The bill appropriating $693.4 million for ASG to spend in Fiscal Year 2023, which begins October 1st, should be on its way to the AP Lutali Building for signing soon.
Yesterday, the Senate passed —in final reading— the House version of the budget bill, which is usually the one that’s enrolled and sent to the Governor for his signature.
The budget total proposed by the Governor remains at $693.41 million. The only change made by the legislature is reducing the budgets of the American Samoa Search and Rescue Agency and the American Samoa Corrections Agency.
The proposed funding for those agencies have been assigned to the Department of Public Safety specifically for the Territorial Correctional Facility and Juvenile Detention Center, Fire, and Marine Patrol and the LBJ Hospital for EMS.
Even though the Governor submitted the names of acting directors for the two agencies for confirmation during the current session, both, the House and Senate decided not to review the appointments.
Concerning the supplemental budget bill for Fiscal Year 2023, Senator Magalei Logovii proposed, at a discussion of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, on Monday, that they include in the supplemental; the amount of $1.7 million to cover retroactive pay raises.
A report Sen. Magalei obtained from the Budget Office that included retroactive pay raises for the Governor’s Office staff, as well as salary hikes of directors and deputy directors, put the tally at $2.9 million. The $1.7 million figure is from a Treasury report of the salary hikes, which listed only directors and deputy directors but not the Governor’s Office staff.
Magalei told the committee that they should use the Treasury figure, because that report was in response to an official written request.
The Budget Office report, on the other hand, was one he obtained on his own, he explained.
Magalei, also, suggested that they include funding to publish the American Samoa Code Annotated, which needed to be updated.
It wasn’t mentioned during the discussion Monday, but there’s talk that the Fono may up the amount being allocated in the $7.4 million supplemental bill for itself.
Magalei said, the Senate is making a decision on the supplemental appropriations tomorrow, Thursday.
In other news from the Fono, both the House and Senate have had to waive their house rules to accommodate late submissions by the administration. Rules state that after Day 25, bills cannot be introduced, allowing the Fono time to dispense with remaining work in a legislature.
Some of the administration bills to be introduced deal with arrest powers for certain departments and agencies and a bill dealing with taxes.
There are just over two weeks left in the current session and there’s been mention of a break or early adjournment of the Senate, as several senators are off island, mainly, for medical treatment.
On Tuesday, only 10 out of 18 senators were in attendance.
