‘Proposed constitutional amendments have gray areas’

Northern Islands Mayor Valentine Taisakan has identified a number of gray areas on the amendments the House of Representatives is proposing to the CNMI Constitution that would extend lawmaking powers to municipal councils.

In a letter sent to the Legislature last month, Taisakan said his office has carefully reviewed House bills 14-4 and 14-5, which intends to amend Article II, Section 6 and Article VI of the Constitution.

For starters, the Northern Islands mayor said the House of Representatives wasn’t clear on what agencies local governments could create. “It does not name or identify what agencies,” he said.

Taisakan said the section in the amendment will leave the door open for municipal councils to create and establish what agencies they believe may be needed for their municipality.

He said authorizing an open-ended policy is not good and would not be in the best interest of the public and the Commonwealth.

“This matter must be carefully looked at from a practical point of view, from the local perspective, and the Commonwealth as a whole,” Taisakan said.

He said the establishment of local governments governed under Article VI Section 8 of the Constitution that partly reads, “New agencies of local government may not be established without the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the persons qualified to vote from the island or islands to be served by the proposed agency of local government,” must also remain.

Taisakan also took exception to the provision that the election of mayors for each island be conducted through “senatorial district.” He said this would mean that the people of the Northern Islands could not elect a mayor.

He said if the use of the terms “senatorial district” here is to identify the political boundaries in the Commonwealth as to the election of a mayor, then Article II, Section 2 of the NMI Constitution is not clear whether it has established a Fourth Senatorial District for the group of islands known as the Northern Islands.

“This provision also does not apply to electing a representative in the islands north of Saipan,” he said.

Taisakan said only Article II, Section 3b of the Commonwealth Constitution applies and qualifies the election of a representative for islands north of Saipan.

He said it is very clear that “senatorial district” as used in Article II, Section 2, applies only to the Senate and not intended to apply to electing mayors or other elected offices in the Commonwealth.

Taisakan said residents of the Northern Islands qualified to vote were able to elect their mayor because of Article VI Section 2.

The “senatorial district” used in the proposed amendments must be clearly defined as it relates to local government, elections of municipal council, and mayor.

Responsibilities and duties of the mayors must also carefully be reviewed and studied to ensure that they do not present any ambiguities in their enforcement, said Taisakan.

He said the proposed House Bill No.14-5 is not necessary since the intention of the amendment is already included in House Bill 14-4 Section 5 of Article VI.

He said the power of the Legislature provided under Article II, Section 6 of the Constitution to vest municipal councils with lawmaking authority must be protected.

Taisakan said the proposed amendments also lack the creation of a “Municipality Treasury.”

“If the municipal government is to control its own local revenues and resources, and the expenditures of funds for public purposes and benefits, this office must also be established.”