Gov. Ralph DLG Torres only has nine days to review the $258.1-million fiscal year 2019 budget when it reaches his desk, with both the House and Senate passing the budget in emergency sessions last Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The back-to-back legislative sessions came after almost four days of marathon meetings by a joint House and Senate conference committee that worked from last Friday and through the weekend to come up with a compromise version late\u00a0Monday\u00a0afternoon.<\/p>\n
A few hours after the House and Senate passed the House Bill 20-173 or the CNMI Appropriations and Budget Authority Act of 2019, the bill was transmitted to the Governor\u2019s Office. Last fiscal year\u2019s budget amounted to $236.7 million. Next fiscal year\u2019s budget\u2014at $258.1 million\u2014shows a $21.4-million increase.<\/p>\n
Torres has until\u00a0Sept. 30\u00a0to review and enact the bill before the start of fiscal year 2019 on\u00a0Oct. 1, to prevent a government shutdown.<\/p>\n
The CNMI 2019 budget again went into a conference committee after the House, voting 16-1, rejected the Senate version of the bill in last week\u2019s session.<\/p>\n
The conference committee was composed of House Ways and Means Committee chair Angel A. Demapan (R-Saipan), Vice Speaker Janet U. Maratita (R-Saipan), Rep. BJ Attao (Ind-Saipan), and alternate Rep. John Paul Sablan (R-Saipan) and Senate Fiscal Affairs Committee chair Jude U. Hofschneider (R-Tinian), Senate Vice President Steve K. Mesngon (R-Rota), Sen. Sixto K. Igisomar (R-Saipan), and alternate Sen. Justo S. Quitugua (Ind-Saipan).<\/p>\n
Demapan, who introduced the bill, said the budget is a result of four days of meetings by the conference committee and both panels finally met halfway at around\u00a05pm\u00a0on Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we have before us is [a bill] which we believe represents a compromise budget package that seeks the best needs of the Commonwealth by assuring all services and programs are adequately funded,\u201d said Demapan.<\/p>\n
Hofschneider added: \u201cWe [conference committee] feel that this product is palatable for us. It is a compromise bill that we can finally hand it over to the governor for review and signature.\u201d<\/p>\n
All 19 House members present voted to pass the final budget measure while the eight senators in the Senate chamber duplicated the feat a few minutes after their colleagues acted on the bill.<\/p>\n
Rep. Jose I. Itibus (R-Saipan) and Senate vice president Steve K. Mesngon (R-Rota) were excused.<\/p>\n
Key highlights<\/strong><\/p>\n The key highlights of the budget saw significant increases for the Public School System, the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp., the Northern Marianas College, the Medicaid Reimbursement program, and for the municipalities of Tinian and Rota.<\/p>\n PSS is allocated $43.2 million from the general fund for the coming fiscal year\u2014an increase of $6.8 million from last year\u2019s budget. PSS is also going to receive an additional $3.2 million from earmarks and outside sources, for a total of 46.4 million.<\/p>\n CHCC will have $9.1 million, with $4.9 million coming from earmarks and outside sources, while $4.2 million will come from the general fund. Last fiscal year, CHCC just got $708,000. Included in CHCC\u2019s budget allocation is $2 million for uncompensated care.<\/p>\n A total of $5.9 million is appropriated for NMC, of which $5.3 million comes from the general fund and over $540,000 from earmarks and outside sources. NMC\u2019s budget from the general fund increased by over $600,000 compared to the $4.7 million it got from the previous fiscal year.<\/p>\n Medicaid Reimbursement went up by $700,000, for a total of $5.2 million, compared to the $4.5 million it received in 2018.<\/p>\n Tinian\u2019s allocation increased by $1.3 million\u2014from $8.4 million to $9.7 million\u2014while Rota will be receiving $9.5 million, an increase of $1.4 million from fiscal year 2018.<\/p>\n Comments<\/strong><\/p>\n Although there were some provisions that were deleted in the conference committee\u2019s report, there were also significant increases, said Sen. Teresita A. Santos (R-Rota)\u2014\u201can\u00a0increase in some areas such as CHCC, PSS, NMC, etc., which we all agreed are critical areas of concern.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe [budget] also maintains status quo on the budget for Rota with the deletion of the two customs [full-time employees] in reference to the transfer of the 25 FTEs of Rota\u2019s municipal employees.\u201d<\/p>\n She is hopeful the provision won\u2019t be part of a possible line item veto by governor Torres. \u201cOtherwise, the Rota [Legislative] Delegation will have to continue to fund these FTEs from local revenues, which may be fiscally difficult as Rota continues with its ongoing typhoon recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt is also our hope that the governor expedites a review and sign into law the budget bill to avert a government shutdown and so our government offices can commence processing personnel actions and\/or contracts.\u201d<\/p>\n Quitugua hopes the Senate would allocate more funds to PSS in a supplemental budget that is expected to be pieced together in the coming weeks. \u201cWe\u2019re not at all satisfied with what we proposed in the Senate. However, it needs\u2026compromise because of the thought of not shutting down the government.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI would like to suggest to the Senate members, if there\u2019s a supplemental budget for 2019, that we remember PSS because $42 million allocated from the general fund will not be adequate to carry them through fiscal year 2019.\u201d<\/p>\n He said that some classrooms in four schools were recently issued condemnation letters by the Department of Public Works. \u201c[These] classrooms and facilities cannot be occupied for safety reasons. I would like to remind my fellow senators: If there\u2019s available supplemental budget, remember PSS.<\/p>\n Sen. Paul A. Manglona (R-Rota) said he is pleased that for the first time there\u2019s funding allocated for inter-island medical referral stipends. \u201cAs you know, medical referral is under the Governor\u2019s Office for off-island\u2014outside the CNMI.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut this funding is for inter-island\u2014within the CNMI. Last year, this was funded locally, now it is the CNMI government\u2019s obligation and it is good to see it in the budget. We\u2019re almost getting there in addressing PSS and CHCC.\u201d<\/p>\n Igisomar said they cut a lot of departments from the original Senate version of the budget bill because they thought of the CNMI\u2019s needs over wants.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were able to meet halfway and put back some of the areas of concern, particularly for PSS and CHCC. Although there may be a slight increase on the general fund appropriations, as mentioned by [Hofschneider], we have lots of funds in the millions locked in earmarks that we were able to maintain in our provisions for the hospital and PSS,\u201d said Igisomar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Gov. 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