Leepan wants provisions to require govt to pay on time
Rep. Joseph Leepan Guerrero (Ind-Saipan) wants to require the Commonwealth government and its agencies to pay their contractual obligations on time.
He has introduced House Bill 19-192, which would establish provisions to get government to pay on a timely manner.
The bill’s findings cite the “unjustified delays” in prompt compensation that discourages firms and organizations from doing businesses with the Commonwealth government and agencies.
Among other provisions, the bill states, “each Commonwealth agency which is required to make a payment from Commonwealth funds according to a contract and which does not make such a contract payment by the required payment date shall be liable for payment to the contractor.”
It is also states that unless otherwise agreed by the contract, the required payment date shall be 30 calendar days, excluding legal holidays, or 90 calendar days in the case of final payments on highway construction contracts, excluding legal holidays.
But the bill details exemptions for this requirement like insufficient cash balance of the fund or sub-fund from which payment is to be made, if goods or services have not been delivered, and if an invoice must be examined by the federal government prior to payment, among others.
“Consistent with accepted business practices and with sound principles of fiscal management, it is the intent of this legislation to encourage Commonwealth agencies in all three branches of Commonwealth Government to make payments expeditiously as they currently do and to further reduce existing payment processing times whenever feasible,” the bill states.
The bill also at the same time intends to permit agencies to “perform proper and reasonable financial oversight activities designed to ensure that the Commonwealth government receives the quality of goods and services to which it is entitled and to ensure that public funds are spent in a prudent and responsible manner.”
The NMI is flooded not from too much rain recently. but, from so many superfluous numbers of legislation and resolution emerging both Houses of the Legislachi. A great many are pure recycles if not repetitious and full of redundancies at best. You know what, the best way to resolve this major malaise, there is a real need to establish a minimum basic requirement in reading for meaning comprehension, English writing ability, education level attained, and some degree of common sense. Also, a significant reduction of the $90,000/year considered income across the 27 legislative members to yield fairness and parity versus amount of work performance.
It is so ludicrous to enact a law telling the government to pay its obligation. What is this, an April fools stunt or something? Is this government so corrupt that the legislature has to pass a Bill obligating them to pay its debt/s? Can you imagine if majority of CUC customers disregard from paying their monthly bills for several months or bank borrowers not paying their loans? Doesn’t it say a lot about the true character of the people running it?