Below are the notes from last week’s first quarterly public forum on the State of the Legislature.  Topics focused on CUC and reforming the Legislature.  If you attended the forum, please let me know if I have missed or misstated anything.  My thanks to all who helped organize the forum, and all who were able to participate. 
 
Also, if anyone would like to help collect signatures for the petition to apply the Open Government Act to the Legislature, please let me know.  You don’t have to be a registered voter of the CNMI to collect signatures, but you do have to be a currently registered voter for your signature to count (if you voted in the last election, you are current).  Petitions will be collected and submitted at the end of this month. 
 
Please feel free to share this email with others.  For comments or questions, I can be reached at 483-3935, 664-8931, or by email at tinasablan@gmail.com .

STATE OF THE LEGISLATURE PUBLIC FORUM #1

May 7, 2008 
 

Venue: Multipurpose Center (Annex), Susupe

Time: 6pm-8pm

# of people: approximately 60

Format: Ground rules governing the forum were established and agreed upon.  Two binders containing status reports of legislation introduced in the House and Senate; attendance records; voting records; and contact information for all members of the legislature were circulated, and participants interested in obtaining electronic copies of these records signed up for them.  Discussion began on the general purpose of the forums, and moved to specific topics: 1) CUC and the Commonwealth’s energy crisis; and 2) Reforming the Legislature.   Tina Sablan facilitated the discussion and took notes.       
 

GROUND RULES

• Everyone has a right to speak.
• Put the Commonwealth first. 
• Come to the forums as a member of the community. 
• Be honest and direct.
• Be respectful and professional, and stick to the issues.
• Assume nothing, question everything.
• Respect time limits (set at three minutes per person for this forum)
• Expect, and welcome, criticism.

PURPOSE OF THE FORUMS

• To provide on-going updates on a quarterly basis of activities within the Legislature;
• To share information and insights on the legislative process;
• To promote dialogue in the community on key issues facing the Commonwealth, and identify solutions.  Information and insights gathered during the forums will be transmitted to the media and to elected officials. 

CUC & THE ENERGY CRISIS 

1.  Updates were provided on:

• House Bill 16-77, the “CUC Private Sector Partnership Act of 2008,” which would establish guidelines for various models of public-private sector partnership, including performance management contracts, full privatization, Build-Operate-Transfer contracts, etc.  The bill still sits in the House PUTC Committee; no public hearings have been scheduled yet.  Public pressure and support for the bill can help get the bill moving through the legislature. 

• Long-term energy planning initiative by Saipan delegation PUTC committee – meetings scheduled with USEPA and other local government officials the week of May 12 to identify funding and technical assistance needs to develop a long-term energy plan.
• PL 16-2, which gives the governor unlimited reprogramming authority, provides funding for fuel and for the General Fund from certain earmarked funds (i.e., the Solid Waste Revolving Fund and others), Retirement Fund, CUC customer security deposits, increased banking taxes, and doubled government fees, etc. The new law also allows for the Public Utilities Commission to do business with a “quorum” of one.

2.  Recent calls have been made to convene a CNMI Energy Summit to engage the leaders of the Commonwealth and the community in urgently-needed short-term, medium-term, and long-term energy planning.  It was said that day-to-day crises at CUC and political bickering and electioneering within the Legislature and between the Legislature and the Administration have thus far prevented any cooperative planning efforts toward resolving the CNMI’s energy problems.  The Washington Representative, the Vice Speaker, and other House members have thus far publicly expressed support for the summit.  Technical assistance is available to the CNMI to help guide the planning process.  Widespread public support for such a summit can help persuade other leaders to come to the table. 

3.  Some forum participants asked why the federal government is not doing more to help the CNMI in its worsening utilities crisis; others asked why the Governor has not asked the federal government for more help.  It was noted that there is generally a lack of information about how federal capital improvement funds are being spent, and how they can be reprogrammed to address the CNMI’s utilities problems.  Questions also were asked about Compact Impact funds owed to the local government, and if local government officials couldn’t do more to garner funds owed by the federal government which could be directed toward utilities and other critical public services.       

5.  On leadership during this utilities crisis, and the need for citizens to get organized: Forum participants said they feel that the leaders of the Commonwealth do not truly care about the suffering of the community. Frustration was expressed about how the government is “cannibalizing” itself to pay for fuel and still the Commonwealth’s leaders seem unwilling or unable to work together to address the power crisis.  Meanwhile, the government continues to blast its air conditioning and lawmakers continue to drive luxury cars at the expense of taxpayers.   Some noted that few legislators were present at the forum and asked why.  It was said that citizens need to get more organized and begin staging demonstrations at the legislature, the governor’s office, and at the federal courthouse to call on local and federal government officials to resolve the utilities crisis.  

5.  On energy self-sufficiency:  It was said that citizens need to rely less on government and more on themselves, particularly with respect to energy self-sufficiency.  Energy was said to be the most important issue facing the community right now.  Fuel prices are likely to continue to rise, and the CNMI has an opportunity to change to become a more sustainable community.  Public Law 15-23, the Renewable Energy Act, requires CUC to implement net energy metering to allow for homeowners and businesses to install their own renewable energy devices and feed power back into the grid.  The problem is that regulations have not yet been promulgated.  It was said that net energy metering regulations should be a top priority for the new PUC. 

6.  On the Public Utilities Commission:  Concern was expressed about the Legislature’s move to pass legislation (now PL 16-2) to allow the PUC to conduct business with a quorum of one, in the event that two of the three members resign or are removed.  Participants also asked when the PUC would be moving to set utility rates and it was noted that the commissioners must be sent to rate-setting training.  Participants also asked who would be paying for this training, and expressed concerns about the additional cost to the government.   

7.  On privatization:  It was said that the CNMI government needs to stop talking about privatization and move decisively to actually do it, and do it right.  The government has a history of failed privatization attempts, and it was said that the failure to privatize has been more political than anything else (i.e., politicians are afraid of losing votes if jobs are lost; corruption and personal interests have thwarted privatization efforts in the past).  But by now the government has proven that it cannot run the utilities effectively, and consumer suffering grows.  Participants said they felt that CUC continues to be overstaffed, salary scales are completely disjointed, and incompetent management continues to plague the agency.  Taxpayers are not only subsidizing fuel, but payroll as well.   

Participants asked if the government was considering Telesource’s offer, or the proposal to introduce new and safer models of nuclear technology to the CNMI.  Although it was agreed that unsolicited proposals should be examined cautiously, it was also said that such proposals should at least be considered, and the community should be informed about how the government is handling them.     
 

REFORMING THE LEGISLATURE 

1.  On the Open Government Act initiative:  Background was given on the initiative petition to apply the Open Government Act to the Legislature.  It was during the 9^th legislature that lawmakers voted to exempt themselves from the Open Government Act; this popular initiative is an effort to restore the OGA’s applicability to the Legislature.   

Approximately 2500 signatures of registered voters were collected during the Open Government Act initiative drive last year – not enough to get on the ballot last year, but possibly enough to get on the ballot for the next general election.  The signatures were submitted to the Attorney General’s Office on May 5, and the petition has since been revived to collect additional signatures in order to ensure the initiative’s placement on the ballot.     

There is still a question about whether or not the initiative will be placed on the ballot at this year’s delegate election.  The definition of “regular general election” needs to be clarified.  If the initiative is certified, but not placed on the ballot this year, it will certainly be placed on the ballot for 2009.   

Open Government Act petitions were passed around at the end of the evening.  Volunteers were asked to collect signatures and submit by the end of the month. 

2.  House Legislative Initiative 16-7, which proposes to reduce the size of the Legislature and improve efficiency and accountability of the Legislative Bureau, was briefly discussed.  Some participants asked, how much does each legislator actually cost taxpayers?  It was said that this information should be made public, and might help to galvanize a grassroots movement for reform.  It was said that the size of government should be proportionate to its citizenry, that government is too big in the CNMI, and that the CNMI needs a part-time legislature of qualified individuals.  It was also noted that voters need more choices of candidates, since relatively few options mean that the same individuals are likely to be elected again and again.  The number of candidates for the same number of offices has steadily decreased over the years. Participants were encouraged to call or write their legislators to urge them to pass this initiative and place it on the ballot at the next election.  It was also suggested that the legislative initiative be turned into a popular initiative if the Legislature would not entertain the proposal.   

THE NEXT FORUM

The next quarterly forum will be scheduled at the end of July.  Participants suggested that the following topics be considered for discussion:  healthcare in the CNMI; crime (in particular, rising sex crimes against children); and the solvency of the Retirement Fund.  It was also suggested that public forums focused on CUC should be held on a more frequent (i.e., monthly) basis.   
 

End.