Due to a medical emergency, the House session that was scheduled for today, Thursday, Feb. 28 @ 9am, has been moved to Friday, February 29 @ 9:30am in the House Chamber.
Click Here for the agenda for tomorrow’s House session, scheduled for 9am in the House Chamber.
Also — in an earlier email I had mistakenly stated that the Senate is meeting for a session tomorrow. It’s actually meeting next week, March 6, at 10am. My apologies for the error.
Just an update:
In addition to budget hearings on Tuesday, February 26 at 2pm in the Senate Chamber, the Senate Committee on Fiscal Affairs has scheduled budget hearings with the Secretary of Finance, the Public Auditor, the Office of Management and Budget director, the Secretary of Commerce, and the Director of Revenue and Tax on Tuesday, February 26, at 10am, also in the Senate Chamber.
Also, kudos to the Speaker of the House for recently releasing a weekly schedule for regular committee meetings; that schedule is attached in this email. Wednesdays are left open for regular House sessions. Committees may meet on Wednesday if no session is scheduled.
The following legislative committees will be meeting this week:
Also, both the House and Senate will be conducting sessions in their respective chambers this Thursday, February 28. The House will be convening at 9am in the House Chamber; the Senate will meet at 10am. Agendas will be sent out shortly.
As a reminder, while we continue to hope that a fully functional and updated official website for the Legislature will be up and running soon — all introduced bills of the 16th Legislature are available at the House Floor Leader Joseph Camacho’s website, www.camachocnmi.com and all email announcements that I have sent out thus far are available at www.tinasablan.com/forum .
There will be a Senate session today, February 21, at 10am. The agenda is attached in this email (my apologies, I had to scan each page separately as I couldn’t get an electronic copy today).
Also, the Ways and Means committee will be meeting at 9:30 this morning to continue budget discussions.
Click Links Below for:
On the use of public funds for charitable donations, and the budget of the legislatureBefore entering public office, I made two commitments. One, I resolved to advocate for a more open and honest government and to practice transparency in my own conduct as an elected representative. And two, I committed to exploring ways to decrease the cost of government, and to exercise prudence in my own office in ensuring that public funds are prioritized and allocated for the greater good of the people of the CNMI.
Since coming into public office, I have received requests on an almost daily basis for “donations” of picnic tables, tents, water, other in-kind contributions, and money. The requests come from youth centers, schools, nonprofit organizations, families that have lost loved ones, and private citizens. Usually, in return for a “donation,” I am offered special recognition as a “sponsor” – my name and position as a member of the House on a banner, for instance, or expressions of gratitude at regular intervals over a P.A. system at a public event. I have also received numerous requests for jobs, mostly from prospective community workers who offer to erect tents, build tables, paint bus stops and trash cans, and attend funerals in my name. I have declined all these requests.
It is not that these are not worthy causes. It is not that I do not care about children, or about bereaved families, or about keeping the neighborhoods in my precinct clean.
For me, saying no to requests for donations is a matter of principle. It is about honoring the public trust, focusing on our constitutionally mandated responsibilities as legislators, and expending money wisely and with our priorities firmly in place. The public money that legislators spend on “donations” to schools and youth centers, for instance, is money that should be appropriated to the Public School System and the youth centers themselves. The public money that legislators spend on municipal services such as neighborhood cleanups and park maintenance is money that should be appropriated to the agencies that are already mandated to carry out those responsibilities.
I firmly believe that if legislators would focus on their primary duty to enact good laws and allocate public funds fairly and responsibly, the Commonwealth would not need a full-time Legislature, and it would certainly not need such an expensive one. Under the Constitution, on top of salaries, each individual legislator can receive a maximum amount of $155,000 for their discretionary funds. Legislators from Tinian and Rota can receive up to $5000 a month for their subsistence allowances, and so can senators from
This is to announce the following committee meetings scheduled for today, Wednesday, February 20:
This is to announce that the Foreign and Federal Relations Committee meeting scheduled for today at 9am has been moved to 10am.
Also, as scheduled, this week’s press conference will be held in my office tomorrow, Wednesday, February 20 at 10am in my office. I would like to provide updates on the budget process, as well as to discuss my thoughts on the use of the Legislature’s discretionary funds for charitable donations and various municipal services, and how the structure, role, and financing of the Legislature can be reformed. Like last week, I will have written statements prepared for the media and will also release those statements to this general distribution list.
This is to announce that the following committees will be meeting tomorrow, Tuesday, February 19:
Also, as a reminder, while we continue to push for the Legislature’s official website, www.cnmileg.gov.mp , to be reactivated, updated, and improved — all introduced bills can can be downloaded at Floor Leader Rep. Joseph Camacho’s website, www.camachocnmi.com .
A new poll has been added to the Floor Leader’s website regarding land ownership in the CNMI, and everyone is encouraged to participate. This poll follows the public outreach efforts of the Humanities Council to collect articles related to land ownership in the CNMI and to encourage community dialogue on Article XII, and more recently, the introduction of an initiative in the House to extend leases of private land to persons not of Northern Marianas Descent to 75 years, and Rep. Joseph Camacho’s latest letter to the editor on Article XII.
My apologies for not posting this earlier — there was a Ways and Means meeting yesterday at 1:30pm in the House Chamber. On the agenda was the cover-over issue, the budget, and two bills, H.B. 16-1 to amend the Commonwealth Code to take into account the recently enacted Rota Casino Initiative; and H.B. 16-3, to amend the Commonwealth Code to earmark Gross Receipts Taxes collected from gambling establishments in Rota so they may be appropriated by the Saipan and Northern Islands delegation. Both bills were introduced by Rep. Vic Hocog of Rota.
Two additional bills were added to the agenda at yesterday’s meeting: H.B. 16-2, to more equitably reallocate poker license fees to each senatorial district, introduced by Rep. Vic Hocog, and H.B. 16-7, to include the electrical system upgrade for the Tinian Junior and Senior High School under funding that had been appropriated by Public Law 12-69, introduced by Rep. Edwin Aldan of Tinian. All bills introduced passed in the committee.
Budget discussions will continue during today’s Ways and Means Committee meeting, Friday, February 15, at 2pm in the House Chamber.
ON THE BUDGET
We don’t have a budget yet, and frankly I think that everything else that we’re doing in the Legislature should be put on hold until we pass a balanced budget. Passing the budget is the single most important responsibility of the House of Representatives.
Part of the difficulty we are having in passing a budget is that the government has not followed the Planning and Budgeting Act. This includes both the Executive and Legislative branches, and goes back to the 15th Legislature. Under the Planning and Budgeting Act, the proposed budget should include:
A proposed balanced budget was supposed to have been prepared and submitted no later than six months before the beginning of the fiscal year. Any adjustments or amendments should have been submitted no later than three months before the beginning of the fiscal year. This means that a balanced budget should have been submitted in April 2007, and adjustments should have been submitted in July, and the Legislature should have taken final action on the budget within 30 days.
The proposed budget wasn’t submitted, however, until September 2007, just weeks before the end of the fiscal year. It was also an unbalanced budget because it makes several problematic assumptions, including a Retirement Fund employer contribution of 11% (it is actually 18%), and the enactment of the unpaid holiday bill which has yet to pass in the Legislature, among other things. Moreover, not all of the information that we need (for example, actual expenditures for the past two years, or even just the past year) has been provided in the proposed budget plan.
There has been discussion among the legislators about passing a continuing resolution, since we are already in the second quarter of FY 2008, and focusing instead on a budget for FY 2009. Another suggestion has been to pass a balanced budget that corrects the Governor’s previous assumptions, which would very likely mean more job cuts, or another across-the-board salary decrease (either a flat rate or proportional), or a tax increase, or a year-long suspension of rebates, or a combination of these measures. It has also been proposed that the Governor should be granted the same unlimited reprogramming authority he had from the 15th legislature to provide for critical services, such as public health, public schools, and public safety.
I think it would be absolutely irresponsible of us to pass a continuing resolution and allow this government to operate on the same spending level as it did last year. A continuing resolution is a guaranteed ticket to more government inefficiency and ineffectiveness. It means even more uncertainty in this already-uncertain time. When regular appropriations are delayed, agencies don’t know how much money they truly have to spend, and may try to hoard funds, not obtain the resources they need to do their jobs, or end up overspending. We simply cannot afford to pass a continuing resolution.
Most of us would agree that the responsible thing to do would be to pass a balanced budget as soon as possible. If we don’t have the information that we need to pass a balanced budget now, then we return the unbalanced budget to the Administration and go back to the table with them to agree upon the measures we would take to cut costs, generate revenue, or both, in order to realize a balanced budget.
I further disagree with the proposal to give the Governor unlimited reprogramming authority. It would certainly be easier to blame him if anything goes wrong, but I truly believe we would be shirking our own responsibility to be fiscally prudent and to provide oversight in the expenditure of public funds. Why not follow the guidelines for reprogramming that are provided in the Planning and Budgeting Act?
The Planning and Budgeting Act already gives the Governor reprogramming authority for the operations and activities of the Executive Branch, including all those critical services that fall under his jurisdiction – up to 25%. He certainly has the power to reprogram more if he declares a state of emergency. Otherwise, to reprogram more than 25%, the Governor must submit his request to the Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Committee on Fiscal Affairs, and his request would be considered approved unless either Committee disapproves the request within 20 calendar days. If the reprogramming request is truly to provide for critical services, why in the world would either committee disapprove? This way, we all share responsibility for providing for those critical services, and the burden does not fall on only one person to decide what is critical and what is not.
Looking ahead to Fiscal Year 2009 – we should be thinking now about ways to avoid repeating the problems with which we struggle in this fiscal year. It would not be a waste of time or money to begin government-wide desk audits and performance evaluations, overhauling our personnel management policies and pay scales, and eliminating duplications between agencies. It would be an investment. I also think we should implement meaningful penalties for failing to meet the deadlines stipulated in the Planning and Budget Act. At a minimum, legislators and the governor and lieutenant governor should not get paid until a balanced budget has been passed.
UPDATES ON CUC
Legislators met with CUC, EPA, and several CUC consultants yesterday for a briefing on the stipulated order that is still being negotiated between CUC, EPA, and the Department of Justice to address CUC’s on-going water and wastewater violations. EPA described
ON THE LEGISLATIVE BUREAU
The fight between the House and the Senate over who should be the next Legislative Bureau director helped bring to light some serious and deeply-rooted problems in the bureau. The first has been discussed quite publicly and extensively, and that is nepotism. I agree with the House leadership’s position that the Senate’s choice for Legislative Bureau director would be highly unethical and improper.
The second problem has hardly been discussed at all – and that is, there is no legitimate process for selecting a qualified and competent Legislative Bureau Director. There are essentially no required qualifications, no formal evaluation of candidates, and no formal process for selecting and hiring the best candidate for the job. This year, the position was not even announced. Four applicants expressed interest, but the Senate apparently did not even know that. I have no idea if formal interviews were conducted, or if resumes were even submitted.
Senator Pangelinan touched on this problem in her memo to the legislators, when she noted that the Legislative Bureau is far more political than it should be, and especially in the selection of the Legislative Bureau director, which changes every time the leadership changes. The Legislative Bureau is likelier to be the nonpartisan, independent body that it was intended to be if there were formal, legitimate processes in place for selecting the Director. Senator Pangelinan presented five options but she did not include the one option that would have been most obvious to me: to audit the position of director, come up with a better position description that includes minimum qualifications, announce the position, and develop a formalized process for selecting and hiring the best candidate for the job.
Much depends on the Legislative Bureau director – the maintenance of legislative records, the quality of professional services provided to legislators, the morale and productivity of the staff, the maintenance of office grounds, capital equipment, supplies, and vehicles, proper procurement and inventory management, standard operating procedures for the office, personnel management policies, etc. We should not take this position lightly, and the recent deadlock between the houses has presented us with an opportunity to improve, formalize, and legitimize the way the director is selected, and thereby improve the services of the Legislative Bureau in the long run.
ON THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS
In an email I sent out the other day, I touched on my concerns about the process in which the Legislature prioritizes, drafts, discusses, and adopts legislative action. I plan to write more about this issue shortly, but in a nutshell, I firmly believe we need to slow the legislative process down, and increase transparency in the Legislature. Legislators should have the benefit of timely notice and adequate information so they can exercise due diligence in reviewing and acting on bills. Citizens should have the same so they can be more informed about how they are being served by their elected officials, and so they can get involved in if they choose. I have drafted proposed amendments to the rules that govern the House that would help slow down the legislative process and encourage all of us legislators to be more careful, deliberative, and responsible when taking any action. I am also working on legislation to update, clarify, and strengthen the Open Government Act, and apply it to the Legislature. If anyone would like to assist in drafting and/or reviewing and commenting on these amendments, they can contact me at 664-8931 or 483-3935, or email me at tinasablan@gmail.com . I would welcome the help.
The agenda for yesterday’s House session was amended once again on the floor. Bills, initiatives, resolutions, and communications that were introduced on the floor that had not been prefiled and noted in the agenda I had sent out via email just before the session (February 11, 2008) include:
HOUSE BILLS
HOUSE LEGISLATIVE INITIATIVES
HOUSE LOCAL BILLS
HOUSE RESOLUTIONS
HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS
The House voted to suspend the rules and passed House Bill 16-23 on first and final reading. The House also passed all the resolutions except for HR 16-6 (the parking area resolution). I objected several times yesterday to the efforts to fast-track both the bill and the resolutions.
With respect to the HB 16-23, which proposed to appropriate over two million dollars to address unpaid insurance claims (and thereby avoid the termination of insurance coverage for government employees), I objected to the motion to place the bill on the calendar to adopt that day on the grounds that I (and probably other legislators) had not even had a chance to read the bill beforehand, and I wanted more information. That slowed down the process somewhat, but not much. We went into recess during the discussion of HB 16-23, and documents from the Retirement Fund were provided attesting to the facts stated in the bill as well as the urgency of addressing the unpaid claims. When the session resumed Ways and Means chair Rep. Ray Yumul confirmed that the source of funds for the appropriation would be MPLT interest payments into the General Fund that had been identified and reported to the Legislature on January 28, 2008.
I objected also to the adoption of resolutions that none of us had had a chance to read. The motion to adopt carried, however, and one resolution was even adopted while I was still reading it. The parking lot resolution was withdrawn at the request of several legislators, including myself, for lack of information about its necessity (i.e., we didn’t know for a fact whether or not the Legislature’s parking lot was actually not in compliance with accessibility requirements).
I ultimately ended up voting yes on the appropriations bill, and endorsed the resolutions to commend the Rotary Club, two local teachers, etc. But the more important point that I wish to raise is that I am convinced more than ever that the way in which we conduct business in the Legislature is in serious need of reform, and that we do a grave disservice to our constitutents when we fail to exercise due diligence in properly prioritizing, drafting, reviewing, discussing, and adopting legislative action. Obviously I cannot realize these reforms all by myself — the effort to improve transparency and set priorities in the Legislature will need the sincere commitment of all my colleagues, as well as support from the citizens of this Commonwealth. I will expand on these thoughts in a separate letter.
In other news
CLICK HERE for email addresses of all our legislators.
CLICK HERE for telephone numbers of all our legislators.
Thanks very much, and please feel free to contact me for questions, comments, or advice.
As previously announced, this week’s press conference will be held on Wednesday, February 13, beginning at 10am (NOT 9am) in my office.
I would like to discuss the following subjects:
As always, all members of the Legislature are invited to participate. If it happens to get too crowded in my office, we can perhaps relocate to another office or simply hold the conference in the main lobby.
I look forward to an honest and fruitful discussion.
Attached is the amended agenda, received this morning, for today’s House session, scheduled for 1:30pm in the House Chamber. Two bills have been added, as well as communications from the Governor’s office, and communications from Departments and Agencies.
Also, per the request of numerous citizens, I am attaching the directory of contact numbers for all House and Senate members, and the Legislative Bureau staff. Official email addresses will also be sent shortly.
This is to announce the following meetings next week:
Also, kudos to House Floor Leader Rep. Joseph Camacho for creating a website where citizens can access bills introduced in the House and Senate while we continue to push for improvements in the official Commonwealth Legislature website. Please visit www.camachocnmi.com . You can also post comments! =)
There will be a a Senate session tomorrow, February 7 beginning at 10am in the Senate Chamber.
Below is the amended budget hearing schedule for today and tomorrow. We agreed on Friday to extend the time allotted to each agency, and we covered the Dept. of Commerce, Public School System, Judiciary, Northern Marianas College, Retirement Fund, Marianas Visitors Authority, and the Dept. of Community and Cultural Affairs.
Today, Monday, Feb. 4, we will be conducting budget hearings for the following agencies:
2:00-3:00pm — Dept of Lands and Natural Resources
3:00-4:00pm — Mayor of Saipan
Tomorrow, Tuesday, Feb. 5, budget hearings will be conducted for the following:
9:00-10:00am — Mayor of the Northern Islands
10:00-11:00am — Mayor of Tinian and Aguiguan
The Dept. of Labor, the Dept. of Public Safety, and the Mayor of Rota have notified the Legislature that they will not be attending the budget hearings, and accept the Governor’s budget proposals for their respective agencies.
Here is the budget hearing schedule for Friday, Feb. 1, beginning at 8am in the House Chamber:
8:00-8:30 — Dept. of Commerce
8:30-9:00 — Dept. of Community and Cultural Affairs
9:00-9:30 — Dept. of Labor
9:30-10:00 — Dept. of Finance
10:00-10:30 — Public School System
10:30-10:45 — Northern Marianas College
10:45-11:15 — Marianas Visitors Authority
11:15-11:45 — Dept. of Public Safety
11:45-12:30 — Dept. of Public Health
12:30-1:30 — LUNCH/Press Conference in Speaker’s Conference Room
1:30-2:00 — Judiciary
2:00-2:15 — Dept. of Public Works
2:15-2:30 — Dept. of Lands and Natural Resources
2:30-2:45 — Mayor of Saipan
2:45-3:00 — Mayor of the Northern Islands
3:00-3:15 — Mayor of Tinian and Aguigan
3:15-3:30 — Mayor of Rota
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