Certain language in the companion bill of the marijuana law in the CNMI is stopping the CNMI Cannabis Commission from getting organized in order to formulate the implementing rules and regulations of the new industry.<\/p>\n
In Tuesday\u2019s meeting, commissioner Matt Deleon Guerrero informed the House Cannabis Committee that some of Gov. Ralph DLG Torres\u2019 line-item vetoes in the Taulamwaar Sensible CNMI Cannabis Act of 2018, or Public Law 20-66, must first be addressed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have yet to get organized. There\u2019s some critical areas that would not allow us to hold our organizational session that would initiate the clock for the promulgation for the final regulations for implementing this,\u201d Matt Deleon Guerrero said. \u201cWithout the alterations on this [law], the promulgations and regulations would not necessarily be fully done in a matter of having all the cards on the table and full clarity as to what the law would require and the law would wish for.\u201d<\/p>\n
Deleon Guerrero said the fee structure is another one of those contentious issues. In his line item veto, Torres had said that the $5 annual registration fee per person under P.L. 20-66 is insufficient; it was raised to $25 per person in H.B. 21-13.<\/p>\n
Deleon Guerrero added the long-term viability of the industry is another substantial amendment that is necessary, particularly the five-year residency requirement prior to being eligible to receive a license. <\/p>\n
\u201cUnder the current language, the limit as the date of reference\u2026would [exclude] a large portion of otherwise eligible residents from being able to enter the industry,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Language requiring commission members to not be government employees is another issue. \u201cThe commissioners retaining government employment, before they resign, they need to have full-time commission job. Money is an issue. I\u2019m not a government employee but four out of the five commissioners are CNMI government employees.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd in our conversations with legal counsels\u2014both the Legislature and the Executive Branch\u2014the language prohibits certain government employees from continuing employment once appointed to the commission. Which would require them to quit and that won\u2019t give them any means for income.\u201d<\/p>\n
The bill intended to address these concerns that Torres raised when P.L. 20-66 was enacted last year has already been introduced in the House of Representatives as House Bill 21-13.<\/p>\n
House Cannabis Committee chair Janet U. Maratita (R-Saipan) has already asked the commissioners to comment on the bill so her committee could come out with a report on H.B. 21-13. That report would then be presented to House Speaker Blas Jonathan T. Attao, who would then put H.B. 21-13 on the calendar for the entire House to vote on.<\/p>\n
Nadine Deleon Guerrero (Saipan), Valentino Taisacan Jr. (Northern Islands), Lawrence Duponcheel (Tinian), and Thomas Songsong (Rota) are the commission\u2019s other members.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Certain language in the companion bill of the marijuana law in the CNMI is stopping…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-295466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295466","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\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295466\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}