‘Census data justifies reducing 29 House, Senate members’

House Judiciary and Governmental Operations Committee chair Rep. Ralph Demapan (Cov-Saipan) and Rep. Joseph Palacios (R-Saipan) said the 2010 Census data showing a 22.2-percent drop in the CNMI population justifies the need to cut the number of Senate and House members, currently at 29.

Demapan said he not only supports Palacios’ initiative to reduce the number of seats for Saipan House members from 18 to nine, but is also looking at reducing the number of senators for each island.

Of the 20 House members, 18 are from Saipan and one each for Rota and Tinian. The nine-member Senate has three members each from Saipan, Tinian and Rota.

Palacios, in an interview yesterday, said he will stick to his initiative’s intent of reducing the number of Saipan House members by half or from 18 to nine, considering that there’s a grave need to reduce expenses at a time when the population has also gone down. He earlier said he might amend his initiative.

“The CNMI is broke. One way to reduce expenses is reduce the number of lawmakers in the House. It can be done,” Palacios said.

He also supports Demapan’s statement to also look at reducing the number of senators.

Palacios’ House Legislative Initiative 17-4 has been with Demapan’s JGO Committee since February this year. Demapan had said the committee will wait for the results of the 2010 Census data to help back up the initiative.

The U.S. Census Bureau released last week the results of the 2010 Census showing that the CNMI’s population shrunk from 69,221 in 2000 to only 53,883 in 2010.

With these numbers, Demapan said that the committee feels more comfortable reviewing Palacios’ initiative. He said the Census data is a concrete basis for supporting the initiative.

The CNMI also now has the smallest population among U.S. states and territories.

Saipan’s population decreased by 22.7 percent, or from 62,392 to only 48,220.

Election Districts or Precincts 1 and 3 each have a 15,000 population, and each is represented by six House members.

Precincts 2, 4 and 5 each have two House representatives but their population count differ. Precinct 5 has a population of 7,207; Precinct 2 has 6,382; and Precinct 4 has 3,847.

Rota’s population shrunk by 23 percent, or from 3,283 in 2000 to only 2,527.

Demapan said with only 2,527 on Rota, there’s a need to consider reducing the number of lawmakers from Rota—three senators and one House member.

The same goes with Tinian, which has a population of only 3,136—an 11.4-percent drop from the 2000 count of 3,540. Tinian also has three senators and one House member.

Senate President Paul Manglona (Ind-Rota), in a separate interview, said the Senate supports Palacios’ HLI 17-4.

“We welcome Rep. Palacios’ initiative. If they have a tough time passing it in the House, we’ll pass it right away at the Senate,” Manglona said.

Douglas Brennan, president of the Saipan Chamber of Commerce, said the Chamber endorses Palacios’ initiative to reduce the number of seats in the Legislature.

Demapan said if the fiscal year 2012 budget passes the House this week, his committee will work right away on Palacios’ initiative. The panel is also considering public hearings on HLI 17-4.

“This is a very contentious, very significant piece of legislation that’s why we need public hearings,” he added.