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‘Federalization law will have limited effect on Labor’s functions’
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Posted on Feb 02 2009
The federalization law will have very limited effect on the functions of the Department of Labor unless the federal government wins the lawsuit brought against it by Gov. Benigno R. Fitial, according to top Labor officials.
Labor Secretary Gil M. San Nicolas and Deputy Secretary Cinta M. Kaipat stated that they will issue a further report on their assessment of the effects of the U.S. Public Law 110-229 (federalization law) on Labor’s functions after the court rules on the lawsuit.
In Labor’s 2008 Annual Report submitted to the Legislature, San Nicolas and Kaipat said the briefing in the lawsuit would have been concluded last Jan. 23, but the federal government violated the court rules by filing an overlong brief on that date and the CNMI objected.
“This led to a few more filings, but essentially the case is ready for oral argument, which is expected to be scheduled sometime in February [2009],” the two Labor officials said. The Labor report was released on Jan. 30, 2009.
With respect to anticipated changes in Labor’s functions, they said one principal change in the functioning of the department will be the decrease in new foreign workers entering the CNMI.
“It is anticipated that very few foreign workers will qualify under U.S. visa requirements, perhaps fewer than 200 per year,” the officials said.
San Nicolas and Kaipat said another change will be the transfer to the United States of the processing of applications to enter the CNMI.
However, they said, these applications have fallen off in 2008 because of the economic conditions in the Commonwealth.
On the issue of manpower and financial needs of Labor starting June 1, 2009, when federalization is implemented, the officials said there is uncertainty whether the U.S. Executive Branch agencies and the U.S. Congress will agree to a 180-day extension of the June 1 deadline.
“In most respect, the manpower needs of the department will remain the same or increase,” San Nicolas and Kaipat said.
CNMI Rep. Gregorio “Kilili” Sablan has been pushing for the delay in the implementation of the federalization law. He cited the absence of funding appropriated for border controls as one of the key reasons for the deadline extension.
