Leon Guerrero said Senate Bill 17-20, which remains pending in the House Committee on Education, should be passed to address the mounting complaints of parents and students about the $350 fee to enroll at the only licensed driving school on Saipan.
S.B. 17-20 was offered by Senate Floor Leader Pete P. Reyes, R-Saipan.
The bill, which the Senate already passed, also seeks to authorize the Public School System to establish a student education driver program for a lesser fee.
PSS opposes the bill primarily because of potential liabilities it may incur in sponsoring the program and its limited resources.
Leon Guerrero said because there is only one driving school on Saipan, a lot of students are also forced to pay an additional fee to get their driver’s permit extension of renewal as most of them are not able to complete the course within the 60-day period.
She said LLC Driver Training Academy has only one instructor “and cannot possibly accommodate all the students’ classroom instruction and behind the wheel training needs in a timely manner.”
“This creates a huge backlog of students, as well as, a stoppage in the classroom and behind the wheel laboratory requirements. At the same time, BMV is faced with student consequently reapplying for a driver’s permit extension of renewal,” she said in a letter to Rep. Raymond D. Palacios, Covenant-Saipan and chairman of the House Committee on Education.
“The law does not provide for permits to be extended or renewed. It provides student with more than enough time to drive on our highways and roadways so as to gain enough driving experience and qualify for a driver’s license,” Leon Guerrero added.
The BMV director also noted that Tinian and Rota do not observe the mandatory driving school requirement which she described as “improper and unacceptable.”
“I am aware that there is not a driver’s academy located on the islands of Tinian and Rota. This being said, I fully support suspending the Mandatory Driver’s Education Act of 2006, until such time a driver’s academy is established and operational in all three islands,” she said.
