Rep. Marissa Flores speaks during the miscellaneous part of the House session on Friday.
REPRESENTATIVES Marissa Flores and Manny Gregory T. Castro on Friday commented on the reorganization of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Government & Law, expressing hope that it will act on the bills that have been pending since last year.
During the miscellaneous portion of the House session, Flores said, “I think it’s fair to say that in total, there are 43 bills that have yet to pass this committee.”
Now that the committee has new members, “I would hope that they take the bills into consideration. Many of the bills have been proposed and passed this House since last year and it would be interesting to see how quickly they move,” Flores said.
Last week, Senate President Edith Deleon Guerrero removed Sen. Celina R. Babauta as chair of the JGL committee and appointed Sen. Karl King-Nabors as its new head. The new vice chairman of the committee is Sen. Dennis James Mendiola, and the members are Senate Floor Leader Corina Magofna, Sen. Frank Q. Cruz, Sen. Jude U. Hofschneider and Senate Vice President Donald Manglona.
Flores said, “I’m not sure how they are going to conduct themselves, but, at this point, my view is that we have reached a stalemate in regard to our relationship with those in the upper house. And I hope the governor is watching.”
She noted that the CNMI government’s revenue for the second quarter of the fiscal year was “at a negative” by $4.1 million, quoting Finance Secretary Tracy B. Norita’s latest financial report.
She said during the past administration, there were funds obligated to pay the vendors.
“And as I have come to know and find out, many of these vendors have yet to be paid. So once the fund is obligated, that means pay it. But apparently, that was not the case. So once again, we are left to find out what happened to all these monies that were supposed to be used to pay vendors,” she said.
She also expressed concern with the “increase in criminal activities.”
“Looking pretty is not going to do anything,” she said, adding that CNMI leaders have to work together.
“So, congratulations to those who have just been appointed to sit on the committee for JGL. My door is always open. My hope is at least we come to some kind of a middle ground and start moving and passing these bills that have been sitting there since last year,” she said.
For his part, Castro said when the Senate committees were still being organized early last year, there were senators who were asked to become members of the JGL committee, “and they all declined.”
“Those members that declined are also the cause of the committee not establishing a quorum,” Castro said.
Hopefully, with the reorganization of the JGL Committee, he said, “we are not going to have the same nonsense happening again. It’s sad that it took this long, but at the same time, I hope that they will really look at the bills coming out of the House and not just put them aside because of party lines. Most of the issues we are facing now really don’t have time for this nonsense.”
