ session on Capital Hill, with much of the over $24 million collected from the Saipan casino going to the Public School System and the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp.
Rep. Angel A. Demapan (R-Saipan) filed yesterday a still unnumbered bill that seeks to allocate over $24 million to key agencies in the CNMI.
The actual casino-licensee gross revenue tax, or CGRT, collection totals $38.5 million. However, only $16.5 million would be used for actual allocations since Public Law 20-10 sets aside $22 million of the CGRT in order to address the CNMI government’s obligations to retiree pensions. An additional $7 million will come from leftovers of previous appropriations that were not appropriated, according to Demapan.
He said that 50 percent of over $24 million would be allocated to PSS, which he said in a previous statement is entitled to 25 percent of “general funds” due to a constitutional mandate.
In an interview yesterday, Demapan said at least $12 million goes to PSS while about $3.25 million would be allocated to the CHCC. He said PSS, CHCC, and CNMI land compensation debts gained priority in the appropriation but other programs were funded as well.
According to Demapan, CNMI land compensation debts would amount to about $3 million.
“We owe PSS from those two legislations (P.L. 20-04, which addressed major land compensation debts of the CNMI, and P.L. 20-16, which addressed the salaries of employees previously stuck at Step 12 during the financial austerity measures in the early 2000s), so the House Ways and Means Committee made sure that we paid that in the next round of supplemental budget [appropriation],” he said. Demapan chairs the committee.
House Speaker Rafael Demapan (R-Saipan) yesterday referred the bill to the Ways and Means Committee and asked the committee towork on the bill before the holidays.
