Business leaders lauds passage of omnibus bill

Business leaders yesterday commended the Senate for the passage of Business Reform and Labor Act despite major amendments which did not include the repeal of the three-year stay limit and the Fair Compensation Act.

After marathon meetings between the Senate Committee Resources and Programs and representatives from the business sector, Saipan Chamber of Commerce president Lynn Knight said she now understands why there is a need to defer the scrapping of the three-year residency limit for nonresident workers.

She said she agrees with the Senate to wait for the outcome of the proposed legislation extending federal immigration laws to the Northern Marianas. U.S. Senate Bill 1052, drafted by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, allows a business to petition a long-term nonresident for employment-based immigrant visa subject to several conditions, such as being employed in the same company for five consecutive years prior to filing of the application.

“We can wait a little longer. I agree with them now that it is prudent to wait. We do need to see the way the federal immigration takeover bill is going to go,” Ms. Knight said. The law allowing only nonresident workers to stay for three-years and have a six months break in service before coming back to the CNMI will take effect in two years’ time.

The Senate also gave the its commitment to the business sector to work together for the passage of important measures that were not included under the Omnibus Labor and Business Reform Act.

Ms Knight also noted the substantial improvement in the moratorium law which provides flexibility to businesses in fulfilling their jobs. “We will support it when it is discussed in the House of Representatives again,” she added.

Richard Pierce, acting chair of the Saipan Garment Manufacturers Association, said the compromise hammered out by the business sector with the Senate on HB 12-39 provides the industry relief by allowing the garment factories to move its nonresident workers under an agreed maximum allowable cap.

“Compromise by definition means you aren’t going to get everything you want. And in this case, it’s what we were willing to settle for,” he said.

Mr. Pierce said businesses would be willing to work closely with the Legislature as they await for their request to repeal laws which were not included in the passage of the revised Omnibus Business and Labor Code.