Senate OKs bill localizing delegate polls

The Senate has passed a bill localizing the federally mandated election for a congressional delegate, but with an amendment that would preclude any initiatives from making it to the ballot this year.

The original version of the bill defined the Nov. 4, 2008, election or any future delegate election as a “regular general election.” However, the Senate amended the provision to designate the biennial election as a “special election.”

If the bill, as amended by the Senate, becomes a law, all pending initiatives—popular or legislative—will have to wait until the November 2009 gubernatorial election to be placed on the ballot for ratification.

The Constitution requires that initiatives to amend the Constitution or a general law be placed on the ballot at a regular general election. The current definition of a “regular general election” only includes elections held in odd-numbered years on the first Saturday of November.

Sen. Paul A. Manglona, who introduced the amendment, said that the Senate won’t allow any initiatives on the ballot unless the House acts on the legislative initiatives originating from the Senate.

Specifically, Manglona wants the House to approve an initiative to extend the allowable leasehold interest for private lands in the Commonwealth from 55 years to 80 years. The initiative, sponsored by Sen. Luis P. Crisostimo, would also ease the requirements for corporations wishing to buy land in the Commonwealth. Under the initiative, a corporation would be able to own land with only 51 percent of its directors made up of people of Northern Marianas descent, and 51 percent of its stock owned by NMDs.

“If the House passes that initiative, I will be willing to withdraw the amendment,” Manglona said in an interview after the session. “We’ve been acting on House initiatives, while they [House members] sit on the Senate initiatives. It’s not fair that only House initiatives will go through for ratification.”

Rep. Tina Sablan, who is pushing for a popular initiative to apply the Open Government Act to the Legislature, said she was disappointed by the Senate’s action.

“The unfortunate result of all of this is that the amendment, if accepted by the House, would be contrary to the federal law, which clearly describes this year’s election as a general election,” she said.

Sablan said she had not talked to Manglona or any senator about the Senate’s motivation for passing the amendment. But she added that, “if it is true that that amendment was introduced for the purposes of forcing the House to act on a particular Senate initiative, then I am, of course, deeply disappointed, and I think it is safe to say that the concerned citizens of Saipan, Tinian, and Rota who worked so hard to gather signatures for the Open Government Act popular initiative would be outraged to see their efforts subverted because of political gamesmanship.”

She expressed hope that the leadership in both chambers would reach an agreement on the issue. She noted that the Senate amendment would exclude not only popular initiatives, but also any initiative originating in the House.

A separate resolution that would have initiatives placed on the ballot this year is under consideration in the Legislature. The resolution calls for a special election on Nov. 4 to ratify legislative and popular initiatives.

Rep. Heinz Hofschneider sponsored the resolution. He is undertaking two initiatives to amend the Constitution. One is to downsize the Legislature and the other is to amend the Commonwealth’s land alienation law.

Another legislative initiative passed by the previous Legislature is awaiting ratification. The initiative proposes to limit elected board members to two four-year terms. It would also increase the education system’s guaranteed budget from 15 percent to 25 percent of the general revenues of the Commonwealth.