Fitial’s special legal counsel, Howard Willens, read the 11-page testimony.
According to the governor, nearly 10 months have passed since the timetable started for Homeland Security to do its job, and yet there are still no final regulations in place.
“This subcommittee is aware of the timetable provided by [the federalization law] with respect to the issuance of regulations. Once the extension of 180 days was provided by the secretary of Homeland Security, it had a total of 18 months to do its job before Nov. 28, 2009,” Fitial said.
He said there was no explanation for the delay.
“We do not know whether Homeland Security has taken nearly a year to consider extensive comments on the proposed rules and to make appropriate changed before the final rules are issued,” he added.
He said the informal guidance that Homeland Security officials gave the CNMI on the issuance of final rules “has been consistently wrong.”
Fitial urged the subcommittee to look into this issue and urge Homeland Security to come up with the final regulations promptly.
Fitial said the delay in issuing the investor visa and transitional worker regulations has caused uncertainty and instability in the CNMI economy which has been “trying to endure its fifth year of economic depression.”
“I am now in the final stage of negotiations with the CNMI Legislature regarding our budget for fiscal year 2011.
Everyone recognizes that the significant decline in commonwealth revenues will require drastic action in reducing government expenditures, which almost inevitably will limit our capacity to provide the full range of public services which our citizens require,” Fitial said.
“The need to rebuild the commonwealth economy — a goal shared by this subcommittee and the federal government — requires the clarity and certainty that can only come with the issuance of final regulations by DHS,” he added.
He said many foreign investors have left the CNMI.
A few months ago, the CNMI Department of Commerce reviewed 37 foreign investment applications that were not renewed. The departure of 22 of them, Fitial said, is a result of the enactment of the federalization law.
The non-renewals, he said, cost the CNMI $6.7 million in investments. Every lost, he added, makes the CNMI’s effort in saving the economy more difficult.
