2,200-plus sign poker initiative petition

“The people have spoken.”

Saipan Chamber of Commerce president Alex Sablan declared this, after the business group succeeded in its six-day campaign to collect at least 2,080 signatures in support of a petition seeking to place an initiative regulating poker establishments on the November 2005 ballot.

At about 4:30pm yesterday, Sablan filed the petition, along with over 2,200 signatures, for certification by the Attorney General’s Office.

Chamber fell short of its initial target of 2,500 signatures, but collected more than enough signatures to meet the requirement for filing initiative petitions. Only 2,080 signatures, or 20 percent of the total registered voters, are needed for a question to be placed on the ballot.

Sablan observed that the voters’ support was overwhelming, considering that Chamber only started circulating the petition last Saturday. “The people really want to see this question placed on the ballot,” he said.

He expressed hope that the AGO would certify the petition and the signatures and, subsequently, transmit them to the Commonwealth Election Commission by the Aug. 5 deadline.

If placed on the ballot, the “Third Senatorial District Initiative Petition for Local Law on Poker and Pachinko Machines of 2005” would need at least two-thirds of the total votes cast to become law.

The initiative would prohibit poker establishments from the villages and limit them to only within Garapan, on Middle Road north to Hotel Nikko Saipan, and on Beach Road south to Pacific Islands Club up to Agingan Lane.

The measure would also ban poker establishments within 250 feet of any public or private school, Northern Marianas College, day care center, early childhood center, or church. It would not allow poker rooms near commercial laundry shops, grocery stores, and pawn shops.

Furthermore, the initiative would address the “aesthetic nuisance” caused by poker establishments by limiting signage to 2 feet in height, 4 feet in width, and 8 inches in depth. Signage must read “Game Room” and be fluorescent, backlit, fixed, and attached to the front of the game room facility. Illuminated neon or flashing signage would be banned.

Sablan said the initiative contained the most salient points in Rep. Clyde Norita’s House Bill 14-267, the original and more comprehensive version of the initiative.

But even with the petition now with the AGO, Sablan expressed hope that the Legislature would pass Norita’s bill.

The bill is reportedly part of the agenda in today’s session of the House of Representatives.

“We hope that the House will act favorably on this bill, followed by the Senate and the Governor’s Office,” he said. “We think there’s a chance for the poker industry to thrive, but still be regulated.”