HOUSE Speaker Heinz S. Hofschneider says lawmakers may have no choice but to follow what the CNMI Constitution mandates, which is to place the Office of Personnel Management under the Civil Service Commission.
In 1994, then Gov. Froilan C. Tenorio signed an executive order reorganizing the executive branch, which included the transfer of OPM to the Office of the Governor. In 2001, an election year, legislation returning OPM to CSC became law. CSC’s chairman later endorsed the gubernatorial candidacy of one of the law’s authors.
Earlier this year, a bill repealing this law was enacted—P.L. 13-1—placing OPM under the Office of the Governor again.
But the administration and lawmakers said P.L. 13-1 needed to be amended, particularly its “ambiguous” provisions.
Hofschneider said if a “preliminary research supports no other way,” the Legislature may have no other choice but to respect the constitutional intention of placing OPM under CSC.
“We want OPM to remain under the Office of the Governor, but then the Constitution says otherwise so the Legislature has no business violating the provisions of the Constitution,” said Hofschneider, R-Saipan.
Gov. Juan N. Babauta declined to comment. He said his legal advisers were reviewing the matter.
