Local residents, including business and community leaders, have expressed their support for the creation of a part-time legislature in the CNMI<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a very interesting idea. It\u2019s obvious that it can be done because other jurisdictions have done it, including Hawaii. The idea of saving money is what the chamber finds very acceptable,\u201d said Saipan Chamber of Commerce president Alex Sablan.<\/p>\n
He said he hopes that the Legislature calls for public hearings to allow people to speak on the issue.<\/p>\n
Rep. Claudio Norita introduced last week House Legislative Initiative 14-8, which aims to make the CNMI Legislature a part-time lawmaking body and thereby save some $3.2 million for the government.<\/p>\n
As a result, lawmakers would not receive their annual salary of $39,300 each. Instead, they would be paid $120 if they attend a session and $60 per committee meeting. Off-island lawmakers get $100 for airfare and $175 per diem.<\/p>\n
Currently, the Legislature spends over $5 million every year.<\/p>\n
Retirement Fund board chair Joseph Reyes said the proposal \u201cis something worth looking into.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis [Norita\u2019s] idea is a very, very valuable proposal. But if you ask, I\u2019d not just go for part-time. I always believe that the CNMI should have a unicameral legislature to save money. The CNMI is too small for a bicameral system,\u201d Reyes said.<\/p>\n
James Lee, 24, said Norita\u2019s initiative \u201cis a great idea.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think they should do that. They better do something from inside as well because we often hear about austerity measures but they\u2019re not doing it themselves so it\u2019s refreshing to hear it from a lawmaker who wants to start from them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said payment by attendance in sessions and hearings is \u201cvery good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meantime, businessman Juan S. Tenorio said Norita\u2019s proposal \u201cwill not work here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere would always be a conflict of interest if you allow these guys to earn their living. You\u2019d see conflict left to right,\u201d said Tenorio, who had served as member of the Commonwealth Development Authority board for about 20 years.<\/p>\n
Tenorio, in fact, thinks the current salary of lawmakers is small. \u201cThey should increase their salary,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Earlier, majority senator Paul Manglona and minority leader Senator Pete P. Reyes said they would support Norita\u2019s initiative.<\/p>\n
Reyes said that aside from making it a part-time legislature, lawmakers\u2019 term should also be limited.<\/p>\n
But Senate President Joaquin G. Adriano said he would favor shelving the measure when it gets to the Senate. <\/p>\n
The initiative, if passed by both houses, would be placed on a ballot in the 2005 general elections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Local residents, including business and community leaders, have expressed their support for the creation of a part-time legislature in the CNMI<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85043","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\/85043","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85043\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}