{"id":210158,"date":"2015-09-10T06:00:38","date_gmt":"2015-09-09T20:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=210158"},"modified":"2015-09-10T06:00:38","modified_gmt":"2015-09-09T20:00:38","slug":"mva-senate-version-of-budget-is-unconstitutional","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/mva-senate-version-of-budget-is-unconstitutional\/","title":{"rendered":"MVA: Senate version of budget is unconstitutional"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Marianas Visitors Authority is once again being asked to sacrifice a portion of its fiscal year 2016 budget.<\/p>\n

\"Tenorio\"<\/a>
Tenorio<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In fiscal year 2015, MVA lost $1.16 million of its budget after the 18th Legislature moved it to the Public School System. At that time, MVA wasn\u2019t too happy about the budget cut.<\/p>\n

This fiscal year, the Senate is thinking of touching MVA\u2019s earmarked funds again but this time, MVA is out to defend its purse, this time with the help of the Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands.<\/p>\n

A subsection of House Bill 19-86, the Budget and Appropriations Authority Act of 2016, proposes to reallocate $530,000 that is earmarked for the MVA to fund the Division of Customs\u2019 planned purchase of x-ray machines for the airports and seaports. Another subsection proposes to allocate $2 million of MVA money to the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. for its utilities.<\/p>\n

During a House of Representative session last Aug. 25, 2015, MVA officials expressed concern with these two subsections of HB 19-86.<\/p>\n

\u201cPer the projected entitlements from the hotel occupancy and container taxes, the proposed funding level for the MVA for fiscal year 2016 is $12.16 million. With the proposed reallocation of subsection D, 2 and 3, the Legislature is proposing an operational budget of $10.07 million for the MVA for fiscal year 2016,\u201d MVA managing director Perry Tenorio said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs our approved funding for fiscal year 2015 is $12.72 million, the current version of the fiscal year 2016 budget in essence proposes to reduce MVA\u2019s operating budget by 16 percent,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He noted that from fiscal years 2011 through 2015, the CNMI travel industry has seen arrivals grow just under 44 percent. Fiscal year 2015 alone is expected to generate an estimated $1.13 billion in economic activity and $70 million in taxes to the government.<\/p>\n

Intent of Public Law 18-1<\/strong>
\nTenorio pointed out that Public Law 18-1 mandates that MVA would receive 20 percent of taxes under the container tax and 80 percent of taxes from the hotel occupancy tax.<\/p>\n

\u201cIts intent was to enhance recreational and tourism opportunities for the economic welfare of the Commonwealth. This was supported by our offshore travel industry partners as well as the members of the Hotel Association of the Northern Marianas Islands,\u201d Tenorio said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey did so knowing that it would raise the cost of travel packages to the CNMI but understood the need to invest into our tourism product and increase promotions in our key markets in order to drive this growth,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Tenorio said the Senate\u2019s version of the budget for fiscal 2016 is contrary to the intent of Public Law 18-1 \u201cand the implied promise made to our partners in China, Korea, Japan, Russia, Taiwan, and here in the CNMI, that the proceeds of Public Law 18-1 will be used to ensure the continued growth of CNMI\u2019s travel industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

MVA requested that the subsections be removed.<\/p>\n

In a Sept. 4, 2015, email to Rep. Antonio Sablan (Ind-Saipan) and Sen. Jude Hofschneider (R-Tinian), Tenorio reminded the two lawmakers of the House\u2019s decision on Aug. 25 to reject the Senate version of the budget bill, citing the illegality of overriding MVA\u2019s earmark of funds.<\/p>\n

\u201cMVA would like to reiterate this concern for its record\u2026MVA believes that the Senate\u2019s proposal violates the NMI Constitution,\u201d Tenorio said.<\/p>\n

\u201c[T]he removal or disregard of earmarking is not a matter properly to be included in an appropriation bill. \u2026If this bill disregards the earmark, it is violating 4 CMC \u00a7 1803. If it attempts to remove the earmark, it is amending the Code. Amendment of the Code is not a \u2018subject of appropriation\u2019 and cannot be accomplished through an appropriations bill,\u201d Tenorio noted in his email.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdditionally, MVA is also concerned that the use of a \u2018notwithstanding clause\u2019 to ignore provisions of the Code threatens other provisions of the Planning and Budgeting Act. If the Legislature had the authority to ignore portions of the Commonwealth Code in an appropriations bill, then virtually any law passed to control the budget process would be meaningless,\u201d he later added.<\/p>\n

HANMI backs MVA<\/strong>
\nHANMI has also come to the defense of MVA\u2019s budget, saying it is not surprised at this latest attempt to touch the earmarked funds.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are always concerned that we might forget the reasoning for the creation of this fund. Three years ago, tourism, our only real economy, was is dire straits. Our ability to promote our CNMI was limited to an underfunded MVA,\u201d HANMI president Gloria Cavanagh said. \u201cAlthough MVA was budgeted, these monies were slow to trickle in. At first, the Legislature tried collecting at the airport. When that failed they tried to collect at the hotel level by implementing the environmental tax. This also had proven impossible to enforce. Finally it was HANMI that pushed the increase of the hotel occupancy tax from 10 percent to 15 percent,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis obviously worked. Already, more than $1.6 million has been taken for PSS. Then about $3-plus million was taken by not funding the operations of MVA except for one dollar. We have to work harder in promoting the CNMI especially after the fiber optic problem in July and the destruction of the typhoon this August. Now the funds are again in danger of being transferred. I realize that the budget process cannot transfer earmarked funds but it will just take an amendment to PL 18-1 for yet another transfer to happen. I am not sure, though, how the $1.6 million was done without amendment to the law,\u201d Cavanagh said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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