By Gemma Q. Casas
Variety News Staff

THE House of Representatives has adopted a resolution that will allow the CNMI’s broke government to float another bond and “reorganize the fiscal integrity of the commonwealth.”
The resolution also calls for an appraisal of the islands’ real property value.
House Resolution 15-106 states that “there is discussion on floating another government bond, i.e. incurring public debt, to reorganize the fiscal integrity of the commonwealth…there is further discussion on floating another government bond to retire all the remaining land compensation claims.”
The Office of the Governor and the Department of Public Lands were urged to appraise the CNMI’s real estate property.
The resolution said Article X, Section 4 of the CNMI Constitution specifically requires an assessment of the value of the real property in the commonwealth before incurring any public debt.
“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 ten percent of the aggregate assessed valuation of the real property within the commonwealth,” the Constitution’s Section 4 states.
According to the resolution, the CNMI government floated bonds in previous years without following this constitutional mandate.
“The commonwealth government, however, has incurred public debt through the years without the benefit of an assessment of any real property within the commonwealth so as to determine that the public debt is less than the 10 percent restriction of Article X, Section 4 of the Commonwealth Constitution,” the resolution stated, referring to the $60 million capital improvement project bond for the Public School System and the $40 million land compensation bond.
“It would be beneficial to conduct a general assessment of the real property in the commonwealth to determine that the previously incurred public debt does not exceed 10 percent of any assessed property in the commonwealth,” according to the resolution.