House may vote on garment monitor

The House of Representatives is expected to vote today on a legislation seeking the creation of an independent monitoring group for the local garment industry as well as a Senate legislative initiative proposing the establishment of a separate finance office for the three branches of the government.

Senate Bill 11-98 or the CNMI Independent Garment Factories Monitoring Foundation Act of 1999, passed last week by senators, is considered crucial by local legislators in light of the growing scrutiny on the Saipan garment business partly due to the lawsuits recently filed against the industry.

House Speaker Diego T. Benavente earlier has expressed support for the proposal which is seen as a respond to allegations of labor abuse leveled against the sector.

But he raised some concern whether the government needs to play a key role in the creation of the garment watchdog, saying it will be tackled in the House when it is considered for action in its session today.

“The issue has to be debated whether it is best for the industry or for the government, for the people or for the buyers to be a part of (the group),” Benavente pointed out.

House Majority Floor leader Ana S. Teregeyo said the Senate Legislative Initiative 11-4 and a similar joint resolution are part of the agenda.

She maintained that allowing the legislature and the judicial branch to control its own finances will help speed up disbursement of funds appropriated to the two offices.

The Senate measure will amend the Constitution to create a respective office within the Legislative Bureau as well as the Judicial Branch to remove the Department of Finance’s control and regulation of their funds.

Some members of the legislature are at odds with the finance department over the disbursement of the allotment to each legislator’s account, which takes some time before he or she receives any funds.

“Since we are elected into office and we have been appropriated funds, we feel that we are authorized as to how we expend those money,” Teregeyo said.

The representative also said she would file a resolution that will ban smoking within the premises of the legislature in Capitol Hills as well as a commendation on a former government personnel officer during the Trust Territory, Richard Fairburn Kanost.

Rep. Frank Cepeda, chair of the House committee on Judiciary and Governmental Operations, meanwhile has filed a resolution prodding civil service employees and contractual workers earning more than $30,000 a year to waive 10 percent of their salary for the cash-strapped government scholarship program.