{"id":285351,"date":"2018-09-26T06:00:38","date_gmt":"2018-09-25T20:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=285351"},"modified":"2018-09-26T06:00:38","modified_gmt":"2018-09-25T20:00:38","slug":"house-oks-11-5-million-supplemental-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/house-oks-11-5-million-supplemental-budget\/","title":{"rendered":"House OKs $11.5-million supplemental budget"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Demapan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

[embedyt] https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=XOP1Otm8k2k&width=500&height=350[\/embedyt]<\/p>\n

The House of Representatives yesterday unanimously passed a supplemental budget that allocates $11.5 million to the CNMI Settlement Fund and $3.5 million for the CNMI State Public School System.<\/p>\n

House Bill 2-187 HD2, which now goes to the Senate for further action, appropriates a total of $20,884,522. The money comes from the Special Casino Gross Revenue Tax Account. The funds are for the ongoing fiscal year that is about to end on\u00a0Sunday, Sept. 30.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe needed to act fast so that the Settlement Fund, PSS, and Northern Marianas College could fulfill their obligations,\u201d said Rep. Angel A. Demapan (R-House), who introduced the bill. \u201cThe funds [allocated] are for expenses they incurred for the end of the month, because [SCGRT] is not elapsing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey [agencies] can actually fulfill their obligations. Because of the urgency, we\u2019re also hopeful the Senate can also act on it quickly. They [Senate] are aware that this bill is forthcoming.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gov. Ralph DLG Torres advised the Legislature\u2014House and Senate\u2014last week, identifying the funds that are available for appropriation. This was the second supplemental appropriations bill after Public Law 20-42 early this year.<\/p>\n

All 18 members present voted \u201cyea\u201d while vice speaker Janet U. Maratita (R-Saipan) and Rep. Joe I. Itibus (R-Saipan) were excused in yesterday\u2019s session at the House chamber on Capital Hill.<\/p>\n

Demapan said $11,534,522 would go the Settlement Fund. \u201cThe [amount] is overdue payments by the Commonwealth government for fiscal year 2016.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs you know, the Settlement Fund agreement has a provision that whenever the revenues in a certain fiscal year go above the projection, 17 percent of the difference goes to the Settlement Fund. The $11 million is to pay for the 17 percent difference from fiscal year 2016,\u201d added Demapan.<\/p>\n

A total of $3.5 million is intended for the CNMI retiree bonuses and will be equally distributed to all members of the Settlement Class and CNMI Retirement Fund that are receiving an annuity.<\/p>\n

H.B. 20-187 also allocates $3.7 million for PSS, with $1.7 million allocated for their Group Health and Life Insurance program while $446,798 is intended for their operating expenses and repairs.<\/p>\n

Rep. Edwin P. Aldan (R-Tinian), the House Education Committee chair, entered a floor amendment to increase from $40,000 to $60,0000 the amount allocated for the construction of the Tinian Elementary School amphitheater. The amount remains part of the $446,798.<\/p>\n

House floor leader Rep. Glenn P. Maratita (R-Rota) also included the purchase of 41 air-conditioning units and one riding mower for the Dr. Rita H. Inos Junior\/Senior High School from the same money intended for operational and repair expenses.<\/p>\n

Others included in PSS\u2019 $3.7- million allocation is $700,000 for the Special Education Program, $400,000 for utilities, $200,000 for the Leadership Core Program, $153,202 for e-rate matching, and $100,000 for CIP projects.<\/p>\n

Demapan said the bill is part of the $12-million supplemental budget for PSS that they passed early this year. \u201cWe had committed to give them [PSS] $15 million, so the $3.7 million fulfills that commitment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Demapan said NMC would be receiving $1 million, which is the same amount for Rota\u2019s recovery efforts after the devastation wrought by Typhoon Mangkhut while the Marianas Political Status Commission is allocated $150,000. \u201cIt\u2019s for the current [fiscal year 2016]. For PSS and NMC to pay for their expenditures for fiscal year 2018.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  [embedyt] https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=XOP1Otm8k2k&width=500&height=350[\/embedyt] The House of Representatives yesterday unanimously passed a supplemental budget that allocates…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":285352,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[20,194,40,733],"class_list":["post-285351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-budget","tag-house-bill","tag-pss","tag-settlement-fund"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=285351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/285352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}