No initiatives in this year’s ballot

No initiatives will be on the ballot this year, following legislation designating the delegate election as a special election, as opposed to a regular election.

On Aug. 25, Gov. Benigno R. Fitial signed into law a bill setting procedures for the election of the CNMI’s nonvoting delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives. The measure labeled the delegate election as a special election, thus precluding any initiatives from making it to the ballot.

The Constitution requires that initiatives to amend the Constitution or a general law be placed on the ballot at a regular general election. The current definition of a “regular general election” only includes elections held in odd-numbered years on the first Saturday of November.

Julita A. Villagomez, acting executive director at the Commonwealth Election Commission, said the commissioners have voted to go with the decision that this is a special election.

“If it’s a special election, we cannot put anything on the ballot [except the position for which the election was called],” she said.

All pending initiatives—popular or legislative—will now have to wait until the November 2009 gubernatorial election to be ratified.

Rep. Tina Sablan, who has submitted a popular initiative to apply the Open Government Act to the Legislature, remains unconvinced that this year should be considered a special election, but says she will let the issue pass.

“Frankly, I think there is still an argument to be made that this is a regular general election no matter what we say or do,” she said. “I suppose we could have appealed to the courts. But we have opted instead to focus our efforts on 2009 rather than go through a potentially lengthy and expensive court process on an issue that has had so many roadblocks thrown up against it by the Legislature as well as the Attorney General’s Office. At least, in 2009, there will be no question that that election is in fact a regular general election.”

Several initiatives passed by the previous and the current Legislatures are awaiting ratification. One initiative, passed by the 15th Legislature, proposes to limit elected board members to two four-year terms and to increase the education budget from 15 percent to 25 percent of the CNMI’s general revenue. Another initiative, passed by the current lawmakers, calls for a government shutdown in the absence of an up to date budget law.