GOVERNOR Ralph DLG Torres on Tuesday approved Senate Bill 22-50, which “clarifies” the provisions of the law governing the membership of Northern Marianas Technical Institute’s nominating committee and the process of nominating NMTECH trustees.
Authored by Senate Vice President Justo S. Quitugua, S.B. 22-50 is now Public Law 22-7.
Public Law 20-92, the statute that created NMTECH, also established a Trustee Nominating Committee, which “shall be composed of one member of the board, who shall be an ex-officio chairperson of the nominating committee and shall not be entitled to any vote; one member from the community at-large; one member representing business or an industry; and the chief executive officer of the institute.”
The new law provides a clearer and expanded version of the NMTECH Board of Trustee nominations provisions:
a) There is established a Trustee Nominating Committee with the sole responsibility to identify, recruit, evaluate and nominate qualified candidates for membership on the Board of Trustees of the Northern Marianas Technical Institute when there is a vacancy on the board.
(1) The chairperson of the board of trustees shall appoint the four members of the committee including: one member of the Board, who shall be an ex-officio chairperson of the nominating committee and shall not be entitled to any vote; one member from the community at large; one member representing a business or an industry; and the CEO of the Institute.
(2) For any vacancy occurring on the Board of Trustees, the nominating committee shall provide a list of up to three names to the Governor from which the Governor shall appoint a Board member to fill the vacancy.
(3) Nominations shall be made 30 days prior to the expiration of a term, or within 30 days following an unforeseen vacancy. Therefore, the Governor shall make the appointment of the qualified candidate from a list of candidates provided by the nominating committee within 45 days after a vacancy subject to the requirements of 3 CMC §§ 12112 and 12113. The Governor may reject the candidates on the list provided by the committee. If the Governor rejects the candidates on the list provided by the committee, the Governor shall inform the committee of said rejection and the committee shall submit new candidates for consideration within 30 days.
(4) Any vacancy caused by resignation, removal, death or otherwise shall be filled for the period of the unexpired term.
Aside from listing clearer and more detailed provisions, P.L. 22-7 also struck out from the original P.L. 20-92 a provision that says: “After a gubernatorial election, no ‘courtesy resignation’ shall be requested of any board member by the incoming administration.
Justo S. Quitugua
