Senate vows to suspend 3-yr. limit law • Proposed measure gives businessmen and their nonresident employees a two-year relief

Only after eliciting the ire of business leaders in the morning and putting the Commonwealth’s nonresident workforce at the edge of its seat for three weeks, the Senate yesterday finally agreed to pass a modified repeal of Public Law 11-69.

Senate President Paul A. Manglona said the nine-member upper house has decided to pass its own version of the repeal legislation in a session scheduled for next week.

Senate Bill 12-108 was introduced by Senator Ramon Guerrero and gives businessmen as well as their guest workers a two-year relief from PL 11-69, pending a study on the impact of the three-year limit on the CNMI community and the economy.

Under Senator Guerrero’s bill, Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio will be given the authority to form a Stay Limitation Task Force that will study the effect of the three-year limit policy.

Before the Senate agreed on Senate Bill 12-108, there were four proposed legislative measures on the three-year limit that was presented before the Senate floor.

The Omnibus Labor Reform Act introduced nine months ago was one such measure. It was followed by House Bill 12-137, which was passed by the House of Representatives last March 1.

Aside from Mr. Guerrero’s bill, another legislative measure introduced by the upper chamber was Senate Bill 12-044. Except for Senate Bill 12-108, which the Senate eventually chose, all three called for the repeal of PL 11-69 in its entirety.

Mr. Manglona believes that business leaders will be satisfied with their move since, they will still be given one and a half years to maintain their current operations while at the same time, allow both local and federal courts to see for themselves if the CNMI economy can really run without a nonresident labor force.

Senators made the compromise on Senate Bill 12-108 so that US Congressional leaders will not think that the CNMI is back sliding on its commitment to institute reforms on its labor and immigration systems.

However, a few hours before the Senate agreed on passing the watered-down PL 11-69 repeal, Saipan Chamber of Commerce President Anthony Pellegrino left the legislative building frustrated and irritated on the Senate’s seeming lack of urgency on the repeal of the three-year limit.

His vice president, and chamber government relations committee chair Richard Pierce walked out of the Senate leadership meeting earlier, disparaged of the day’s events.

Governor Pedro P. Tenorio earlier dropped strong hints he may support moves to suspend implementation of the three-year limit law.

Mr. Tenorio he has been very critical of any proposal to impose restrictions on the stay of nonresidents on the islands, amid the absence of sufficient local workers to man government and business operations.

The governor reiterated the Commonwealth would still have to depend on nonresident workers in major industries. During the time the measure was being deliberated on in the Legislature, he hinted indication that the measure could not totally be acceptable to the administration.

However, the local chief executive maintained that the business sector should start looking at the available local manpower to fill in vacancies in their companies to at least lessen the Commonwealth’s dependence on foreign workers.

Public Law 11-69 obligates nonresident workers to exit and remain outside the Commonwealth for six months after three consecutive years of stay in the islands before they are allowed to seek re-employment.

The three-year stay limit applies to all nonresident workers in the CNMI, except for those holding professional or executive positions earning an annual salary of more than $30,000.

The bill defined professional as those who receive more than $30,000 in annual compensation; those who are in fields requiring advanced training or original or creative work which is artistic; those who are engaged in teaching, dental, nursing and other medical professions

Under the law, a nonresident worker shall not be permitted to remain in the CNMI for more than three consecutive years without exiting the Commonwealth and remain off island for six months and until such time the worker has secured employment in the Northern Marianas.

Since the three-year countdown started in March 1999, the CNMI may see exodus of nonresidents beginning next year to the detriment of the local economy as projected by business leaders and economic experts.

This grim projection drove business owners to press the Legislature to move towards the repeal of the three-year stay limit on nonresidents.