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Separate account for casino earnings pushed
The Senate has offered its own version of a House bill that intends to open a separate account for casino gross revenue tax that would set it apart from the general fund.
Rep. Angel Demapan (R-Saipan)’s House Bill 20-99 passed the House in late July 2017. The Senate is currently in possession of the bill but a substitute was introduced at a session last week.
The Senate version now seeks to re-appropriate the annual casino license fee of $15 million. Both Rota and Tinian would receive $2 million each while the remaining $9.5 million goes to Saipan.
The remaining $1.5 million would be appropriated to the Saipan High Education Financial Assistance program.
The Senate substitute still separates casino-generated gross revenue tax from the general funds but the first $22 million would be designated to cover the payment of 25 percent of full benefits and bonuses of retirees from Saipan, Tinian, and Rota.
The bill also calls for the Finance secretary to establish and maintain a “Commonwealth Casino Application Fee Special Fund.” This fund is proposed to consist of the nonrefundable license applications.
After the $22 million is set aside, the remaining casino-generated gross revenue tax would be appropriated to the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp., the Medical Referral Program, the Public School System, and the payment of land compensation judgments. The bill adds both the Northern Marianas College and the Northern Marianas Trades Institute as recipients of the fund.
HB 20-99 SS1 also renames the levelized energy adjustment clause, or LEAC, into the fuel adjustment charge, or FAC. The bill seeks to create the FAC rate subsidy account, and is also subject to receive funds from casino-generated gross revenue tax.
Lastly, the bill seeks to set aside $7.5 million of casino-generated gross revenue taxes for fiscal years 2017 and 2018 to a special subaccount for use in 2018 to start the appropriation of the $2 million for Tinian and Rota, the $9.5 million for Saipan, and the $1.5 million for SHEFA.
To keep up with all the appropriations mentioned, the Finance secretary is required to report to the Legislature how the $2 million set for Tinian and Rota is spent.
