Overview:
The Senate has rejected a House-amended Elite Visa bill after lawmakers attached more than $8 million in new spending items to the legislation. Senators say the appropriations deserve separate review through a supplemental budget process and have raised concerns about oversight and fiscal accountability.
Lawmakers call for supplemental budget review, say appropriations deserve separate scrutiny
By: L.N. Reklai
KOROR, Palau — “It is our duty as elected representatives to properly scrutinize and address any budget appropriation, rather than just rubber stamp a bill,” Sen. Seigfried Nakamura said as the Senate voted to reject a House-amended version of the Elite Visa bill carrying more than $8 million in budget riders.
The Senate struck down Senate Bill No. 12-41, HD3, after the legislation returned from the House with 12 budget-related amendments attached to the original Elite Visa measure. The amendments altered portions of the Fiscal Year 2026 Unified Budget Act and included additional appropriations totaling more than $8 million.
The Senate rejected the House version of the bill, setting the stage for both chambers to enter conference committee negotiations to resolve their differences.
Nakamura, one of the original sponsors of the Elite Visa bill, said the budget riders were added shortly before the House approved the measure. He argued that significant appropriations and budget amendments should be reviewed independently rather than attached to unrelated legislation.
“It is our duty as elected representatives to do our job, to properly scrutinize and address any budget appropriation, rather than just rubber stamp a bill,” Nakamura said. He added that President Surangel Whipps Jr. should submit a supplemental budget request containing the proposed expenditures instead of having Congress approve them through legislative riders.
The House amendments included appropriations of:
- $30,000 for Micronesian Legal Services
- $100,000 for the President’s Office
- $400,000 for the Compact Review Advisory Group, a new funding item
- $100,000 for the Bureau of School Operations
- $300,000 for the Office of the Attorney General
- $100,000 for the Bureau of Public Safety
- Approximately $2.8 million for the Ministry of Health and Human Services, including public health, clinical services and the Severely Disabled Fund
- $140,000 for the Bureau of Marine Transportation
- $1.6 million for debt service
- $1.275 million for the Palau Public Utilities Corp. lifeline subsidy program
- $510,000 for the Belau Games, a new funding item
- $25,000 for Palau Major League, a new funding item
- $175,000 for an Angaur State boat
- $415,000 for the FY 2023 national audit
Senators advocating for a supplemental budget review pointed to the Republic’s Second Quarter Financial Report submitted by the Ministry of Finance. According to the report, Executive Branch agencies had spent an average of 40% of their annual budgets during the first half of the fiscal year.
Lawmakers noted that most ministries had used less than half of their authorized spending halfway through the fiscal year and questioned why additional appropriations were being requested.
“The reason we demand that they submit a supplemental budget is so that we can conduct oversight with these agencies to find out what changed, what is new that needed funding,” another senator said. “It is irresponsible for us to just pass the $8 million for expenditure just because we are told to do so.”
The conference committee is expected to determine whether the budget provisions remain attached to the Elite Visa legislation or are addressed separately through a supplemental budget process.