This is one of the provisions of the proposed budget for fiscal year 2009 still pending in the House of Representatives.
This year, Labor will be allocated only $1.683 million —10.7 percent less than what was originally proposed by the House-Senate Conference Committee.
Of the figure, the department can only spend $561,560 for its operations and the rest will be used to pay its estimated 46 full-time-employees.
The money comes with certain conditions. The Legislature wants the department to prepare and present a report on May 1, 2009 about its anticipated manpower and financial needs from June 1 of that year.
The report should also include an assessment of the impact of the federalization law on the department’s functions.
It should also contain the number of foreign national workers legally present as well as their estimated number of overstaying foreigners from 2007 onwards.
Details about the number of residents enrolled with the department’s Division of Employment Services and Training from 2007 and beyond and figures on those who successfully got jobs should also be reported.
Labor must also report to the Legislature the number of claims and their outcomes arising from perceived or real violations by private employers since the CNMI implemented its new labor employment policies.
The Fitial administration is challenging the federalization law in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
