Bill to keep foreign workers in gov’t tossed back to House

After derailing its approval for nearly a month, the Senate on Friday tossed back to the lower house a measure that will allow the government to keep its nonresident workers in key departments and agencies until 2005.

The House of Representatives will have to act on some amendments to the bill, including removal of the Office of Public Auditor and Department of Commerce from the exemption.

HB 12-285, offered by House Health and Welfare Committee chair Rep. Malua T. Peter, seeks to extend by five more years the sunset provisions of a law prohibiting employment of foreign workers in the government.

Lawmakers have rushed approve the proposal to address anticipated shortage in key personnel in government offices due to insufficient local labor pool with the required skills and training.

The hiring ban took effect last Sept. 30 as provided by Public Law 10-4, but the pending legislation will revoke such restriction until Sept. 30, 2005.

The Departments of Public Health and Public Works as well as the Northern Marianas College and the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. have been identified in the bill as the agencies needing expertise of the nonresident workers.

Initially, OPA and the commerce department were included in the proposed exemption, but the Senate removed them in the list following determination that sufficient local workers can fill positions occupied by nonresidents.

The Senate Committee on Health, Education and Welfare, however, is expected to review a separate House bill that will allow OPA to continue hiring nonresidents.

“We are going to address it separately,” said committee chair Sen. Richardo S. Atalig.

Senators deferred action on HB 12-285 last month after debating on whether nurses and other healthcare professionals hired from abroad should be recruited through manpower agencies.

But a discussion with Public Health Sec. Joseph Kevin Villagomez convinced them that it would be cheaper by about $1 million per year for the government to use workers from manpower agencies.

Senate Floor Leader Pete P. Reyes, who had opposed manpower hiring, said he changed his position because it would mean savings for the local coffers amid shrinking revenues.

Apart from the 2005 extension, the bill will create a mechanism to phase out the number of nonresident workers in the government over the five-year period as well as to ensure availability of highly-trained local workers by 2005.

It will also require the government to map out the goal of through a comprehensive manpower training and education plan by school institutions and the affected agencies.