The Committee of the Whole comprises all 10 members of the Yap State Legislature.
Gov. Sebastian Anefal in a letter to Speaker Henry Falan dated July 22, 2011 submitted his nominations for the directors of Education, Public Works and Health Services. The nomination for the director of OAS was submitted to the Legislature sometime back and was assigned to the Committee on Finance which will hold a public hearing on Aug. 8.
The governor has re-nominated Josede Figirliyong for Education and Alphonsus Ruwema for Public Works after they were turned down by the Legislature when they were first nominated. James Gilmar, who served as director of the Department of Health Services, is being re-nominated again.
The Committee of the Whole was called into session for the members to discuss frankly and openly how they view these nominations and if needed more information could be obtained from the governor’s office.
The Committee on Government, Health and Welfare held a meeting Wednesday with the governor and Lt. Gov. Tony Tareg regarding the nomination of James Gilmar for Health Services. A meeting with the nominee was scheduled for today.
The members in their discussion point to the importance of making sure that whatever decision is made must stand as the best decision that can be made under the circumstances.
Some senators point to the impact on the Legislature of overturning its earlier decisions regarding the rejected nominations.
Some senators asked whether there are no other qualified people to tap in addition to the nominees.
The members agreed to have a face-to-face discussion with the governor regarding each nominee.
The following public hearings were also scheduled:
For the Education nominee, Aug. 6, at 10 a.m.
For the Public Works nominee, Aug. 11, at 11 a.m.
