The House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a bill to prohibit the Department of Public Lands from leasing any lands of the Commonwealth for military or live-fire bombing training and to require that any proposed public land lease for any other military activity be ratified by the people at a general or special election.<\/p>\n
The bill cites concern with the continued bombing and damage to Farallon de Medinilla and the proposed new live-fire training ranges on Tinian and Pagan.<\/p>\n
Attorney General Edward Manibusan, though, earlier said that the bill could not prevent the federal government from taking its desired land through eminent domain, a possible far worse outcome than if the land were leased, and that the bill would \u201cdiscourage\u201d negotiation and give the people less control of the acquisition process.<\/p>\n
Sen. Arnold Palacios (R-Saipan), who authored the bill, maintains that because the required negotiations involve CNMI Covenant provisions, the document that established its relationship with the U.S., then the people, and not a department, should decide.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026It should be the governor, executive, the head of the government, the legislative branch, or a team that will negotiate the terms and conditions and then that has to be ratified by the people because it is part of a Covenant provision\u2026We should bring it back to the people,\u201d Palacios told Saipan Tribune.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe departmental level is not the way to go with the leasing of public lands for military or for federal,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The House amended and passed a version of the bill that adds that the proposed military leases be ratified by the CNMI people \u201cof Northern Marianas Descent.\u201d The NMD-favoring requirement, among other amendments to require a \u201cmajority\u201d vote rather than a two-thirds majority, was passed by the House Tuesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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