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Lawmaker moves vs excessive per diem
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Posted on Sep 01 2005
A lawmaker proposes to peg the per diem of all members of government boards, councils, and commissions in the CNMI at $100 each for attendance in a whole-day meeting and $50 for a half-day meeting.
Authored by minority leader Arnold I. Palacios, the proposed measure said it would solve the “excessive compensation rates” of board members and commissioners, as cited by the Office of Public Auditor in a recent report.
Some boards were found to be giving their members a high of $300 each per meeting, as in the case of the Marianas Public Lands Authority, and $500 each for Marianas Public Lands Trust board members.
Most boards and commissions pay their members $30 to $60 per meeting.
“I think $100 is a fair enough compromise to everybody,” said Palacios.
The bill, however, carries a provision that “compensation shall not exceed a maximum of $10,000 per year.”
Palacios’ proposal also said that compensation for meetings shall be limited to those meetings that are open and public, as required by the Open Government Act.
It says that a member shall not be compensated for attendance at a meeting “unless the minutes of that meeting have been transcribed and adopted.”
It also prohibits the use of official representation allowance between members and employees or other government agencies.
Further, it authorizes no member to use a government credit card “for any reason whatsoever.”
The proposal said that “extraordinary” expenses of members shall be limited “to those meetings open and public…and for which notice has been published.”
The proposal aims to repeal 1 CMC section 2801 relating to MPLA to remove the $300 a day per diem when attending off-island board meetings “within the NMI senatorial district” and $150 per day “in his or her own senatorial district.”
It says that meetings outside the Commonwealth, informal or non-committee meetings, teleconferences, and video conferences “do not constitute attendance for purposes of board meetings.”
It says that all meetings shall be scheduled and publicly announced ahead of time.
