Rep. Joseph A. Flores (Ind-Saipan) asked during the House of Representatives\u2019 session last week why the House\u2019s Judiciary and Governmental Operations Committee chaired by Rep. Celina R. Babauta is sitting on his bill that he introduced last February. <\/p>\n
During the miscellaneous business portion of the session, Flores asked for an update on the status of his House Bill 22-3 that he introduced during the House\u2019s first session. The bill seeks to amend the Commonwealth Code by requiring the motor vehicle liability insurance expiration to be consistent with the vehicle registration expiration.<\/p>\n
Flores complained that up to this day there\u2019s no action from the JGO Committee and that he wants an explanation as to its status.<\/p>\n
Flores said he is wondering if there is any controversy regarding this bill, which is, according to him, a recycled legislation that was passed by the previous House. He said he does not know the reason why the JGO is holding up this bill. He requested floor leader Ralph N. Yumul (R-Saipan) to schedule it for bill calendar for the next session. <\/p>\n
Babauta said they are proceeding cautiously in the JGO Committee as they are still waiting for comments. Babauta said she has spoken with the Bureau of Motor Vehicles and that she was told it does not support this bill.<\/p>\n
She said there\u2019s no research conducted and that even the Office of the Attorney General has not commented on it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s nothing that this bill proposes to fix. There\u2019s nothing broken with the current system. We are prioritizing certain bills. Even my bills are in my committee,\u201d Babauta said.<\/p>\n
She said it\u2019s not like they are picking sides or picking bills that they want to pass. <\/p>\n
At this time, Babauta said, the stakeholder most affected by that bill does not support it, saying they do not have the supplies to support that legislation at this point. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what they have told me. And I\u2019m trying to get their written comments and I don\u2019t know what\u2019s the hold up. They haven\u2019t provided written comments but I have spoken with them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Flores said this bill intends to have vehicle registration expirations coincide with the expiration of vehicle liability insurance. \u201cIt\u2019s\u2026to make it easy for everybody,\u201d Flores said.<\/p>\n
He believes that, by mirroring the two expirations of such necessary requirements in operating a vehicle, all motorists will be protected and covered from any unforeseeable circumstances that may cause serious financial and\/or physical strains.<\/p>\n
Flores, who is a former police officer, said he does not understand why the Bureau of Motor Vehicles does not support the bill. He said it\u2019s been a practice for some to register their cars and renew their car insurance, and as soon as they register their vehicles, they go and terminate their insurance because the cars are registered already. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis will actually give the BMV benefit to hire personnel to\u2026catch those motor vehicles that are unregistered,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Flores said motor vehicles nowadays are registered for one year but the insurance is registered for six months. \u201cThis bill will make it [expiration] coincide for the whole year,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Flores said this bill will provide options to motorists and allow them to choose whether they are in favor of paying a one-time fee and changing the renewal registrations dates on their other vehicles. <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t see why we keep waiting for the Bureau of Motor Vehicles. Let\u2019s just move on and let\u2019s put this on the table. If it fails, it fails. We\u2019ll not be waiting until Christmas,\u201d Flores said. <\/p>\n
Speaker Edmund S. Villagomez (Ind-Saipan) then called for a quick recess. <\/p>\n
Rep. Christina E. Sablan (D-Saipan) noted that JGO is still waiting for written comments from BMV and other things. \u201cIt\u2019s not like that the committee hasn\u2019t done anything,\u201d Rep. Christina Sablan said. <\/p>\n
Rep. John Paul Sablan (R-Saipan) said the committee\u2019s normal practice is that they solicit comments and give a deadline. \u201c And if we don\u2019t receive, then it\u2019s a policy call for us,\u201d he pointed out.<\/p>\n
Rep. Celina Babauta asked what\u2019s the urgency about this bill. \u201cWhat is to stop a motorist from registering the car insurance in two months because it expires in two months. It doesn\u2019t fix anything!\u201d Rep. Celina Babauta said.<\/p>\n
Rep. John Paul Sablan cited the bill\u2019s importance to those with more than two vehicles. \u201cLet\u2019s say you have five vehicles. On one time a year, who does not like that? You want to go February, March, April and keep registering your five vehicles?\u201d Rep. John Paul Sablan said.<\/p>\n
Villagomez said Flores made it clear he wants to see action on his bill, whether it passes the House or not. He said Flores asked to put it on calendar for action for the next session. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t have to place it on calendar in this session for next session. We can do that even after we adjourn. We can place that on the next agenda,\u201d said the speaker as he asked Flores and JGO members to discuss the matter.<\/p>\n
Rep. John Paul Sablan said it\u2019s fair enough. <\/p>\n
Villagomez asked Flores to discuss the matter with JGO and then put it on calendar for the next session. <\/p>\n
After the session resumed, Villagomez announced that during the recess they settled the issue that Flores raised and that this will be further discussed after that session. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rep. Joseph A. Flores (Ind-Saipan) asked during the House of Representatives\u2019 session last week why…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":347883,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-347818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347818","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=347818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347818\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/347883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}