{"id":339551,"date":"2021-03-04T06:05:34","date_gmt":"2021-03-03T20:05:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=339551"},"modified":"2021-03-04T06:05:34","modified_gmt":"2021-03-03T20:05:34","slug":"its-time-to-talk-about-article-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/its-time-to-talk-about-article-12\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It\u2019s time to talk about Article 12\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s time for the CNMI to talk about Article 12 of the CNMI Constitution because it is more than just a statement of landownership, according to Senate President Jude U. Hofschneider (R-Tinian) yesterday.<\/p>\n

Hofschneider said Article 12 also means to ensure that Northern Marianas descents as a whole would remain a primary stakeholder in the development of the economy and the Commonwealth, by way of landownership.<\/p>\n

Article 12 was established to restrict landownership in the CNMI to persons of Northern Marianas descent, or NMD.<\/p>\n

The president also clarified that Senate Legislative 22-01 that he introduced, which seeks to amend Article 12, is not final as it\u2019s only a proposal. He said the Legislature needs the affirmative vote of three-fourths of the members of each house present and voting to amend Article 12, then it will be put on the ballot for people to vote on at the next election.<\/p>\n

Hofschneider said in a statement yesterday that, along with labor and capital, land is one of three primary inputs needed to produce final goods and services for the wider economy. \u201cNo amount of labor and capital can produce a good without land where the good can be created,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

By restricting landownership to NMDs, the Constitution gives NMDs the sole right to own a fundamental building block of the economy. \u201cIs this right truly complete, though? Can it be called \u2018ownership\u2019 when a landowner is restricted from using her or his asset to its fullest potential?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Jude Hofschneider<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hofschneider believes it should be the individual\u2014not the government\u2014who decides what to do with their land. \u201cNot all NMDs are interested in remaining on our islands, nor can they guarantee that they or their heirs will be around in 55 years to reclaim leased lands,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Thus, should the government restrict individual landowners from garnering the best value for their assets. \u201cIs Article 12 fulfilling its intended purpose?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

Hofschneider introduced Senate Legislative Initiative 22-01 last Feb. 25 to amend Article 12 to remove the restriction on the alienation of land in the Commonwealth.<\/p>\n

Hofschneider said the legislative initiative will allow Northern Marianas descents landowners to fully exercise their real property rights, and to reduce the NMD percentage of ownership interest in an NMD corporation.<\/p>\n

Hofschneider said he introduced the legislative initiative to place these questions before people at a significant moment in Commonwealth history.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe difficulties we\u2019ve endured over the last five years highlight the need for us to remain open-minded about how we build our economy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Although amending Article 12 is not the only option for the CNMI, it is one that opens up a variety of other options for NMD landowners, he said.<\/p>\n

Hofschneider also clarified that S.L. 22-01 applies only to private landownership and that public will not be affected by his proposed legislation.<\/p>\n

Further, he said, an amendment to Article 12 does not take away landownership rights or prevents private citizens from leasing their properties\u2014it merely adds the option for them to sell their land fee simple.<\/p>\n

Hofschneider said SLI 21-01 is by no means in its final form, that the Senate intends to ensure SLI 22-01 reflects the best interests of the people.<\/p>\n

Since introducing SLI 22-01, Hofschneider said he has heard from many residents about their opinions on Article 12 and has been engaged in passionate debates about the legislation on social media, with many proposing ideas on how to free up the real estate market while maintaining some degree of land alienation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a good thing. We need to have periodic conversations about our fundamental laws in order to more fully understand how they affect our Commonwealth over time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He is also interested to hear from what is termed as millennials (typically between 25 and 40 years old) and Generation Z (typically between 6 and 24 years old). Hofschneider said these are generations of NMDs that have struggled to obtain homesteads due to unavailability of land or significant bureaucratic roadblocks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are also quickly entering leadership positions throughout the Commonwealth, and will soon become the primary decision makers for our communities,\u201d said the Senate president, adding that their views will shape the future of land alienation in the CNMI as well as its ripple effects throughout the economy.<\/p>\n

Hofschneider said the legislative process would be incomplete without people\u2019s involvement.<\/p>\n

He said the Senate intends to give constituents on Saipan, Tinian, and Rota a formal opportunity to speak on SLI 22-01. He urged people to keep an eye on the Legislature\u2019s Facebook page and website, as these public hearings will be announced in the near future.<\/p>\n

Hofschneider has invited all CNMI residents\u2014NMDs and non-NMDs alike\u2014to attend these hearings and share their views on SLI 22-01 and the future of Article 12.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s time for the CNMI to talk about Article 12 of the CNMI Constitution because…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":339564,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-339551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339551","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\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339551"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339551\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/339564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}