Chamber's Wish List for 2001

• A repeal of the 3-year limit on an alien worker’s stay in the Commonwealth. This law will be damaging to any company that has long-term, trusted alien employees and will eventually contribute to a significant decline in service quality in tourism, as well as other essential industries. During the negotiations on House Bill 12-39 in the Senate, a proposed repeal of this law was removed, with the promised that it would be addressed at a later time. We respectfully urge you to prioritize this as soon as possible so that time doesn’t run out and cause a major economic disruption in the year 2002.

• The $100,000 security deposit for foreign investors, while now relaxed with the allowance of bonds instead of cash deposit, is still a significant deterrent to potential investors.

• The Moratorium Law on alien hiring will continue to be a deterrent to new investment and makes it difficult for existing companies to keep up quality service and profitability. Here’s a brief example of how the quality labor pool in the CNMI is declining because of the moratorium: an employer decides not to renew an alien employee who is doing a less than adequate job. That employee has the option to find a new employer while the first employer loses the ability to replace them. Once the worker’s contract has expired, then a consensual transfer is not possible. The original employer is put in a position where they either have to help an employee they would not recommend normally to find another job so they can keep the head count under a consensual transfer situation, or lose the slot to hire a skilled alien worker in their place. If there are no locals available for the job and the employer cannot replace the person with a skilled alien, the service quality and profitability of the business declines. Some other employer on island in the meantime hires a person that may not be the best qualified or productive because he is the only one available and under the moratorium Law, they can’t recruit from outside.

• Limited Liability Corporations and Partnerships are needed. We are among the few jurisdictions in the U.S. flag that does not have LLC’s and LPL’s, which are business forms that will help add important flexibility for investors.

• Professional licensing for accountants. Accountants are needed in virtually every organization, yet we do not have education and training for professionals who want to become certified in this profession. If we have training and certification available in the CNMI, it will naturally up the level of professionalism and pave the way for higher salaries in this field. This may help attract more local people into the accounting profession. It could also help bring more long-stay visitors to the island from Japan, Korea, etc., who would like to visit here and train to become U.S-certified public accountants.

• As discussed in the past, we would like to see a ban on phosphate detergents as a means of protecting our environment, especially from a “greening” of our lagoon. The U.S. passed such laws in the 19701s and the CNMI still lags behind. Our community needs such guidance against cheap foreign detergents that are attractive because of price, but harmful to our environment in the long run.

• The CNMI needs some form of zoning in order to insure attractive, quality development, to protect the community from inharmonious uses in residential areas, and to protect land values.