The House Committee on Judiciary and Governmental Operations has scheduled three more public hearings on a legislative initiative that would reduce the number of House of Representatives members from Saipan by half\u2014from 18 to nine.<\/p>\n
Rep. Ralph Demapan (Cov-Saipan), JGO Committee chair, encourages members of the public to attend the hearings and to submit written comments three days prior to the public hearing.<\/p>\n
On Monday, May 21, the public hearing will be held at Kagman High School cafeteria starting at 6pm.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, May 22, it will be held at Tanapag Elementary School cafeteria.<\/p>\n
The following day, May 23, it will be at the Pedro P. Tenorio Multi-Purpose Center in Susupe.<\/p>\n
House Legislative Initiative 17-4 seeks to amend Article 2, Section 4 subsections (a), (b) and (c) of the CNMI Constitution to reduce the number of members in the House of Representatives from the Third Senatorial District from 18 to nine.<\/p>\n
Rep. Joseph Palacios (R-Saipan), author of HLI 17-4, said he hopes that the House and Senate will pass this legislation so that voters will be able to vote on it in the November elections.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe should let the people decide on this,\u201d Palacios said, adding that a smaller House will not only save taxpayers\u2019 money at a time when the population has shrunk, but will also make the House more efficient. With the current 20 members in the House\u2014including one each from Rota and Tinian\u2014it takes a long time to pass controversial bills because there could sometimes be 20 different ideas and opinions, he said. <\/p>\n
On Thursday last week, the JGO Committee held a public hearing at Dandan Elementary School with 11 residents showing up and only six testifying, expressing support for HLI 17-4. The previous night, only six people showed up at the Garapan Elementary School public hearing. Only two testified, and both supported the initiative.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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