Introduced by Rep. Ray N. Yumul, R-Saipan, the bill will allocate funds received from CW fees and designates the expenditure authority as NMC’s board of regents.
Regent Frank Rabauliman, chairman of the board’s fiscal and legislative committee, said the expenditure authority should be the president of the college.
If the bill is not amended, he said many would aspire for the chairmanship of the board.
Regent William S. Torres said although Rabauliman’s comment was probably made in jest, the provision “needs to be looked at.”
Torres at the same time said the measure is a “fine example of a cooperative relationship” between the lawmakers and the board.
“We should continue to harness that relationship,” he added
Acting boar chairwoman Ellaine Hocog-Orilla said they should thank Yumul for introducing H.B. 17-218.
“This bill would surely help the college,” she said.
But the board will ask the Legislature to amend the bill and designate the president of the college as the expenditure authority, she said.
U.S. Public Law 110-229, also known as the Consolidated Natural Resources Act of 2008 or the federalization law, mandates the U.S. secretary of the Interior in consultation with the CNMI government and the U.S. secretary of Commerce to provide technical assistance including assistance in recruiting, training and hiring of workers to assist employers in CNMI in securing employees from among U.S. citizens and nationals.
The law mandates a CNMI education funding fee of $150 for every CW transitional worker application.
The CNMI government, Rabauliman said, is projecting to collect $3 million from this fee which will be used to train and assist eligible U.S. workers in the commonwealth seek gainful employment.
From the total collection, 50 percent will go to NMC for its vocational education program while 30 percent is for the technical education program fund.
The remaining 20 percent is for the governor’s office and will be used for other government and private sector vocational education and job training programs.
