Saipan Tribune

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Friday, February 08, 2013

OAG sends Birnbrich to NYC conference

In order to better serve the government and people of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the chief of the Civil Division, Gil Birnbrich, will be attending a three-day conference titled the “2013 Charities Regulation and Oversight Policy Conference: The Future of State Charities Regulation and Enforcement.”

The conference is being presented by the National Association of Attorney General Training & Research Institute and will be held in New York City, New York, at Columbia Law School from Feb. 6 to 8, 2013.

Many policy topics will be addressed, including state/state and state/federal relationships; structure and funding of state charities officials; the fundamental role of states in governance issues; challenges and interest of the states in social mission/hybrid corporate organizations; the role of states in nonprofit healthcare; charitable solicitation; jurisdiction over religious organizations; issues of advocacy and political activity and proposed regulatory structures.

The Office of the Attorney General obtained a scholarship from NAAGTRI to send its representative. This scholarship covers the cost of airfare, lodging, transportation, and per diem. As a result, the Office of the Attorney General will not be burdened with any cost associated with Birnbrich's training.

Attorney General Joey P. San Nicolas stated that, “We are very happy to be able to send a representative from the CNMI to attend this conference. This furthers my and my predecessor's [former acting attorney general, now deputy attorney general Viola Alepuyo's] policy of training and upgrading the skills and knowledge of our office to better serve the people of the Commonwealth. This is an area of law that our office is unfamiliar with and it is important we become familiar with it.”

Nicolas further stated that, “We are grateful that NAAGTRI provided our office with a scholarship for our representative to cover the costs of the training. NAAGTRI puts on highly educational and practical programs as recently experienced by our attorneys in Guam, and our representative will learn a lot that will be applicable in the CNMI.” (Office of the Governor)