Getting paid w ay too much
Legitimacy of CNMI officials ? huge pay raises challenged in court
By Mark Rodriguez
CNMI Gov . Ralph Torres
Saipan ? The CNMI Office of the Attorney General is challenging the legitimacy of Public Law 19-83 , filing a lawsuit against the legislative measure that gives local elected officials a huge pay raises .
PL 19-83 gives the governor an annual salary of $ 120,000 from $ 70,000 and the lieutenant governor $ 100,000 from $ 60,000 . Lawmakers had the highest jump of more than 60 percent from $ 39,300 to $ 70,000 . The four municipal mayors ? Saipan , Tinian , Rota , and the Northern Islands ? would get $ 75,000 from $ 43,200 according to PL 19-83 but it is not clear if the implementation of their new pay grade would also be stopped .
It was the first pay hike for CNMI officials in 20 years , but the OAG deems it unconstitutional for two reasons : first , the new salary grade was based on the recommendation of an Advisory Commission that was not validly constituted ; and second , the recommended salary increase for legislators exceeded the change in an ? accepted price index ? since the last time it was adjusted .
Authored by House Speaker Rafael S . Demapan , PL 19-83 is the same law that gave civil servants a measly 5 percent increase . All civil service
employees had already received their respective pay hikes after the money appropriated was part of the CNMI fiscal year 2017 budget , which was passed a few days before FY 2016 ended thus avoiding a government shutdown .
The governor and lieutenant governor started with annual salaries of $ 20,000 and $ 18,000 each , while lawmakers received $ 8,000 when the CNMI Constitution was ratified in 1977 . The elected officials ? compensation can only be changed once every four years based on recommendations by the Advisory Commission on the Compensation for Elected Officials .
PL 4-32 increased their salaries for the first time on April 1 , 1985 when then Gov . Pedro Tenorio signed it into law giving the governor , lieutenant governor , and legislators compensations of $ 50,000 , $ 40,000 , and $ 30,000 , respectively while mayors were paid $ 21,000 . Their annual compensation rose for the last time on June 19 , 1991 through PL 7-31 .
The salary increase for the legislators and mayors , even before the lawsuit , was already deemed to fail . The Legislature passed the bill knowing that there ? s no money allocated to fund it . An appropriation bill is needed to fund the increase , which would cost a little over $ 800,000 for the remaining fiscal year and $ 1.14 million every year after that .
The House voted 15-5 to pass HB 19-3 on Nov . 29 last year and the Senate with an 8-0 decision on Dec . 6 . Sen . Paul A . Manglona of Rota was off-island during the Senate session . HB 19-3 was officially transmitted to the Governor ? s Office on Dec . 12 .
Gov . Ralph Torres played it safe . He did not sign the bill and just let it sat on his desk until it lapsed into law on Jan . 20 or 40 days since it was received at his office . The CNMI Constitution states bills become laws in 20 days for appropriations and 40 for non-appropriation measures .
At the time , Torres was in Washington D . C . attending the inauguration of President Donald Trump . Senate President Arnold I . Palacios
PL 19-83 gives the governor an annual salary of $ 120,000 from $ 70,000 and the lieutenant governor $ 100,000 from $ 60,000 . Lawmakers had the highest jump of more than 60 percent from $ 39,300 to $ 70,000 .
became the acting governor since Lt . Gov . Victor B . Hocog attended Palau President Tommy Remengasau ? s swearing in ceremony .
And without a funding source , the legislators are still receiving the same salaries while Torres and Hocog won ? t be benefiting from it as the next administration in 2019 would earn the salary increase .
Torres informed the Legislature that he won ? t identify a funding source for the lawmakers ? pay hike , a statement that did not sit well to Demapan , who suggested that he should have vetoed the bill rather than allowing it to become a law .
Unless new revenue sources could be found , the legislators ? salary increase remains on hold . A welcome twist for those who oppose and questioned the huge jump of their compensation while giving civil servants only five percent while other government employees , in critical agencies like law enforcement , have not gotten any pay hike for years .
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