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Senate approves emergency appropriations for typhoon relief, reallocates tourism funds for recovery
Summary
In a unanimous vote May 1 the Senate passed three bills allocating CUC dividends and tobacco settlement funds for typhoon response and recovery: House Bill 24-89 (2nd District) and 24-91 (1st District) each for $300,000, and House Bill 24-96 for $960,235.74 with specified allocations including 25% to the public school system and reporting requirements.
The Senate on May 1 passed a series of appropriations aimed at immediate typhoon relief and tourism stabilization, adopting amendments that reallocated some tourism funds to disaster recovery and added reporting and expenditure requirements.
The chamber approved House Bill 24-89 HS1, a $300,000 appropriation of Commonwealth Economic Development Authority (CEDA) dividends to support super-typhoon Laku disaster relief operations and personnel in the 2nd Senatorial District. Senator Jude Hauschneider introduced four clarifying amendments that detail how funds will be managed and used at the municipal level; the amendments and the bill passed on unanimous roll calls.
The Senate also passed House Bill 24-91 HS1, another $300,000 CEDA-dividend appropriation for the 1st Senatorial District. Floor leader Florian described amendments that adjust the bill’s title and reallocate $200,000 to disaster relief in the 1st Senatorial District and $100,000 for personnel and operations for the office of the mayor of Rota, subject to an adopted resolution of the Rota legislative delegation; the measure adds transfer, reserve and reporting provisions and bars reprogramming of certain funds without delegation approval. The amendments were adopted and the bill passed unanimously.
Lawmakers then considered House Bill 24-96, a request to appropriate $960,235.74 in tobacco settlement funds to the Marianas Visitors Authority for tourism recovery initiatives. The floor leader offered amendments to prioritize disaster recovery and essential government services before tourism-related uses. The adopted changes allocate 25% of the appropriation ($240,058.94) to the CNMI Public School System (expenditure authority: PSS commissioner), and specify: $100,000 for programs and activities in the 1st Senatorial District; $100,000 for personnel and operations of the mayor of Tinian; $100,000 for personnel and operations of the mayor of Saipan; $50,000 to the Legislative Bureau; and $370,176.80 to the Marianas Visitors Authority. The amendment added reporting requirements for municipal recipients and stated that the appropriated funds are without fiscal-year limitation. The Senate adopted the floor-leader amendments and passed HB 24-96 by unanimous vote.
During public comment preceding the votes, Warren Veil Gomez and Judy C. Torres of the Marianas Visitors Authority urged prompt passage and emphasized tourism’s role in jobs and government revenue; Torres detailed airport and hotel damage and said there is no confirmed timeline for when flights and rooms will resume. On the floor, senators discussed aligning the language of a joint resolution with an incoming House bill and returning a separate standing committee report to committee for review.
Votes at a glance: - House Bill 24-89 HS1 (appropriation of $300,000 from CEDA dividends for 2nd Senatorial District disaster relief): adopted unanimously (8-0). - House Bill 24-91 HS1 (appropriation of $300,000 from CEDA dividends for 1st Senatorial District disaster relief): adopted unanimously (8-0). - House Bill 24-96 (appropriation of $960,235.74 in tobacco settlement funds for recovery initiatives; amended to reallocate funds and add reporting requirements): adopted unanimously (8-0).
The Senate adjourned at 1:01:32 p.m. and recorded the votes; the bills passed the Senate and will proceed according to legislative transmission procedures.
