Dear friends,
Thanks to the collective efforts of thousands of concerned and caring citizens, the popular initiative to reapply the Open Government Act to the legislature will finally be on the ballot this year. The initiative requires the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the votes cast in order to be made law.
From the legislative declaration of the Open Government Act (1 CMC § 9901): "The people of the Commonwealth do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies which serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so that they may retain control over the instruments they have created."
From the popular initiative petition: "It is the intent of this Initiative Petition that the Commonwealth Legislature, including all Commonwealth legislators and the Legislative Bureau, shall be subject to Public Law 8-41, the Open Government Act, 1 CMC §§ 9901, et seq."
The Open Government Act used to apply to the legislature when it was first enacted during the 8th legislature, but the 9th legislature quickly amended the law to exempt the legislature – and the legislature has remained exempt ever since.
Applying the Open Government Act to the legislature will mean simple but critical changes in the way the legislature conducts its business. The legislature would be required to issue public notice with agendas for its sessions and meetings, for example, and agendas could not change as quickly and as dramatically as they often do today. In addition, citizens would have the right to request public records of their legislators, and to expect those records to be provided within 10 days of the request.
I urge all citizens who desire a more open and transparent legislature to vote yes on the Open Government Act initiative this year.
For more information on the popular initiative to apply the Open Government Act to the Legislature, a one-page flyer is attached in this email.
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In addition to deciding on the popular initiative to apply the Open Government Act to the legislature this year, voters will have to decide on three legislative initiatives:
1) House Legislative Initiative 15-3 proposes to amend the composition of the Board of Education by amending Article XV of the Constitution. The changes include requiring that the nonvoting student representative to the Board of Education be a high school student; requiring that the public school teacher representative be elected by public school teachers in a process established by law; and limiting the terms of elected Board of Education members to not more than two terms.
2) House Legislative Initiative 16-11 proposes to amend Article III, Section 9(a) of the Constitution to mandate the passage of a balanced budget every year, and to prohibit the withdrawals of any funds from the General Fund without an appropriation of funds made by law. The initiative would remove the ability of the government to go on continuing resolution in the absence of a budget, and instead would require the shutdown of government offices except for the provision of services essential to the health, safety, and welfare of the people of the CNMI. The governor's salary would be suspended if he fails to submit to the legislature a proposed balanced budget by April 1, and would continue to be suspended until a proposed balanced budget is submitted; legislators' salaries would be suspended if they fail to pass a balanced budget by October 1, and would continue to be suspended until a balanced budget is passed.
3) Senate Legislative Initiative 16-11 proposes to amend Article VIII, Section 1 of the Constitution to require that general elections shall be held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in even-numbered years, and would thereby synchronize CNMI elections with the federal election for the U.S. delegate. During the transition to even-year elections, however, public officials who are elected this year would be given an extra year in their terms (i.e., the new governor, mayor, and senators would serve a five year term, sitting senators who are not up for reelection this year would also serve an extra year, and new members of the House would serve a three-year term). The 16th legislature had contemplated another initiative that would have accomplished the same goal of even-year elections but would have shortened most terms instead by one year during the transition. That proposal passed in the House, but failed to pass in the Senate.
The full texts for these three legislative initiatives are attached in this email.
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For more information about the election this week, contact the Commonwealth Election Commission at 664-VOTE, drop by the Multipurpose Center in Susupe where CEC staff are currently stationed, or visit
www.votecnmi.gov.mp .
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Please pass this information on, and remember to vote on Saturday, November 7!
Sincerely,
Tina Sablan
