An appropriation bill that would allocate funds to pay what the CNMI government owes the Settlement Fund passed the Senate with amendments last week, sending the measure back to the House. <\/p>\n
House Bill 20-116 SD2 was sent back to the House since a previous bill with the similar intent to appropriate funds for amounts the Commonwealth government owes the Settlement Fund had been recalled.<\/p>\n
The intent of HB 20-116 is to address the Commonwealth government\u2019s balance with the Settlement Fund amounting to $7.1 million that remains unpaid. The $7.1 million is the combined difference in the minimum annual payment of $25 million and $27 million from 17 percent of the total annual revenue for fiscal years 2014 and 2015, respectively. <\/p>\n
During discussions on HB 20-116, Sen. Paul Manglo\u00f1a (Ind-Rota) questioned the legislation\u2019s failure to specify a source of funds, plunging the Senate body into a 40-minute recess discussing the technicality of the legislation with House legal counsels John Cool and Joe Taijeron. Sen. Sixto Igisomar (R-Saipan) also brought up some concerns with the bill.<\/p>\n
Following the recess, the Senate unanimously adopted Sen. Francisco Borja\u2019s (R-Tinian) floor amendment that specifies the source of funding.<\/p>\n
This is the second appropriation bill where the Senate pointed out that the bill failed to specify a source of funds.<\/p>\n
The Senate had also questioned the failure of HB 20-108 to specify a source of funds. The administration of Gov. Ralph DLG Torres had issued a statement, saying that the bill would be revisited due to \u201ctechnical concerns.\u201d HB 20-108 had sought to appropriate $1.4 million to address the remaining 330 employees who had their wages frozen at Step 12.<\/p>\n
Rep. Angel Demapan (R-Saipan), author of both bills, told reporters that the source of funding is the casino-generated business gross revenue tax. According to the Senate, this information was not included in the language of both bills.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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