The House yesterday adopted the committee report recommending the passage of House Legislative Initiative 17-2, which requires the two-thirds vote of the members of both chambers before it can be placed on the ballot in next year’s elections.
Introduced by Rep. Francisco S. Dela Cruz, R-Saipan, the proposal set an annual salary of $150,000 for the elected AG. but the House Committee on Judiciary and Governmental Operations reduced this to $80,000.
The committee chairman, Rep. Ralph S. Demapan, Covenant-Saipan, wants H.L.I 17-2 placed on the calendar for action. The House is expected to pass it on Wednesday.
H.L.I. 17-2 was passed by the House and the Senate in December last year. But the Senate reconsidered its action on the following day.
Last March, the House recalled the initiative from the Senate and referred it to Demapan’s committee.
According to the National Association of Attorneys General, the AG “is popularly elected in 43 states, as well as in Guam, and is appointed by the governor in five states (Alaska, Hawaii, New Hampshire, New Jersey and Wyoming) and in the four jurisdictions of American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.”
