{"id":206469,"date":"2015-07-10T22:37:39","date_gmt":"2015-07-10T12:37:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=206469"},"modified":"2015-07-10T22:37:39","modified_gmt":"2015-07-10T12:37:39","slug":"senator-suggests-special-license-for-tourists-using-car-rental-services","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/senator-suggests-special-license-for-tourists-using-car-rental-services\/","title":{"rendered":"Senator suggests \u2018special license\u2019 for tourists using car rental services"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Sen. Jude C. Hofschneider (R-Tinian) is suggesting \u201cspecial licenses\u201d that the Department of Public Safety-Bureau of Motor Vehicle can issue to tourists availing of car rental services in the CNMI.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_206482\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-206482\" style=\"width: 150px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a attid=\"206482\"  href=\"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Jude-Hofschneider-2008.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Jude-Hofschneider-2008-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Hofschneider\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-206482\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-206482\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hofschneider<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The lawmaker said aside from its educational purposes, the special license can help the DPS raise more funds for its operations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCan this be done? I will support this, not just for educational purposes for tourists in the CNMI but also as a way for our police to generate more funds,\u201d Hofschneider said.<\/p>\n<p>The lawmaker heads the Senate Committee on Fiscal Affairs, which is currently holding budget hearings for government agencies.<\/p>\n<p>The committee held a hearing for the DPS on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>DPS Commissioner James C. Deleon Guerrero again pleaded to lawmakers to increase his department\u2019s budget, which he, said will allow the DPS to properly carry out its duties.<\/p>\n<p>He specifically cited the \u201cwar\u201d on methamphetamine which he said will be \u201clong, dangerous, and expensive\u201d and would require the DPS to have more police officers, and more training.<\/p>\n<p>The DPS has requested a budget of $7.2 million, which is way higher than the administration\u2019s proposal of $4.5 million.<\/p>\n<p>The police chief said \u201cice\u201d is on the DPS\u2019 top list of priorities, along with preparations for a \u201cbooming\u201d tourism industry, and preparations for a soon-to-emerge gaming industry, highlighted by the opening of Saipan\u2019s first casino in Garapan.<\/p>\n<p>Hofschneider, meanwhile said \u201cit was an eye-opener\u201d after hearing the police chief\u2019s recommendations and his report on the current state of the DPS.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are trying to get fund sources outside the general appropriations that we can tap into, so that we will be able to come up with a more clear budget for DPS,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sen. Jude C. Hofschneider (R-Tinian) is suggesting \u201cspecial licenses\u201d that the Department of Public Safety-Bureau&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":206482,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[20,256,26,35],"class_list":["post-206469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-budget","tag-casino","tag-cnmi","tag-dps"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206469\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}