House paves way for payment of judgments without appropriations

After a lengthy discussion, the House of Representatives passed by an overwhelming vote of 19-1 late Friday afternoon a bill that would allow the government to satisfy judgments without an appropriation at a time when “outstanding and unpaid judgments and settlements” have reached more than $27 million.

In short, the judgments shall be paid “from any available funds with or without appropriation” from the Legislature.

But House Speaker Joseph Deleon Guerrero (Ind-Saipan), the only one who voted “no” to the bill, is concerned that this gives a “blank check” by allowing the court to enforce judgments without legislative appropriation so long as it does not exceed 15 percent of funds appropriated to the Executive Branch for a respective fiscal year.

If applied liberally, the bill “can hurt or jeopardize the delivery of essential public services,” he said.

“It could be very subjective. At least with the prior process, it was looked at on a case-by-case basis, and laws were made. This way, it kind of relieved the Legislature of that authority and say, ‘you Executive Branch, it’s really up to you where you get the money from, and if it could mean taking money from anywhere, PSS [Public School System] or medical referral or whatever, and we’re saying okay to that,” the speaker told Saipan Tribune.

Deleon Guerrero pointed out that he supports compensating landowners, for example, for lands taken by the government for public purpose, and has even introduced legislation to address the issue of land compensation.

“But we have to be mindful of how we do it. I think that’s the part I don’t agree with here, the ‘how,’” he added.

Rep. Ray Tebuteb (Ind-Saipan) and vice speaker Frank Dela Cruz (Ind-Saipan) offered floor amendments to Tebuteb’s House Bill 18-143 and both amendments were adopted.

House Bill 18-143, House Draft 1 passed at 4:38pm during a session that started at past 9am. The bill now goes to the Senate.

Dela Cruz’s amendment adds a subsection that says, “Subject to a cap of 15 percent of the funds duly identified and appropriated to the Executive Branch for a respective fiscal year, all payments made to satisfy judgments under this provision shall be made in the order in which the judgments became due and payable as determined from the date of the ‘final judgment.’ If necessary, payments shall be made proportionately in accordance with funding availability. All payments shall be reported to the presiding officers of the Legislature on a quarterly basis each fiscal year.”

This comes at a time when lawmakers have been pushing for a fair distribution or payment of land compensations when funding becomes available, to avoid previous practices of paying a few families from $100,000 to $4.4 million each while over 300 other landowners have yet to receive a penny in exchange for their private property used by the government for public access roads, wetlands, or ponding basin.

The Office of the Attorney General told the Legislature last year that the government’s outstanding and unpaid judgments and settlements is now at more than $27 million, excluding accruing interests.

Under current law, the government is restricted from making settlement of claims and payment of judgments because a legislative appropriation is necessary for such payments.

Although the law allows the governor to waive the requirement of a legislative appropriation, the governor “does not appear to be willing to make such a waiver,” Tebuteb said.

“Judgments sit for years without the governor making a waiver or requesting an appropriation. Since the government is shielded from the judicial enforcement of judgments, the government has become irresponsible and neglectful in addressing its obligations,” he added.

At 4:41pm on Friday, the House also passed a Senate-amended House bill amending the Commonwealth Insurance Act of 1983 to provide for a premium rate review process. Rep. Edmund Villagomez’s (Cov-Saipan) House Bill 18-159, Senate Draft 1 now goes to the governor for action.