‘Irresponsible’ bills slammed

Two freshman lawmakers decried yesterday appropriation bills passed by the Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation.

Rep. Edward Salas expressed disappointment that the delegation decided to take money out of a critical drainage project to pay land compensation to certain individuals.

“Not to say that these landowners are not entitled to remittances, but the government needs to set its priorities, and currently does not have the means to compensate land owners,” Salas said.

Rep. Tina Sablan took issue with the lack of review before the bills were passed. She pushed for the bills to be sent to committee for review, but her request was not heard.

The first bill re-appropriates over half a million dollars from the Kannat Tabla road and drainage project to various purposes. About $200,000 will be used to compensate unnamed landowners in Kannat Tabla whose properties had been taken by government. Another $250,000 will be paid to Jose Camacho, a land compensation claimant who had won a civil suit against the government. The balance will be divided among the JROTC Army ball ($8,000), the Oceania Championship Games ($30,000), and the Saipan Fishermen’s Association ($10,000).

Further, the bill will re-appropriate $65,000 of Saipan poker fees, with $50,000 going to the Junior Statesman program and $15,000 going to the Saipan Little League.

The Saipan delegation, by a vote of 14-5, passed the bill on Monday. Those who voted against the bill are Sen. Maria T. Pangelinan and Reps. Stanley Torres, Joseph Reyes, Sablan, and Salas. Rep. Ray Yumul did not vote, and Rep. Rosemond Santos was absent.

The other bill seeks to take $90,000 from utility projects to pay landowner Jose Camacho. This re-appropriation will bring to about $340,000 the compensation to be paid to Camacho.

It passed by a 16-4 vote with Pangelinan, Reyes, Sablan, and Salas voting against the bill.

Sablan said the appropriations were “grossly irresponsible.” She said the Department of Public Works was ready to proceed with the project, but with the money gone, it is unclear when the longstanding drainage problem in Kannat Tabla can be addressed.

There was comment on the floor that part of the money taken from the CUC projects was to be used as matching funds for federal grants. The Saipan delegation re-appropriated the money without documentation to support that the measure would not jeopardize the projects.

That is why, Sablan said, it was important to have referred the bills to committee, where the implications could have been reviewed thoroughly.

For his part, Salas protested what he described as the “sly” manner that the Kannat Tabla re-appropriation was passed. House Local Bill 16-1 originally proposed to re-appropriate just $38,000 of lapsed poker fees for school supplies. When it was found out that the $38,000 had already been earmarked for some other program, a substitute version was introduced on the floor. The substitute bill contained the Kannat Tabla re-appropriation.

“What started as a $38,000 re-appropriation for the schools turned into a bill re-appropriating over a half million dollars,” Salas said.

He also noted that the money for the drainage and road repair at Kannat Tabla was already insufficient, and his fellow representative from Precinct 5, Rep. Rosemond Santos, had been working to come up with additional money and get the $1.4-million project underway.