A joint resolution introduced in a House of Representatives session yesterday is seeking public support for \u201clegislative relief\u201d on Public Law 110-229, the Consolidated Natural Resources Act of 2008.<\/p>\n
Rep. Angel A. Demapan (R-Saipan) introduced yesterday House Joint Resolution 20-07, which supports the CNMI government and private sector efforts in seeking \u201clegislative relief through amendments to U.S. Public Law 110-229.\u201d According to the resolution, it supports the efforts amend the law in order to continue the CNMI economy\u2019s growth.<\/p>\n
P.L. 110-229, a law enacted during the tenure of former U.S. president George W. Bush, extended federal immigration to the CNMI, took over local immigration, created the CNMI-Only Transitional Worker program for the CNMI\u2019s foreign workers, and set a sunset provision\u2014a deadline for the CW program to expire.<\/p>\n
According to P.L. 110-229, the CW program was supposed to expire in 2014 but this was extended to 2019.<\/p>\n
In yesterday\u2019s H.J.R. 20-07, it cited a U.S. Government Accountability Office report, which said that if the CW-1 program is eliminated, the CNMI economy will be affected \u201c26 to 62 percent, resulting in the loss of millions of dollars in revenue.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGAO also concluded that ending the CW-1 program would negatively affect CNMI businesses, resulting in the loss of services and employment to CNMI residents,\u201d H.J.R. 20-07 said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe effects of ending the CW program will more than likely cause irreversible damage to the CNMI economy, impacting the livelihood of every man, woman, and child,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n
According to Demapan, H.J.R. 20-07 is the CNMI Legislature\u2019s \u201ceffort to unify support with our business community.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have come such a long way in our economic recovery and I would hate to see all the efforts and successes of the CNMI disappear as a result of a flawed federal law,\u201d he told Saipan Tribune.<\/p>\n
\u201cResidents and nonresidents alike are concerned about the future of their employment in the event that businesses have to make sacrifices, be it reduction in services or completely closing their doors.\u201d<\/p>\n
Demapan said that, while the CNMI is calling out for change, one thing remains constant: \u201cP.L. 110-229 is needed and has been needed since our business and government officials were pleading for help in Washington years ago,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
According to Demapan, the House would act on H.J.R. 20-07 at their next session before heading to the Senate for concurrence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A joint resolution introduced in a House of Representatives session yesterday is seeking public support…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[56,26,118,4393],"class_list":["post-265496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-headlines","tag-business-3","tag-cnmi","tag-cw","tag-house-joint-resolution"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265496","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\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265496\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}