Chamber backs 3 constitutional changes

The Saipan Chamber of Commerce is proposing three constitutional changes: a gubernatorial runoff election; a part-time legislature; and incurring a public debt to partially pay off the government’s over $100 million deficit.

In his remarks during Wednesday’s monthly meeting at Saipan Grand Hotel, Chamber vice president Alex Sablan, said the group will submit these proposals to the Legislature for passage.

If the Legislature does not act on them, the business group will initiate a campaign for a popular initiative—gathering signatures of 75 percent of registered voters in the CNMI.

The Chamber, the largest association of business people in the Commonwealth, intends to work double-time on the initiatives for inclusion in the 2007 midterm elections.

Sablan, who chairs the Chamber’s committee on government and legislative affairs, said an initiative must be passed amending the constitution to allow for a gubernatorial runoff election if the top winner does not get a 50+1 mandate—as what happened in the CNMI 2005 general elections and as may be the case in the Guam elections this week.

“We are going to put out that initiative to the Legislature…If they do not, then we’ve got to do it. We’ve got to collect signatures,” said Sablan.

The Chamber believes that a part-time legislature “is the way to go” in view of the small island population and the limited resources.

He admitted that the chance of passing a legislative initiative at this time is slim since it would directly affect the legislators.

Over a year ago, then first-time congressman Clyde Norita authored a legislative initiative that sought to convert the current full-time legislature to a part-time lawmaking body.

This proposal never prospered.

“The chances are slim but we feel that through education and understanding of the issue at hand, we can do it. We are not going after their FTEs, their money. We are going after the concept. We feel that a part-time legislature will work here in the CNMI and will be less costly in the end,” said Sablan.

The CNMI Legislature consists of 18 members of the House of Representatives and nine Senate members.

The Chamber supports the Office of the Public Auditor’s proposal to float a revenue bond totaling $50 million to $70 million to partially pay off the $174 million government deficit.

“It is a constitutional question: Will the people allow this initiative to suspend the current provision that doesn’t allow the government to loan money for operations as what we will be doing here?” he said.

The point, he said, is getting the reforms done to ensure that the government will not repeat its financial indiscretion resulting in the huge deficit.

“Reforms are critical to not ever having this $174 million deficit that we have today happen to us again,” he said.

Among the proposed measures are to allow a two-year government budget, allow a governor’s budget if the Legislature fails to pass a new appropriation.

The governor’s budget would be recommended by a task force that consists of members from 15 financial gateway agencies whose appointments “will not be held to the appointing authority.”