{"id":344583,"date":"2021-05-20T06:05:20","date_gmt":"2021-05-19T20:05:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=344583"},"modified":"2021-05-20T06:05:20","modified_gmt":"2021-05-19T20:05:20","slug":"houses-arpa-bill-goes-back-to-committee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/houses-arpa-bill-goes-back-to-committee\/","title":{"rendered":"House\u2019s ARPA bill goes back to committee"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Sen. Paul A. Manglona (Ind-Rota) gestures as he explained at the Senate\u2019s Tuesday session the need to pass House Bill 22-33 that seeks to give the Legislature appropriation powers over the American Rescue Plan Act money that will be given to the CNMI. Manglona later withdrew his motion upon hearing the advice of Senate counsel Joe Bermudes. (FERDIE DE LA TORRE)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the recommendation of the Senate\u2019s legal counsel, senators unanimously agreed Tuesday not to act at this time on a House of Representatives bill that seeks to give the Legislature appropriation powers over the more than half-a-billion dollars in American Rescue Plan Act money that\u2019s allocated to the CNMI.<\/p>\n

Sen. Paul A. Manglona (Ind-Rota) moved to pass House Bill 22-33 at the session, but later retracted his motion upon hearing the recommendation of Senate legal counsel Joe Bermudes and Senate President Jude U. Hofschneider (R-Tinian), as well as the arguments of Sen. Victor B. Hocog (R-Rota).<\/p>\n

All nine senators voted that the bill shall remain before the Senate Fiscal Affairs Committee, which Hocog chairs, pending Bermudes\u2019 review of the contrasting opinions on the House of Representatives\u2019 \u201ctie-breaker rule.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last March 19, House Speaker Edmund S. Villagomez (Ind-Saipan) voted twice\u2014as authorized under the House\u2019s tie-breaker rule\u2014to break a 10-10 tie to pass House Bill 22-33, authored by Rep. Donald M. Manglona (Ind-Rota).<\/p>\n

Attorney General Edward Manibusan later issued an opinion, saying that the rule, which allows the speaker to vote twice in the event of a tie, contravenes the CNMI Constitution\u2019s provision on the minimum vote requirement. Manibusan also recommended that a possible solution to resolve the dispute is to submit a certified question petition to the CNMI Supreme Court on the matter.<\/p>\n

At the Senate session Tuesday, Manglona asked his colleagues to pass House Bill 22-33, which he described as a simple legislation that grants each and every one of them in the Legislature the right to do what they\u2019re supposed to be doing in the first place.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we make a mistake, then let\u2019s say the attorney general is right, what\u2019s the big deal?\u201d Manglona asked.<\/p>\n

Citing the Senate\u2019s own rules, the senator said the Senate\u2019s only concern is that this bill be signed for legal sufficiency, which has already been done by the House legal counsel.<\/p>\n

He said he has no concern about how the outcome will be if this will be taken to the Supreme Court through a certified question for something that they, as lawmakers, are trying to exercise authority to safeguard the funding.<\/p>\n

When asked for his recommendation, Bermudes said the Senate should not pass the bill at this point and that it should remain before the Fiscal Affairs Committee pending his (Bermudes\u2019) review of both opinions of the AG and the House\u2019s legal counsel on the tie-breaker rule. \u201cI will review both and then come up with an answer. \u2026When I give my answer I will stand by my answer. Right or wrong but I will stick to my answer,\u201d he said. \u201cEither yes, the AG is right, or no the AG is wrong and the House counsel is right. And I will stick to my decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hofschneider also asked the Senate Fiscal Affairs Committee to address the concerns raised by their counsel. \u201cNot acting on it today doesn\u2019t mean that the bill is [going to] die. It just giving us more time to address those concerns,\u201d said Hofschneider. He asked Hocog to prioritize this bill.<\/p>\n

The Senate president pointed out, though, that the Torres-Palacios administration has already reached out to him and Villagomez on ARPA. Hofschneider said the administration will be working to present its expenditure plan based on what is allowed under the ARPA.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it\u2019s not [like] we\u2019re not being involved with this exercise. It\u2019s simply getting involved in one form or another,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Hofschneider then asked Manglona to reconsider his original motion to pass the bill and allow Hocog\u2019s committee to work on it and have it tackled at their next session. Manglona agreed and requested that the bill be placed on their final reading calendar for the next session. Manglona then withdrew his motion to pass the bill.<\/p>\n

The CNMI is estimated to receive $507 million in ARPA funding.<\/p>\n

Hocog said what he really needs to understand is whether the action to be taken by his committee is within legal limits, referring to the power of the Legislature to appropriate this federal money.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are the do\u2019s and don\u2019ts? I don\u2019t know. I have not received any information on whoever is given the authority in the distribution of these funds. What are the do\u2019s and don\u2019ts in this funding?\u201d Hocog asked.<\/p>\n

The senator said he has no answer to the question if the Legislature can act on an appropriation made by the federal government and whether the CNMI Legislature can appropriate this funding. \u201cThat\u2019s why I am seeking the legal opinion from people that understand more of the process on how to distribute this funding,\u201d Hocog said.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the use for the Legislature to pass this legislation in its current form, just to find out that it will be vetoed by the governor as a result of the AG\u2019s opinion if it\u2019s true that there is a question of how this bill was passed, he added.<\/p>\n

Also, Hocog said, it\u2019s not anyone\u2019s business in the Senate to intervene in how the House voted on the bill. He said if there is a question on how the House passed the bill let them fix it themselves.<\/p>\n

He said if the members allow him some time to ensure that his committee receives public comments on this legislation, then the committee will report that to the Senate for further action.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess I would have to abide with the advice of our legal counsel that this bill should remain in the committee at this point in time before we take any action today,\u201d Hocog said.<\/p>\n

When asked as to when he will be releasing his opinion, Bermudes said he cannot give a specific date at this point. He said it may take a short time, or may take a couple of days.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have to review the issue thoroughly,\u201d the lawyer said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At the recommendation of the Senate\u2019s legal counsel, senators unanimously agreed Tuesday not to act…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":344584,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[65],"class_list":["post-344583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-house"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344583","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\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/344584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}