Previous Story
Unlimited reprogramming power sought for Fitial
|
Posted on Jan 18 2006
The House of Representatives passed in a unanimous vote yesterday a bill that would give Gov. Benigno R. Fitial almost unlimited reprogramming authority.
House Bill 15-33, introduced by Fitial’s allies in the Lower House, seeks to authorize the governor reprogramming authority prior to the enactment of a comprehensive budget law for fiscal year 2006.
Of the 39 bills introduced at yesterday’s session, H.B. 15-33 was the only bill that the House acted on.
The bill now goes to the 15th Senate, which will have its first regular session today.
“The Legislature finds that it is financially imperative that the new administration be authorized reprogramming authority over and beyond the provisions of 1 CMC 7402 in order to avoid fiscal crisis and deficit spending. The purpose of this act is to assist the new administration with prioritizing needs until a comprehensive budget for FY2006 is enacted,” a portion of H.B. 15-33 read.
The bill would give the governor unlimited authority to reprogram funds for FY 2006 that are available under Public Law 13-24, the last enacted budget law.
According to the bill, the governor’s reprogramming authority would cover funds available to all public corporations, agencies, and entities of the CNMI government.
The only condition would be that the funds should not be restricted from reprogramming by federal law, federal grant conditions, CNMI constitutional prohibitions, and deposit and other security restrictions related to bond covenants and the financing of public projects.
The governor also could not touch trust funds invested by the Marianas Public Land Trust and the NMI Retirement Fund, and all funds appropriated under all local laws.
Furthermore, the governor would not be allowed to reprogram funds of the legislative branch, judicial branch, Washington Representative’s Office, mayors, or municipal councils.
