Previous Story
HOUSE AFFIRMS MVA has control over activities at tourist sites
|
Posted on Jun 05 2000
Due to a recent Superior Court ruling questioning lack of power by the Marianas Visitors Authority to regulate commercial activities on or near tourist sites, the House of Representatives put in black and white such function under a bill passed last Friday.
HB 12-173, offered by House Floor Leader Oscar M. Babauta, will correct oversight that lawmakers committed when they passed the law reorganizing the defunct Marianas Visitors Bureau to MVA.
The tourism agency is still the proper government office to regulate commercial activities at tourist sites, like jetski operators and merchandise vendors, according to the bill.
MVA will still have the power to encourage, authorize, license, regulate and control commercial uses on or near these sites as well as to monitor and police them. It will impose fees on operators and vendors in order to recover costs of the administration.
The measure, up for Senate voting, was prompted by the ruling in a civil suit lodged by Saipan-E-Tours against MVA, which stated that the tourism agency in fact exceeded its authority under Public Law 11-15 creating the MVA.
Aside from HB 12-173, the House also considered the following legislation: (see related stories)
– HB 12-6, the Commonwealth Telecommunications Act (for Senate action);
– HB 12-11, the Freed Trade Zone Act (deferred action on Senate amendment pending Supreme Court decision on Article 11 of the CNMI Constitution);
– HB 12-165, designating Bird Island and Forbidden Island as sanctuaries (for Senate action);
– HB 12-176, Real Estate Record act (for Senate action); and
– HB 12-190, amending Commonwealth Code to inset Notaries Public (for Senate action).
Two other joint resolutions were also acted, including one that will request the Attorney General’s Office to work closely with the Legislature to seek compensation from federal agencies responsible for the polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) contamination in Tanapag.
The resolution, similar to the measure adopted in the 11th Legislature, is continuation of the effort initiated by lawmakers to address the problem facing residents of the village through legal avenues.
