Kilili files bill that will help small businesses
Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (D-MP) has introduced a bill proposes to incentivize prime contractors of the U.S. Department of Defense that will work with small businesses in the Marianas.
Sablan also disclosed in his e-kilili newsletter over the weekend that the Northern Marianas College has successfully competed to receive $9.19 million to help individuals with disabilities join the workforce, while Saipan Mayor Ramon Blas “RB” Camacho and his team at the Saipan Mayor’s Office have successfully competed for $3.12 million to cut spending on electricity.
Sablan’s legislation, HR 9453, or the Pacific Defense Small Business Incentive Act, seeks to amend Title 10, United States Code, to require payments to contractors for subcontracting with Pacific Insular Area concerns.
The delegate said if the bill that he introduced this week will be enacted, it authorizes additional payment to DOD prime contractors who subcontract to a small business in the Marianas, Guam, or American Samoa.
Sablan said providing access to defense contracts is critical, with continued military projects in areas like the Marianas further warranting local business participation.
“Elevating our Pacific small businesses in the defense industrial base will spur local economic growth and streamline federal projects and initiatives on our islands,” he said.
The legislation was referred to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Armed Services. Delegate Uifa’atali Amata Radewagen (R-A. Samoa) cosponsored the bill.
Regarding federal assistance to NMC, Sablan said his office was informed on Friday that the $9,197,150 grant is the first of an anticipated five years of this funding for the college.
He said with the new federal money NMC plans to “address challenges facing those with disabilities, including lack of access to advanced technology, low levels of educational attainment, behavioral health issues, criminal justice involvement, low financial literacy, lack of pre-employment skills, lack of job skills and work experience, lack of peer support, and lack of job development and placement services.”
Sablan said the project will be coordinated with the Commonwealth’s Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, Council on Developmental Disabilities, Center for Living Independently, Northern Marianas Technical Institute, and the Interwork Institute at San Diego State University Research Foundation.
The U.S. Congress provided the money for the Disability Innovation Fund Program in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, (Public Law 117-328).
Sablan congratulated Eileen Alepuyo Babauta, CNMI University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities Program director and project director for the new Disability Innovation Fund, and everyone at the college.
On money to cut power cost, the delegate said the U.S. Environmental Protection Act announced the award of $3,122,794 to Saipan Municipality that will help homes, businesses, and government offices on the island cut spending by transitioning to energy-efficient LED lighting.
He said a 40% saving is expected at each retrofit site and this will in turn lower greenhouse gas pollution from the fossil fuel generators that currently produce most of Saipan’s electricity.
Sablan said President Joseph Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris led the way for passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, through which Congress provided this week’s funding.
“As typhoons strike more frequently and with greater force, as ocean warming kills the coral reefs and marine life we rely on, as sea level continues to rise, the need to cut CO2 and other greenhouse gasses grows more obvious and urgent,” he said.
The delegate said the Saipan grant is one of 33 out of 110 applications for the climate change funding.
Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan
