Rep. Joseph Leepan Guerrero (R-Saipan) strongly disagrees with Attorney General Edward Manibusan\u2019s position that the Department of Public Lands advisory board needs a full five-member majority, rather than the appointed four, to conduct meetings with the DPL secretary, saying that the law was silent on this issue and a four-member majority was sufficient to proceed per Robert rules of order.<\/p>\n
Guerrero expressed his thoughts during House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources meeting on Thursday morning, where lawmakers also later moved on a bill to abolish DPL and replace it with a \u201cMarianas Lands Corporation,\u201d recommending House Bill 19-82\u2019s passage in the full House, Saipan Tribune learned.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a hidden agenda. They don\u2019t want an advisory board,\u201d Guerrero said during discussion.<\/p>\n
Guerrero described an amendment he offered on the bill \u201cwould be in respect to the advisory board\u201d and \u201cgive them the benefit of the doubt to work with the secretary.\u201d<\/p>\n
House counsel John Cool, during discussion, also indicated that a majority of four could proceed with organization and appoint a chairman. The AG\u2019s reasoning\u2014if one were to follow it\u2014would mean that if five members were appointed and one was absent, \u201cthey would have to wait to act on pressing matter,\u201d Cool said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the most stupidest opinion I\u2019ve heard in my life,\u201d Guerrero said.<\/p>\n
Cool said DPL is the only agency in the entire Commonwealth government that functions that way. \u201cWe don\u2019t have a problem with CDA, we don\u2019t have a problem with SHEFA. We have a vacant position [and] it\u2019s still a majority\u2026This is the only board that the AG\u2014or someone\u2014has taken the position that you have to have\u201d five members, he said. But with other boards \u201csimilar to the advisory board. They don\u2019t have a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rep. Felicidad Ogumoro (R-Saipan) asked if the law \u201cis clear\u201d that they have to do it that way.<\/p>\n
Cool said \u201cthe language that is used to create [the advisory board is used] for almost every other Commonwealth board\u2026but this is the only board where the AG has raised this\u201d issue. Following this logic, Cool said, every time there would be a vacancy at the CDA or the CPA board they would not be able to meet until they fill up the vacant seat.<\/p>\n
The AG\u2019s opinion\/interpretation is \u201ca soft wet pampers,\u201d Guerrero said. \u201cThat\u2019s how I would interpret it.\u201d <\/p>\n
The law does not say the five board members constitute a quorum, Guerrero said. He added, citing the Robert rules, four members would constitute a quorum. \u201cLet them organize,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
AG opinion<\/strong> Manibusan, in summary, said the board is an advisory body is limited to DPL\u2019s comprehensive land use plan and homestead programs.<\/p>\n \u201cIts members serve without compensation. This advisory board is not a governing entity. It is not subject to the Commonwealth\u2019s Open Government Meetings and Records Act. As an advisory body, the board has no expenditure authority\u201d over DPL funds, the AG said.<\/p>\n Citing the public law that established DPL, the AG said that while the law dictates \u201chow\u201d the board will be established\u2014with four members appointed by mayors and one by the governor\u2014the provision is \u201cnot self-executing\u201d because it \u201crequires the appointment of members by five different authorities.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cUntil all five appointments are made, the mandate\u2026has not been fully executed\u201d and \u201cno advisory board has been established\u201d according to law, he said, and therefore, meetings cannot be called \u201cuntil a fight and final member is appointed.\u201d<\/p>\n Proposed agenda<\/strong> The proposed agenda also tasked reports from the DPL\u2019s secretary\u2019s \u201cvision, priority and performance timeline,\u201d scheduling of public hearings on outstanding homestead issues, and scheduling of a presentation by the DPL on its establishing law, current and future projects, fiscal year budget, financial status, and its organization composition, among others.<\/p>\n In a March 28 letter to the appointed board members, Teregeyo said absent quorum requirements in their establishing law, there was \u201cno authorization\u201d for the board to \u201cmeet with fewer than full membership.\u201d<\/p>\n She said DPL\u2019s establish law \u201climits your role\u201d to major issues affecting the management of public lands like DPL\u2019s land use plan and homestead program.<\/p>\n \u201cYour proposed agenda venture far past advice and well into that of oversight. Specifically, an advisory board has no authority to call public meetings or demand briefings from the department,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n Teregeyo also cited legislative records, or committee reports, prepared in establishing the advisory board. These stated that the law would \u201cestablish an advisory board, but limit its functions to advising, rather than controlling, the secretary\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Rep. Joseph Leepan Guerrero (R-Saipan) strongly disagrees with Attorney General Edward Manibusan\u2019s position that the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[54,175,194,2331],"class_list":["post-225724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","tag-agency","tag-dpl","tag-house-bill","tag-public-lands"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225724","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\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225724"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225724\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nIn an April 4 opinion, Manibusan was responding for a request from DPL Secretary Marianne Teregeyo for guidance on the responsibilities of the Public Lands advisory board, its timing and organization of meetings, the applicability of the Open Government Meetings and Records Act on the board, the board\u2019s advisory role, as well as the budget and expenditure authority with respect to the board.<\/p>\n
\nAdvisory board members had sent a proposed agenda to Teregeyo last month that included a selection of officers, standing committees, and a 12-month board meeting calendar.<\/p>\n