Speaker Eli D. Cabrera disclosed yesterday that he earlier urged members of the House leadership to stop advocating for the casino proposal which is now pending in the Senate.
Cabrera, R-Saipan, said during a leadership meeting about three weeks ago, he asked his colleagues to refrain from discussing the controversial bill.
Instead, he said, they should focus first on other important bills to show the people that the House is working together with the Senate on legislation that can address the government financial problems.
Rep. Froilan C. Tenorio, Covenant-Saipan and a casino advocate, was not in the leadership meeting, Cabrera said.
Tenorio authored the first Saipan casino bill that was rejected by Senate last September.
Rep. Stanley T. Torres, Ind.-Saipan, is the author of the new casino proposal, House Bill 17-130.
He and another casino proponent, Vice Speaker Felicidad T. Ogumoro, Covenant-Saipan, attended the meeting.
H.B. 17-130, which Torres introduced in November, was passed by the House last December. It is similar to Tenorio’s H.B. 17-55.
The Senate, which is dominated by Rota and Tinian, has said it will not pass any Saipan casino measure.
Cabrera said he and the rest of the House leadership know that their counterparts in the Senate are not in a hurry to pass H.B. 17-130.
“So I told them, let’s work on other issues and bills,” he said.
According to Cabrera, casino proponents can still hope that the Senate will have “a change of mind, a change of heart and a change of decision.”
But for now, he said, members of both houses should show the people they are doing their job on a daily basis by passing bills that will help the government generate revenue.
“Whatever bill a committee comes out and it’s ready, we try to pass it,” he said.
Torres said it’s up to the Senate whether to act on the casino bill or not.
