This is to announce that there will be a House session tomorrow, June 30, 2009 @ 9:30am in the House Chamber, and a Senate session tomorrow, June 30, 2009 @ 10am in the Senate Chamber.

 

The draft agendas are attached in this email.

 

This is to announce the following meetings this week:

Here are the highlights from the House session held last Thursday, June 4, 2009:

 

 

 

1)  SCR 16-93 — recommending the passage of HB 16-208, to amend 3 CMC Section 4972(b)(2)(i) to waive the two year work experience requirement for nonresident nursing graduates of the Northern Marianas College who are seeking employment at private medical clinics. 

 

 

 

1)  HB 16-179, SD1  — to amend and repeal certain sections of the Probation Reform Act.  This bill had previously been passed by the House and then amended by the Senate to include a rider that would authorize the Dept of Public Safety to charge a late renewal fee for firearm registration.  The House had initially voted to reject the Senate amendment at the request of Rep. Rosemond Santos, the author of the bill, who objected to the Senate amendment because it had little connection to the substance of her original proposal.  After conferring with the Senate, Rep. Santos asked the members at the House session to reconsider the bill, including the Senate amendment, which was relatively minor and which had been requested by the Dept of Public Safety.  We agreed, and the bill passed.  This bill passed with all 19 members present voting yes.  Rep. Heinz Hofschneider was absent. 

 

2)  HB 16-220, HS1, SD1, HD3  — to amend the Northern Mariana Islands Election Law to provide for runoff election procedures and to allow for the counting of absentee ballots on election day.  Introduced by Rep. Joseph Deleon Guerrero, this bill passed with several amendments, including one that clarified that absentee ballots for the runoff election (not the initial general election) would be counted 14 days after the runoff election date, as long as they are postmarked by the runoff election date.   All 18 members present voting yes.  Reps. Heinz Hofschneider and Joseph Reyes were absent.   

 

3)  HB 16-188, HD1  — to mandate the Dept of Public Safety to remove dead animals from public highways and roads and thereafter contact the Mayor's Office for its proper disposal.  Introduced by Rep. Joseph Camacho, this bill passed wth all 19 members present voting yes.  Rep. Heinz Hofschneider was absent. 

 

4)  HB 16-208 — to amend 3 CMC Section 4972(b)(2)(i) to waive the two year work experience requirement for nonresident nursing graduates of the Northern Marianas College who are seeking employment at private medical clinics.  The two-year experience waiver currently applies to nonresident nursing graduates seeking employment with the Dept of Public Health; DPH, however, has not been able to hire a growing number of nursing graduates on island.  There continues to be a need for nurses, and private medical clinics are willing and able to hire.  This bill passed with all 19 members present voting yes.  Rep. Heinz Hofschneider was absent.   

 

 

 

The House was initially supposed to act on Senate Legislative Initiative 16-10, HS1, but the leadership decided to defer action.  The initiative proposes to amend Section 7, Article X of the Constitution to require the reduction of government employment, and to add a new Section 10 to authorize the commonwealth to issue pension obligation bonds "in a cumulative amount (excluding refunding bonds) not to exceed its actuarially determined unfunded accrued liability."  Further, according to the initiative, "The net proceeds of each such bond issuance shall be deposited and invested along with other monies in the defined benefit plan trust fund administered by the Northern Mariana Islands Retirement Fund.  The bonds issued under this section shall comply with Section 3 of this Article and shall be exempt from Section 4 of this Article." 

 

Section 3, Article X of the Constitution provides that public debt may not be authorized or incurred without the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members in each house of the legislature; Section 4 of Article X provides that public indebtedness other than bonds or other obligations of the government payable solely from the revenues derived from a public improvement or undertaking may not be authorized in excess of the ten percent of the aggregate assessed valuation of real property within the Commonwealth, and also prohibits the authorization of public indebtedness for operating expenses of the Commonwealth government.   

 

In addition, upon enactment of the initiative, the legislature would be mandated to "reduce the number of government employees by two and one half percent each fiscal year until the total government budget allocation for personnel is sixty percent or less of the general revenues of the Commonwealth."

 

The Ways and Means Committee Report (SCR 16-69), attached in this email, recommends the passage of this initiative.  My concerns with the committee's recommendations are that: 1) no public hearing has been conducted for a proposal to issue pension obligation bonds for an unfunded liability amounting to over half a billion dollars and to establish a personnel/operations ratio of 60%/40% in the budget; and 2) no cost-benefit analysis was conducted for this proposal (though there is a cost-benefit paragraph that asserts that the initiative will free the Retirement Fund from having to "continue to fend off would-be legislations that will only continue to burden the Fund," and that "the long-term survival of the Northern Mariana Islands Retirement Fund far outweighs the cost of a public debt through a pension obligation bond"). 

 

Clearly, this is a matter that would affect all taxpayers, including thousands of government retirees and active employees; surely we should seek out as much public input and analysis as possible before acting on the proposal.  During sessions I have repeatedly requested that a public hearing be conducted, and have repeatedly been told by my colleagues that there is no need for a hearing: voters will be given the chance to express their views at the ballot.  

 

My concerns are not limited to the committee's recommendations or the lack of a public hearing, however.  I am not convinced that incurring more public debt is the best, most cost-effective solution to our Retirement Fund crisis, and I worry that the sale of bonds would end up costing taxpayers more in the end, particularly if the returns on the bonds do not exceed the cost of servicing the debt.  Moreover, if we are willing to pass an initiative that would force a reduction in government personnel costs and also likely result in a greater burden on taxpayers, then why not begin actually doing the work of reducing government costs, pay our debts to the Retirement Fund using the revenues that are freed as result, and practice discipline in the legislature by not passing any more bills that would add to the unfunded liability as well as discipline in the administration by not hiring any more nonessential employees and by paying employer contributions in full and on time (this also requires that voters throw out irresponsible legislators and governors)?  Then, after we have gone through the necessary and painful exercise of cost-cutting and streamlining, we could consider raising taxes – and still cost taxpayers less than we would by floating bonds. 

 

Despite persistent questions that remain unanswered, the pension obligation bond initiative is one that is widely supported by elected officials, including the administration and members in both houses of the legislature.  My sense is that there is an urgency in appearing to do something to save the Retirement Fund, particularly in this election year, and especially since retirees have finally begun to organize and to wield their considerable political influence.  In the meantime, however, the administration continues in its failure to pay employer contributions even at the 11% rate that has already been budgeted (never mind the 37% rate that should have been budgeted), and continues in its attempts to subvert the Retirement Fund's lawsuit to recover what is owed from previous years.    

 

If the legislature refuses to conduct a public hearing, I urge all concerned citizens to carefully read the committee report and initiative and submit their comments anyway as soon as possible.  The committee report and initiative are attached in this email. 

Attached in this email is the updated draft agenda for the House session scheduled for tomorrow, June 4, 2009 at 9:30am in the House Chamber.